Tabula Avatar
by Speaker-to-Customers
Summary: Crossover of BtVS with Baldur's Gate 2: Shadows of Amn. When Willow loses the memory crystal during 'Tabula Rasa' the Trio find it and download the stored personalities into BG2. The Scoobies find themselves trapped in a strange and lethal world.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer**: the characters in this story do not belong to me, but are being used for amusement only and all rights remain with Joss Whedon, Mutant Enemy, the writers of the original episodes, and the TV and production companies responsible for the original television shows. BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER (c) 2002 Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation. All Rights Reserved. The Buffy the Vampire Slayer trademark is used without express permission from Fox. I don't know who currently owns the copyright to Bioware's game 'Baldur's Gate 2: Shadows of Amn', as the original publishers Black Isle no longer exist – possibly Atari – but it isn't me, and characters and dialogue extracts are used without permission and with no intent to profit from their use.

**Author's note**: this story is _long_. 67 chapters so far, 400,000 words, and still not finished. It is a prequel to 'Debt of Blood' – you might not see how that's possible at first, but trust me on this. The first chapter was written 3 years before the most recent and my writing style has (hopefully) improved during that time so please forgive any stylistic inconsistencies. It's written much more from the point of view of the Buffyverse characters than of the Baldur's Gate ones, as the original audience was Buffy readers, so if you're coming at this from the Forgotten Realms side I apologize. You should still be able to follow the story.

It begins during the 'Buffy the Vampire Slayer' Season 6 episode 'Tabula Rasa'. Buffy has just been telling her friends that she is failing to cope with the trauma of having been brought back from the dead. Unknown to her Willow, her best friend and a powerful but erratic witch, has set up a memory erasure spell to go off during the meeting. Willow intends it only to remove Buffy's memories of death and Heaven but she's made a major miscalculation…

**Tabula Avatar**

**Chapter One**

Buffy's gaze scanned across the others in the Magic Box. Her eyes were wide and moist and she seemed almost to be on the verge of tears as she addressed them. "If you guys... if you guys understood how it felt... how it feels. It's like I'm dying, it-"

Her speech chopped off as a wave of dizziness swept over her and everything went black for a moment. When her vision cleared she gasped in amazement. Around her the others gasped too.

They weren't in the Magic Box any more. They were crammed into a circular metal cage inside a huge dimly-lit chamber. Standing up, jammed tightly against each other, with almost no room to move.

Jostling. Protests. Cacophony. Demands to know just what was going on, insistence on an elbow being moved away from a ribcage, commands that everybody just shut the hell up. All brought to a sudden halt by a scream of agony and despair.

Spike was on the side of the cage nearest to the sound. He spun around and stared at the source. Another cage, probably identical to the one in which the Scoobies were trapped, but this one had only one occupant. A girl, probably of about the same age as Buffy, but of some East Asian race. Golden brown skin, jet black hair, a pretty face that was distorted by pain as she writhed on the cage floor under the lash of some sort of energy beam.

Her tormentor stood outside the cage. A tall and muscular figure, clad in a strange costume of brown leather strips and buckles, which left much of his torso exposed, who looked as if he should be attending Adultcon. The ridiculous garb would have made Spike sneer in contempt, but the blasts of power that were streaming from the man's hands revealed him to be a potential threat rather than a safe target for ridicule. A warlock of some sort, Spike deduced. Powerful, dangerous, and very probably the one responsible for their current predicament.

Beside Spike Dawn sniggered. "Can I say, lame-o bad guy costume?" Another scream from the caged girl wiped the smile from Dawn's face.

The wizard, or whatever he was, spoke. He stopped his attack and addressed his tortured captive in deep and portentous tones that were completely incomprehensible to the Scoobies. The victim raised herself to her hands and knees and lifted her head to face him. She gasped for breath and then spoke in equally incomprehensible reply.

Spike's vision blurred. Everything went black for a moment and then cleared. Exclamations all around told him that the rest of the gang had experienced the same sensation.

"Remarkable!" Giles gasped. "A translation spell?"

Spike opened his mouth to ask the old git what he was talking about, but shut it again with the question unasked.

"I'll tell you everything," the girl was gasping out, her voice weak and trembling but now perfectly comprehensible. "Whatever you want to know."

Spike felt oddly disappointed. There was no reason why he should care what happened to humans, outside of the Scooby Gang circle and the England and Manchester United football teams, and to see a human girl tortured shouldn't have bothered him at all, but it seemed wrong somehow that this girl should have been broken by the torture. He had thought that her face showed a pride and strength not unlike that of Buffy.

"Hurts to talk," the girl went on. "Come closer."

The warlock laughed. "Oh, Bhaalspawn, how foolish of you to think that I would fall for that one. Your one weapon is your renowned physical strength, and you thought that I would place myself within your reach?"

The girl bounced to her feet in one smooth motion, her apparent weakness gone. "It was worth a try, wizard."

'Renowned physical strength?' Spike thought. The girl was slim, no taller than Buffy, and like Buffy she was not overtly muscular. Built like Anna Kournikova, perhaps, rather than like one of the tennis players who actually won tournaments. There was one obvious explanation for the apparent contradiction between the words and the visual evidence.

"She's a Slayer," Buffy muttered from behind him. "But how?"

"Well, you did die, Buffy," Anya pointed out.

"You misunderstand what I want from you, Bhaalspawn," the wizard went on. "You have no information that could be of use to me. This is not an interrogation. The pain will only be fleeting. You have much untapped potential. Do you even realize the power that lurks within you?"

"Do you even realize how much I'm going to hurt you when I get out of here?" the girl responded. The wizard shook his head and uttered a sinister laugh, right out of the standard repertoire of Bond villains, and a jet of flame shot forth from his fingers to envelop the girl. This time she didn't scream, only grunted, but she staggered and it looked as if she would have fallen had she not clutched at the bars of the cage for support.

"Anyone else think that we should try to get the hell out of here?" Xander spoke up. "As in, right now?"

"I heartily concur," Giles backed him. "Buffy, can you bend the bars? Perhaps, Spike, you could make yourself useful by assisting her?"

"Yeah, sure, only there's no sodding room to move in here." Spike began to try to maneuver himself into position beside the Slayer but halted as he saw something entering the chamber.

It was definitely 'something' rather than 'someone'. A bulky creature, slightly taller than a man but much wider, that appeared to be made out of clay. It moved past their cage at a jog, its footsteps making a loud noise that indicated tremendous weight, and approached the warlock.

"More intruders have entered the complex, Master!" it boomed.

"They act sooner than we had anticipated." The wizard seemed intrigued rather than alarmed. "No matter. They shall only prove a slight delay." He turned his back on the girl and followed the clay creature on a path that led past the cage that held the Scoobies.

"Let us out of here!" Dawn demanded.

"Yeah, let us out, 'cause you don't want to make – ow!" Whatever Xander had been going to say was cut short as a female foot connected with his ankle.

The warlock paused and scrutinized the crowded cage. "I know not who you are, nor how you came to be here, and I have no interest in finding out. Stay here and starve." He turned and strode away, ignoring the yells of protest that rang out in his wake. Behind him the tortured girl released her hold on the bars, slumped to the floor of her cage, and lay still.

"Hey, Buff, why'd you kick me?" Xander asked plaintively. "That really hurt, you know?"

"You were going to tell him that I'm the Slayer, weren't you? Well, that would kinda make him wary about coming close enough to grab, so, not of the good. I guess I'm thinking the same as that girl over there. He'd open the cage soon enough if I had hold of his arm."

"The bars, Buffy?" Giles prompted.

"Oh, yeah." Buffy heaved at the thick metal with no result. Spike managed to get into a position where he could add his efforts to hers, but it made no difference. "They're really strong, Giles. I'm not getting anywhere."

"Uh, I'm standing up against a door," Tara pointed out. "It might be a weak point."

"Excellent suggestion, Tara." Giles frowned. "We're going to have to do quite a bit of shuffling around. If everyone moves clockwise, perhaps?"

The group rotated, with some pushing and shoving and stepping on toes, until eventually Buffy and Spike were beside the cage door. They had barely begun to heave when they were interrupted by the sound of an explosion. Plaster fell from the ceiling and rattled from the bars. The door by which the wizard had departed flew open and a man entered at a run. He had taken only a few steps when he burst into flames, collapsed screaming to the ground, and writhed for a few moments before falling silent and lying still. Flames continued to curl up from his body.

Dawn screamed and then began to sob. Spike grabbed her and clutched her to his chest. "'S all right, Nibblet," he spoke soothingly. "Won't let anyone hurt you."

"Get your–" Xander began. He stopped and shook his head. "Sorry. Yeah, look after Dawn, Spike."

"'Til the end of the world," Spike confirmed.

"Th-thanks, Spike," Dawn sniffed, her sobs ceasing. "B-but what can you do against magic?"

"Stick myself in the way, if nothing else."

"Magic. Ah, yes. Willow, can you do anything about this lock?" Giles looked questioningly at the witch and was surprised to see the look of abject misery on her face.

"I don't know. I – I think this might be something to do with me. I was doing this spell, and maybe it went kinda wrong. Tara's right. I've been doing too much magic and I maybe don't know enough about what I'm doing." Willow wrung her hands. "I'm useless and stupid and foolish and if this is my fault I, I, oh, I'm so sorry and I don't know what to do!"

"You were doing a spell?" Tara glared at her lover. "But, Willow, you promised!"

"I broke my promise," Willow confessed. "I only wanted to make things better for us and for Buffy. I was stupid. You'll hate me."

"I'm not pleased," Tara said. "Look, we'll work this out later. Trying to get out of this, well, that's the kind of thing it's okay to use magic for."

"I'm sorry," Willow wailed.

"Okay, you're sorry. Get over it," Tara snapped.

Everyone looked at Tara, in so far as their positions allowed, with surprise at her uncharacteristic forcefulness showing on everyone's faces. Before anyone could comment there was another intrusion.

A girl slipped into the room through another door. She walked slowly, looking from side to side as she moved, and seemed poised to flee at any sign of danger. Her reddish hair was cut short in a ragged bob, looking as if it had been crudely hacked off rather than styled, and her face was marred by lines of crusted blood. She passed by the Scoobies' cage, taking no notice of their attempts to speak to her, and made her way to the cage in which the other girl was imprisoned.

"Sorkatani! Wake up!" she hissed. "We have to get out of here."

"Imoen?" The caged girl raised her head, stared at the newcomer, and then climbed to her feet. "Are you all right? Do you know what's going on?"

"He messed with your head too, huh?" the newcomer, Imoen, responded. "All I know is we got jumped near Baldur's Gate and I woke up here. I – I don't want to remember the rest. He's been… doing things… to us. Sorkatani, we have to get out of here!" She inserted a key into the lock of the cage and opened the door.

"All right, I'm moving. I ache all over, though."

"Yeah, me too, but my head hurts the most. Uh, was that you screaming? We have to get out of here."

Sorkatani took a wobbly step out of the cage. "How did you get free in the first place?"

"There was fighting. My cell got kinda damaged." Imoen clutched her head. "I don't know if I could do it again. The pain in my head's getting worse. It isn't like a normal pain. It's on the inside, like my bones made a little dagger, and it won't go away."

Sorkatani took hold of Imoen's shoulder and stared closely into her face.

Imoen squirmed. "Don't look at me like that, it just hurts, alright? Must have been the noise. There was a fight. Assassins after our captor, I think. There are people dead all over and the fighting is still going on. I could hear it. Are you going to get moving or do I leave without you?"

"We're not leaving alone," Sorkatani stated flatly. "I think the others are around. I thought I heard Minsc and Jaheira talking earlier. That way." She gestured towards the far end of the chamber, and then towards the Scoobies' cage. "There are some people over there, too. Strangers, but I think them no friends to our captor. We should free them also."

"Yeah, I'm all for that," Xander put in.

Sorkatani glanced briefly towards the Scoobies and then turned her attention back to Imoen. "Any sign of our gear?"

"I passed a room that way and I think I saw some weapons there," Imoen replied. "I don't think it was our stuff. I bet they sold that, or dished it out to the leader types, but hey, anything is better than nothing."

"Strange," Giles commented. "She appears to be speaking English, with perhaps a slight American accent, but the shapes that her mouth makes don't seem to fit the sounds."

"So she's not speaking English but we're hearing English? That translation spell that you mentioned?" Tara suggested.

"So it would seem," Giles replied. "Ah, hello," he greeted Sorkatani and Imoen as they approached the cage. "Would you be so good as to let us out of here?"

"Wait, Sorkatani, we don't know anything about these people," Imoen cautioned her companion.

"We know that they are imprisoned by a sadistic madman," Sorkatani told her sharply. "That's all I need to know. Does that key fit?"

Imoen inserted her key into the lock. "It's loose. Not the right key. I think I can get it to – got it!" The lock turned and the door swung open. The Scoobies spilled out into the chamber.

"Thank you, ladies," Giles said.

"Yeah, mucho with the thanks," Xander added.

"Ta, girls," Spike grinned, ogling the attractive Sorkatani. Buffy frowned and pouted.

"Yay, thanks," Dawn beamed.

"Your apparel is the strangest that I have ever seen," Sorkatani observed. "Who are you?"

"Rupert Giles. I am a Watcher."

"And I'm the Slayer," Buffy announced.

"Slayer? I have been called that," Sorkatani said. "Also the Destroying Angel, the Perfect Warrior, and the Mistress of Thrones and Crowns." She grinned, suddenly looking much younger. "Between you and me, that's just the kind of crap that bards come up with. Just call me Sorkatani."

"My name is Buffy. This is my sister Dawn. Xander, Anya, Willow, and Tara. Uh, and this is Spike. He's a vampire."

"A vampire?" Imoen recoiled.

"Vampire?" Sorkatani stared coldly at Spike. Her hand moved to her hip as if reaching for a weapon.

"He doesn't hurt people," Dawn spoke up. "He's my friend."

"He can't hurt people," Xander corrected her. "He got fitted out with a handy little computer chip that stops him if he even tries."

"I know not what those strange words mean," Sorkatani frowned. "I do not believe that you are evil, however, and if this vampire will behave himself I shall tolerate his presence."

"Big of you, pet," Spike muttered.

"What skills have you?" Sorkatani demanded. "Can you fight?"

"I think you could say that," Buffy said, with a small smile.

"We've all clocked field time," Anya said. "Willow and Tara are powerful witches. Buffy is the Slayer, of course. Spike's a vampire. But Dawn, she's just Buffy's little sister."

"Hey, I've staked vampires," Dawn pointed out.

"And you are certainly not to try it again," Buffy told her. "Stay out of any fighting, Dawn."

"Without weapons none of us can achieve much, except perhaps the vampire," Sorkatani said.

"Spike. The name's Spike. None of this 'the vampire' stuff, pet."

"Do not call me 'pet'," Sorkatani said sharply.

"All right, don't get your knickers in a twist. Don't mean anything by it. Just the way I speak, luv. Sorkatani." Spike frowned. "Bugger of a name, that. Where are you from?"

"You are not like any vampire of whom I have ever heard," Sorkatani frowned. "I was born in Kara-Tur, or so I have been told, but I was taken from there in early childhood and I was raised in the library city of Candlekeep. Most recently I have made my home in Baldur's Gate."

"Kara-Tur? Candlekeep? Baldur's Gate?" Xander's brows were creased in a puzzled frown. "Uh, look, this might sound kinda dumb, but, are we in the Forgotten Realms?"

"These are the Realms, yes, though I know not why you term them 'Forgotten'," Sorkatani confirmed. "Where else would we be? Maztica?"

"Uh, Dorothy, I don't think that we're in Kansas any more," Xander muttered. He pinched his arm hard. "Ow! I don't think I'm dreaming. This is crazy."

"We waste time," Sorkatani declared. "I go to free my comrades. Follow or not as you choose."

The Scoobies trailed along after the warrior girl and her more subdued companion. "Hey, Xander, what was all that about? You know where we are?" Buffy asked.

"Uh, I think so." Xander shook his head. "It's kinda impossible. I think we're inside a Dungeons and Dragons game. Maybe in a computer."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

"I can't get them to join the party," Jonathan grumbled. "They'll interact fine, but I can't select them."

"Hey, they showed up fine in Shadowkeeper," Warren said. "Don't blame me, I got the mod working as well as I could. The languages fix worked, right?"

"Buffy has twenty-two strength," Andrew remarked, in awed tones. "She's as strong as a Fire Giant."

"And I thought I'd done good getting Sorkatani up to nineteen," Jonathan said. "Wow. We were totally taking our lives in our hands messing with the Slayer."

"You could crank your girl up to match with Shadowkeeper," Warren pointed out.

"That's cheating," Jonathan replied. "I got the Manual of Gainful Exercise in fair play in BG1. It would kinda cheapen it if I just edited her."

"Whatever," Warren said dismissively. "You want me to try hacking the code again? I should be able to make them playable eventually."

"No, it's okay," Jonathan said. "Kinda more interesting, them doing their own thing. I wonder how they'll cope when they get out into Amn?"

"Well, Spike will probably burn up in the sun," Warren pointed out. "When they get out of Irenicus' dungeon they get stuck right out in the open for the whole of the Cowled Wizards' cut scene."

"They might not get stuck the way the party does," Jonathan said. "Maybe he'll put a cloak over his head or something. It's not like he doesn't know the sun burns him. And hey, Randy Giles worked it out pretty quick."

"He's a big dork," Warren sneered.

"He's not as cool as Spike," Andrew agreed. "I kinda like Joan, though. And Umad."

"They're all an improvement on the originals," Jonathan opined. "Hey, it's a shame I can't let Alex see this. It'd kinda give the game away, wouldn't it?"

"Not so much. It would just look like we'd used some pics of them for the portraits," Warren said. "But it might make us look like some kinda creepy stalker guys, so, yeah, don't let him see this version."

"I won't," Jonathan agreed. "Okay, let's see how Buffy and Spike and the others get on with Minsc."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

"They killed Dynaheir as I watched," Minsc related. The huge warrior's face was grave and wracked with grief. His head was covered with fine stubble, matching that on his chin and top lip, as if he normally kept it shaven when not caged in a cell. "I know not who they were, but… but – I will redeem myself!"

"Minsc, that's horrible," Imoen commiserated. "I'm so sorry for you."

"I won't cry for the dead. I won't. Okay, maybe a little, but I will staunch the flow of tears with righteous fury. Lullaby and goodnight, evil! Minsc will make you pay. Will you help me? We must join together once more, and our fury will be such that the bards will make their quills run dry. Yes, ink will be scarce wherever we go."

"Dynaheir was my friend too," Sorkatani said. "Her killers shall pay with their lives."

"I'm with you," Spike volunteered. "Took the lady prisoner and then killed her in front of you? Bastards."

"A vampire is a creature of evil, yet your words are good," Minsc boomed. "I thank you, and so does Boo."

"Boo?"

"My hamster," Minsc explained. A rodent scuttled out of the warrior's ragged clothing and perched on his shoulder, its nose twitching.

"Ah, that is so cute," Dawn exclaimed. "Can I stroke him?"

"When we are out of here," Minsc promised.

"We have a problem," Sorkatani said. "The lock is welded shut. I can't get you out, Minsc." She shrugged her shoulders. "I hope I have better luck with Jaheira."

"What? Are you just giving up? Abandoning me? Is that how you show your friendship for Dynaheir?" Minsc grasped the bars and began to push at the door with all his might. "Coward! Quitter!"

Sorkatani grabbed the door and pulled, synchronizing her efforts with those of Minsc. Buffy and Spike realized what she was doing and added their strength to hers, although hampered by lack of room. The door withstood the multiple assault for only seconds and then burst open.

Minsc stumbled out into the chamber. "The bars! They twist and bend with my berserker strength! Now Minsc and Boo are free." He frowned at Sorkatani. "You goaded me with your indifference just to fill me with the strength of rage, did you not?"

"Of course, Minsc, you big idiot," Sorkatani said warmly. She threw her arms around the berserker. "I'd never abandon you, don't you know that?"

"Yes, Minsc knows that, but he forgets sometimes," Minsc said. "Here, little girl, you may stroke Boo."

"Hey, I'm not so little," Dawn objected.

Minsc drew himself up to his full six foot four and looked down at her. "Forgive me, lady. If you are all grown up, perhaps you will not want to pet a hamster." Sorkatani released him and moved away to join Imoen, who was heading for the next cage.

"Okay, okay," Dawn grumbled. "I'm fifteen. I guess that's still a little girl in some ways." She extended a hand towards the hamster, who lifted his chin and accepted her stroking with the same regal air as a cat would have shown.

"Fifteen? In my country of Rashemen that would be old enough to marry," Minsc rumbled.

"That is so not true in California," Dawn said.

"I know not that country. Where does it lie?"

"Uh, I don't know how to get there from here," Dawn admitted. "Where is here, anyway?"

"That is a good question. We were drugged, I think, and taken a long way by wagon. We could be far indeed from Baldur's Gate."

"Minsc, Buffy, Spike," Sorkatani called. "Jaheira's cage is magically sealed. I cannot break it open unaided. You would, perhaps, assist me?"

"No problem," Buffy responded. She hastened to Sorkatani's side, closely followed by Spike, and Minsc brought up the rear. They clustered around the cage door, Buffy and Sorkatani grasping it low, Spike and Minsc grasping it high, and heaved with all their might while the woman within the cage pushed. The lock groaned and gave way.

Another round of introductions followed. Jaheira was a woman who appeared to be in her late twenties or early thirties; moderately attractive, although her expression was stern and forbidding and her mouth seemed more ready to turn downwards than to smile. Her ears were pointed.

"You're an elf!" Xander exclaimed. "Uh, assuming you're not a Vulcan."

"I am half elven," Jaheira replied. "And you are wholly impolite."

"Uh, sorry," Xander said, shame-faced. "I didn't mean to be rude. It's just, I've never seen an elf or a half-elf before."

Jaheira made no reply to his apology. "We must find weapons as soon as possible," she said to Sorkatani. "And then search for Khalid. We were separated and I fear for him."

"Then we should waste no more time. Imoen? Show us to this room where you saw weapons."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

"So this is some loser Dungeons and Dragons fantasy land?" Buffy shook her head. "Only on the Hellmouth, huh?"

"It would certainly appear so," Giles said.

"Trust me on this, guys. We're in one of the Baldur's Gate games. I've never played them, but I've read a few reviews," Xander said. "I've read a couple of the Forgotten Realms books, too, but I never really got into them. Drizzt's too much like a kinda Angel Mark Two, all big with the brooding and 'oh, I'm an evil Drow but I must do good', and – uh, well, trust me on this. We're playing D&D for real. Which means we could get really killed."

"Dungeons and Dragons is just lame," Buffy scoffed.

"Uh, I wouldn't be too sure about that. Torture, murder, violence, monsters, pretty much par for the course here. It's okay for the characters who've got the skills and the weapons and the hit points and things, but it might be kind of a rough ride for us. We've got to get out of here."

"Maybe a wizard can send us back home," Tara suggested.

"Maybe, but he's gonna want paying," Xander pointed out. "And hey, I don't think my Visa is going to cut it here."

"It's okay to nick stuff here, innit?" Spike rummaged in the pockets of his thrift store suit, found cigarettes and his lighter, and lit up.

"No it is not!" Buffy snapped.

"No, seriously, Slayer. It's part of the culture, innit? Thieves and what have you? Kill the monster and take the treasure. We could do that."

"Treasure?" Anya piped up.

"Yeah, there's always treasure," Spike said.

"Bleach Boy's right," Xander said reluctantly. "It's pretty much okay to loot the body of anyone who you kill. As long as it was in self defense, and hey, that's pretty much an elastic definition. Goblins and Orcs and that sort of thing are fair game any time."

"So we kill them and loot the bodies? Can I say, eww?"

They stopped their conversation as they followed Imoen into a small room and saw the creature that stood there. A humanoid shape of living clay; either the one that they had seen earlier or an identical specimen from the same pattern.

"Golem," Sorkatani said. "Very dangerous, but they only do what they're ordered. I don't think this one has any orders about us." She picked up a mace that lay on a nearby table. "Just in case it comes to life. Only blunt weapons can damage a Clay Golem."

"I thought Golem was little and scrawny, kinda like an evil hobbit." Buffy scanned the table and snatched up a war hammer.

Dawn wandered over to a picture that hung on the wall and examined it carefully.

"Dawn? What are you doing?" Buffy asked.

"Uh, Buffy, there's something behind this picture, a kinda safe or something, and there's a trap on it."

"Trap? What do you mean?"

"I mean, if you just pull it open, this spring thing shoots a dart out at you," Dawn told her. She removed her name pendant from her neck and slid the edge of the letter 'n' into a groove. "Got it! I've totally disarmed it."

"Dawn! You're a thief!" Xander exclaimed.

"I am not! I totally meant to put that necklace back," Dawn protested. "I just got distracted with all the kidnapping by wooden puppet men and being wooed by the dancing demon and everything."

"No, no, not what I mean," Xander said. "I mean, you're a Dungeons and Dragons thief. We're in a D&D world, so we're D&D characters. Like, you just know how to find traps and disarm them, and I bet you can pick locks and shit. Hey, Willow's gonna be a Dungeons and Dragons style Magic User, I bet."

"And me," Tara said, and then faltered. "Uh, no, that doesn't seem right. I'm a – I'm a cleric."

"Cool!" Dawn beamed. "I'm a thief. Tara's a cleric. That's healing and stuff, right? Buffy's a fighter, totally obvious. What about the rest of us?"

Xander picked up a longsword. He brought it up into a salute, swung it twice, and lowered it again. "I'm a fighter. It feels right. Hey, I'm a fighter."

"And what would I be?" Giles frowned. "I may have dabbled in magic long ago, but I would scarcely claim to be a wizard. I hardly think that I have any great affinity for the magical side of religion either. I must be only an aging and mediocre fighter."

"A bard," Spike suggested. Everyone stared at him. "Hey, I've eaten a loser or two in my time," he said. "Some of it stuck. Oh, what the hell, I've read some Dungeons and Dragons stuff. You know me. I'll read the labels on sodding jam jars if there's nothing on the telly."

"Bard?" Giles repeated. "Hmm."

"Yeah, why not? Walked in on you once when you were singing 'Freebird', didn't I? Bloody good you were too."

"You were really good at the Espresso Lounge," Tara agreed.

"Ah, thank you, my dear. And, yes, thank you Spike. You may well have a point. It does have a certain, ah, feeling of being right somehow."

"And what about me?" Anya asked. "Is there an appropriate classification for someone who is very good with money?"

"Not a Druid, that's for sure," Xander said. "I can't see you as a Ranger either."

"I could be a Loan Ranger," Anya suggested. "That was a pun. Lone, l-o-n-e, loan, l-o-a-n."

"Uh, yeah," Xander said, raising his eyes towards the ceiling. "Nice one, Ahn."

Dawn levered open the concealed safe behind the picture. "Yay! Go me! Jackpot!" She lifted out the contents. "Uh, maybe not so much of a jackpot. A knife and three little bottles."

"Potions of Healing," Sorkatani told her. "A valuable find. The dagger is of better quality than the norm. Imoen?" She took the dagger from Dawn and held it out to her comrade.

"Magical," Imoen confirmed. "No great enchantment, but a useful weapon nonetheless."

Sorkatani handed it back to Dawn. "Use it well, child."

Dawn pouted. She wasn't happy about being called 'child', but she was pleased with the dagger and with Sorkatani's matter-of-fact acceptance that Dawn could be trusted with a weapon. "Thanks."

A chest against the wall of the room turned out to contain armor. Chain mail, leather jerkins, and mail hauberks reinforced with small iron plates. "Do we really need this stuff?" Buffy moaned.

"I would strongly advise you to acquire as much protection as possible," Giles counseled her. "I fear that this may be a rather more dangerous environment than Sunnydale. Everyone we encounter will be wearing swords and will, no doubt, use them at the least provocation."

"Okay, okay, I'll wear stuff if it fits," Buffy acquiesced. "Not that any of this will."

"Armor of great enchantment will adapt to fit whoever dons it," Sorkatani remarked. "This poor stuff, however, we must allocate according to size. Minsc, this splint armor seems large enough for your mighty frame."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

"I'm getting bored," Warren complained. "Let me know when they start killing things, okay?" He stood up and walked away.

"Sure," Jonathan agreed.

Andrew remained glued to the screen. "I think this is really interesting. They're getting into character. They worked it all out themselves. It's the next best thing to if we'd put ourselves into the game. Better, even, because if we were there we could get, like, killed and stuff."

"Yeah, whatever," Warren said. "You're too into all the background stuff for my taste. Just give me the fighting and the chicks and the loot. You can keep the research and the roleplay." He adopted an expression of lofty superiority and addressed Jonathan scathingly. "Although, you do all that research and you still screw up. Genghis Khan's daughter-in-law was called Sorkaktani, not Sorkatani."

"I know that," Jonathan said, unconcerned. "It just sounds a lot better when you drop that second 'k'. She's a D&D character, dude, this isn't a history project."

"Okay, okay. I have to admit she's a hot chick. Where'd you get the picture, man?"

"It's tweaked a bit with Paint Shop Pro," Jonathan explained, "but basically she's Zhang Ziyi."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

The fight was brief and presented little challenge. It did, however, remove the last vestige of doubt from the Scoobies' minds. They were not in California. They were not on the Earth as they knew it. The little imp-like mist creature was like nothing they had seen before, not even in the vicinity of the Hellmouth, and its dead body was far more significant as an indicator of the strangeness of their current environment than it could ever have been as a living enemy.

Beyond it was a locked door. Imoen had entered from that direction, but the door had closed and locked behind her. Their attempts to force it open were futile and the group had no option but to retrace their steps.

The chamber in which the cages stood had two other exit doors. One led only to a small room with no doors. A strange glowing device stood there, a circle of metal surrounding a shimmering force bubble, but although Xander was convinced that it was some sort of transporter gate it obstinately refused to react to anything they did. Giles noticed a slot in its surface.

"I believe that it requires some kind of key," he speculated.

"No doubt you are correct," Sorkatani agreed. "We have no such key. There is nothing to do but search for another exit."

The only other egress from the chamber was the door by which an intruder had entered shortly before dying a hideous death. They took that exit warily and soon found themselves stepping over more dead bodies. Black-clad figures with their faces obscured by masks. "Assassins," Sorkatani said. She bent to examine a corpse. "Penniless assassins. Whoever slew them has already taken all of use or value."

Buffy frowned at the other girl's casual attitude to the dead. It conflicted with everything Buffy had learned as a Slayer and with the morals of the society from which she came. Dawn shuddered and recoiled from the bodies. Giles merely took pains not to step on any corpses.

"Bet the inconsiderate buggers haven't got any blood left," Spike grumbled. "What?" he added as he saw the eyes of the rest of the party glaring at him. "Bloke's got to eat and these gits don't need it any more, that's for sure."

"Could you be any more gross?" Buffy snapped, and she stalked off to take point.

Ahead lay a chamber containing another strange device. It bore a vague resemblance to a Van de Graaff generator, and bolts of static electricity shot forth from it in random directions. Buffy was incautious in her approach and discovered painfully that the bolts contained sufficient voltage to be dangerous. A different variety of imp creature shared this room with the machine, and was apparently immune to the electricity – or even reliant upon it, for it delivered a painful shock of its own to Buffy as she closed to fight it.

"I see a switch," Giles pointed out. "It would seem logical to reverse it."

"I'll do it," Spike volunteered. "Don't think electricity'll do me any permanent harm." He raced forward, threw the switch, and the machine fell silent.

Buffy decapitated the imp. "Oww," she complained, and massaged her arm. "Those shocks hurt."

"I could help," Tara suggested. "At least, I think I could." She laid her hands on Buffy and chanted briefly.

The pain faded immediately. "Hey, cool," Buffy praised, grinning. "That's a neat trick."

"No mere trick," Jaheira scolded. "Such powers should be treated with reverence and gratitude."

"Hey, I totally am grateful to Tara," Buffy said, and flounced off.

"Her language may imply disrespect, but Buffy is truly a dedicated opponent of evil," Giles told Jaheira. "She and Tara understand each other very well."

"Her manners seem strange to me," Jaheira said. "From what far land is it that you come? Caliph Onya, did she say?"

"Ah, yes," Giles said. "Although I myself come from a different land with yet another set of manners and customs, the country of England. I was sent forth from there to guide and mentor Buffy when she was Chosen as the Slayer…"

The party moved on to face their next challenge. Giles and Jaheira were joined in their conversation by Tara, Buffy and Spike conversed with Sorkatani, Xander and Anya talked to Minsc, and Dawn was given instruction by Imoen in the skills that a thief used to scout the path ahead for hidden traps.

None of them notice that Willow hadn't said a word since before they had been freed from the cage. She trudged along at the rear of the group, silent and pale of face, too sunk in depression to really take notice of her surroundings.

And in no fit state for any kind of magical combat.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two**

"The invisibility ray was cool," Andrew said, "but I don't want to play with it any more. Suppose we dropped it, and it broke, guys? We'd have just a few hours to fix it before we turned to jell-o."

"Good point," Jonathan agreed.

Warren frowned. "Yeah, that would suck. Okay, we've had some fun with it; I'm okay with calling it quits." He laid the ray gun on a bench, took out a screwdriver, and worked on it for a moment. "So, what do we do with the diamond?"

"We could, you know, fence it," Andrew suggested.

"Like we know any underworld guys who'd buy stolen stuff," Jonathan scoffed. "I think we should give it back. There's a reward, dudes. Ten thousand dollars."

"Yeah, but, suppose that old watchman guy, Rusty, remembers us if we take it back?" Andrew said nervously. "I don't think they'd give us the reward if they knew we'd stolen it."

"Which is where this comes in," Warren smirked. He picked up a crystal from the bench and held it against the ray gun. "I think we should be able to come up with a mind-wipe ray."

Jonathan swallowed hard. "I don't know. That could be pretty, well, dangerous. I mean, look what happened to Buffy and Xander and Willow and everybody."

Warren frowned and pursed his lips. "Point, yeah. Not that it was a bad thing, they seem pretty happy now, but the way you two handled the invisibility ray I guess there's a chance we'd end up getting hit by the mind-wipe ray ourselves. That could be pretty much of the bad."

"Randy Mears," Andrew chuckled. "Joanathan."

Warren tilted his head to one side and screwed up his forehead. "Melpuv," he said.

"Uh, wouldn't the bar of the 'r' be pointing the wrong way to be an 'L'?" Jonathan quibbled.

"And 'dawn' really makes 'umad' upside-down? It should be 'umap'." Warren shook his head. "Anyway, I get the point. Memory wipes, dangerous. It would have to be tightly controlled and limited, like just wiping 'x' number of hours or days or whatever, and man, the testing would be a bitch. It's not like a guinea pig could tell us what the last thing it remembered was."

"We could get Alex to hand in the diamond," Jonathan suggested. "Tell him we took it as a joke, and it kinda went wrong, and we want to give it back but we're scared they'll think we really meant to steal it. Split the reward with him, maybe."

"Not a bad idea," Warren agreed. "I'll think about it."

Jonathan hit the button to power up his PC. "Yeah, right. I'm going to get back to the game, dudes. Maybe we should copy it over into a multi-player session and you two could join in?"

"No way, man. That goody-goody Sorkatani of yours gets right up my nose." Warren set down the crystal and powered up his own PC. "Before you start, put a copy of the script file for Xander in Shared Docs. Some of the code could be useful for the AI program I'm working on."

"Would that, like, clone Xander? Avatar Xander, that is?" Andrew asked.

Warren shook his head. "Nope. It will just be the basic framework. Maybe something that will make the program more able to cope with the unexpected, which would be totally cool for the enemy AI in a First Person Shooter, and that's what I want. But without what was in here," he picked up the crystal again and held it up, "it won't be Xander. None of the memories, the personality, all that shit. It needs the magic as well as the coding." He put the crystal down again.

When they'd retrieved it from the tunnels under the Magic Box it had been black and opaque. Now it was pale green, translucent, and sparkling.

Empty.

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

The crystals were orange and dull red. Some of them were as tall as a man. They reflected and refracted the torchlight so that the whole chamber was bathed in a glow as if from a blazing fire. The pools of water at the sides of the room looked almost like lava.

"A natural cave, originally," Giles muttered.

A roughly circular clump of crystals took up the center of the room, blocking the party's view. Sorkatani and Imoen advanced around one side of the crystals, Buffy and Dawn took the other side. Both pairs came to an abrupt halt as they saw the being who stood in front of them.

"Sorkatani, welcome," the being greeted them. "You have escaped somewhat later than I had hoped. I am Aatagah."

"A genie," Dawn breathed. "A real genie."

Her identification was undeniably correct. From the top of his turbaned head down to the swirling column of tapering mist that served him instead of legs, Aatagah was the very image of a story-book or cartoon genie. The mighty scimitar that he was brandishing in one hand could also have come straight out of the Arabian Nights, but close up and in three dimensions it looked much more threatening than romantic and picturesque.

"You have my welcome to my little piece of this place," Aatagah continued. "I do try to keep it more appealing than the rest."

Sorkatani drew a sword and took one step towards the genie, sword in one hand, mace in the other. "Yes, I have escaped," she said. "What part did you play in my capture?"

The genie chuckled. "Worry not, Sorkatani. I did so enjoy your blundering about in Baldur's Gate. I did not wish to see you captured."

"If you are not my captor, then what do you want from me?" Sorkatani allowed the blade of her sword to droop slightly but her eyes stayed watchful and suspicious. Buffy took her cues from the other girl and mirrored Sorkatani's actions. "Can you assist me?"

"Such assistance as you will get from me depends on yourself. Are you prepared to answer a question?"

"Is that thing dangerous?" Xander asked Jaheira.

"Very," the half-elf nodded. "These simple weapons would fail to bite. I have some enchantments that might be efficacious, as does Imoen, but I fear they would not suffice to bring such a foe down. Better not to fight."

"Hey, Will, what've you got up your magical sleeve?" Xander asked.

"I'd just mess up," Willow replied. "I'm useless."

"Hey, none of that." Xander grinned at his friend. "You're Buffy's big gun, remember?"

"Big gun. Right." Willow summoned up a weak smile and Xander turned away, satisfied. He didn't hear Willow's muttered continuation. "She still died."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

"Here is my hypothetical question," Aatagah began. "You and your sister are captured and locked in separate cells, unable to communicate. The mage responsible appears and speaks. He explains his sadistic game. In each cell there is a magical button. If you press your button and your sister does not, you will die but your sister is free. If your sister presses her button and you do not, she will die but you will be free. If neither you nor your sister press the button, both of you will die. If both of you press your respective buttons, both of you will die. The mage says that you have one turn of the hourglass to decide your action, and then he leaves." Aatagah paused and looked with piercing eyes first at Sorkatani and then at Buffy. "Tell me, Sorkatani, do you press the button?"

Sorkatani's brows lowered. "My sister? Imoen, who is as close as a sister to me?"

"A hypothetical sister, I meant, but very well, let it be Imoen."

Sorkatani sucked in her lower lip and pressed on it with her teeth. "No way to save us both. Hmm."

Aatagah turned to Buffy. "And you, stranger? Would you press the button?"

Buffy did not hesitate even for a second. She spoke out in a clear strong voice. "I would press the button."

"Buffy, no!" Dawn protested.

"A hypothetical question, child," Aatagah reminded her. "Sorkatani?"

"I love Imoen, yes. I would die to save her. But I would not die merely to have a chance to save her, when her own actions then might doom her as well. I will not cooperate in my own destruction. I would not press the button."

Aatagah looked upon her with contempt in his eyes. "Truly? I had not thought you to be a coward until this day. Mingle with your brethren, coward. I shall test your mettle." He turned his gaze to Buffy. "You fear not to take the consequences of your actions. Your test shall be sterner." He gestured with his empty hand and two clouds of smoke appeared; one near Sorkatani, the other near Buffy. Each cloud dissipated to reveal monsters.

Five small creatures, humanoid but inhuman, rushed at Sorkatani. She met one with a blow of her mace, dropped it in its tracks, and ran a second through with her sword. Imoen stabbed another with a short sword. The remaining two reached Sorkatani and began to claw and bite. Minsc and Jaheira rushed to her aid.

A tall and muscular figure loomed over Buffy. It wore a loin-cloth resembling the dress of a Sumo wrestler, and its head was crowned by a top-knot that was also Oriental in style, but its green skin and horned head made the resemblance only superficial. It wore a large sword slung across its back but made no move to draw it. Instead it raised its hands in mystical gestures and began to chant.

Buffy didn't give it the time that it needed to complete its spell. She charged forward and smote with her hammer. The monster cried out and then snarled in rage. It reached for the sword as Buffy hit it again. Dawn threw her dagger and hit it in the chest. Spike and Xander rushed to the attack.

Sorkatani tossed her mace up into the air, grabbed one of her opponents and threw it to the ground, caught the mace as it descended and slammed it down onto the winded creature. Minsc plucked away the other distorted humanoid from Sorkatani's back and hurled it to the floor. Jaheira had chosen a spear from the assortment in the Golem room; she drove the spear through the creature and pinned it to the ground.

Spike went into game face, seized one arm of Buffy's opponent, and dragged it down towards his fangs. Xander slashed his blade across its legs. Buffy hit it with her hammer again. Spike plunged his fangs home and began to drink.

The monster howled in pain and tried to dislodge Spike's grasp. Buffy struck again and landed a solid blow on the monster's thigh. The leg buckled under the impact and the creature toppled to the ground. Spike released his grip so as not to be dragged down with it and wiped a hand across his blood-smeared mouth. Xander thrust with his sword and drove it home into the green chest. The monster lay still.

Spike returned to his human visage. "Tastes worse than pig blood," he commented. "What was that thing?"

"An ogre mage," Jaheira informed him. "Has it satisfied your hunger, vampire?"

"Stop calling me 'vampire', will you, luv? Name's Spike. Got that? One easy syllable. Shouldn't be too hard to manage."

"Is 'Jaheira' then too hard for you to manage?"

Spike smirked, caught Buffy's eye, and bit back the retort that was about to leave his lips. "Okay, _Jaheira_. You don't call me 'vampire'; I don't call you 'half-elf'. Deal?"

"Very well," Jaheira agreed, her tone still cold and unfriendly. "Spike." She turned away and went to check Sorkatani for wounds.

"You have come through after all, Sorkatani," Aatagah said. "Here, then, is the advice that I offer. Seek out Rielev. He has been waiting for one such as you. Give him the release that he craves and you shall find that the focus of your journey shall soon become apparent. Farewell!" The genie shimmered, swirled, and faded away into nothingness.

Sorkatani stared at the place where he had been, a troubled frown on her face. "Was my decision really that of a coward? I thought merely that it offered the best hope of at least one of us surviving. Did Buffy make the true hero's choice?"

"No, Buffy made the dumb choice," Dawn told her. "You should totally have known that I would press the button, Buffy. Do you still just want to be dead again?"

"I want you to live, Dawn. That's all." Buffy walked to one of the pools and stared into the water.

"Here you go, Nibblet." Spike pulled the dagger from the ogre mage's chest, licked it clean, and returned it to Dawn. "Good shot, Bit."

Dawn took it and looked dubiously at the blade. "Thanks, but, eww for the licking."

"Waste not want not. Wasn't going to clean it off on my shirt, was I?"

"Yeah, 'cause that stupid suit and shirt look so good. Not. You totally have to find some new clothes."

Spike cast a glance back at the loincloth-clad corpse of the ogre mage and raised an eyebrow. "Fair enough, Bit, but that giant baby costume is right out."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

"That's interesting," Jonathan remarked. "Aatagah posed the question to Buffy as well. And he called her 'stranger'. The whole program's adapting to them, not just the controllable characters. Even the text displays are changing. I didn't expect that, you know, 'cause they're bit-map pictures."

"Ones and zeros, pal, ones and zeros," Warren put in, from his place at his own PC. "Next time you save and quit copy the save game over to the network. I want to take another look at the code."

"I liked that bit between Jaheira and Spike," Andrew commented. "You think they might end up as friends?"

"Maybe. Only, it's Giles who seems to be having the most interaction with her. Hey, wouldn't it be cool if he went through the Jaheira romance?"

"Uh, I guess so," Andrew said, without enthusiasm. "It would be cooler if it was Spike."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

"One sword, of no better quality than these that we have already," Sorkatani announced with some dissatisfaction. "I had hoped for better from an ogre mage. And coin. Forty pieces of gold, of the same weight as the Double Eagles of Baldur's Gate, but bearing a different emblem. It looks vaguely familiar but I can't place it. Amnian coins, like those we saw in Nashkell, perhaps? If that is the case then they will be worth about the same as the coin of Baldur's Gate. We shall have enough for lodgings and food, at the least, when we escape this place."

"Speaking of food," Anya put in, "I'm hungry. It's all very well for Spike, drinking the blood of monsters, but that's not an option open to the rest of us. Well, unless we get very, very, hungry."

Dawn wrinkled up her nose. "Okay, I'm predictable, but I'm going to give that a big 'Eww'."

Xander rummaged through his pockets. "One Twinkie. That's it."

"It's not going to go very far between twelve," Anya said.

"I too am hungry," Minsc announced. His stomach rumbled at that very moment as if to emphasize his point. "And Boo. What food is there here for hamsters?"

"Uh, maybe he'd like a piece of the Twinkie?" Xander suggested.

"You mustn't feed hamsters sweet things," Dawn protested. "A Twinkie would make him sick." She saw Buffy directing a questioning look in her direction. "Hey, I read up on it, okay? I was hoping I might get a hamster. They eat seeds, and corn, and wheat, and insects, and small amounts of vegetables. What they like best are apples, and cauliflowers, and you mustn't give them parsley 'cause it's, like, poisonous to them. And not Twinkies."

"Okay, I bow to your superior knowledge, Dawnster." Xander broke the Twinkie in half, passed one section to Anya, and handed the other piece to Minsc. "Here you go, big guy. I think you probably need this the most."

"I thank you." Minsc accepted the Twinkie and bowed slightly towards Xander. "Your kindness is matched only by your ability to kick the wrinkly butt of Evil. But Boo is very hungry. Can he not have just a tiny piece?"

"Maybe just a very, very, little bit," Dawn conceded.

Minsc broke off a minute section of Twinkie and fed it to the hamster, who squeaked ecstatically. Minsc then bit heartily into the Twinkie himself. "Delicious!" he boomed. "I have never tasted anything as good. I feel new strength rushing through me. Look out, Evil, here comes Minsc and Twinkie!"

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

There were two possible exits from the chamber of crystals. One appeared to be wider than the other at first glance, but a closer look showed that it took an abrupt right-angle bend after a few feet and narrowed to a width no greater than that of the other exit.

"There is nothing to guide our choice," Sorkatani mused. "That being so, one is as good as the other. I propose to take the left, unless anyone has strong objections?"

"Would it be a good idea to split up?" Buffy wondered. "Explore one route each?"

"Perhaps," Sorkatani said. "I would take counsel on this matter. What say you, Jaheira?"

Buffy turned to her own mentor. "What d'you say, Giles?"

"I feel we are not yet strong enough to separate," Jaheira advised. "We are as yet ill armored, and only in numbers have we strength."

"My sentiments exactly," Giles agreed. "Also, I haven't found any kind of musical instrument, and my hypothetical bardic abilities, if I indeed do have any, are somewhat restricted. We don't know what Anya can do either."

"I can look after the money," Anya offered.

Giles didn't react. "That being the case, I'd certainly feel more comfortable in the company of our new friends who, apart from their proficiency in the skills of combat, have a familiarity with this environment that we lack."

"Okay, okay." Buffy smiled at Sorkatani. "I'm in no big rush to split up anyway. Left it is, then."

The left corridor led them straight into danger. Six small humanoids lurked there. Some wielded axes, but others were armed with bows. Arrows hissed through the air towards the party.

"Goblins!" Sorkatani snarled. She ducked back around the corner to dodge the first volley of arrows. "No match for us at close quarters, but we have no weapons of range. We must charge them."

Spike looked dubiously at the wooden shafts of the arrows as they clattered to the ground.

"What's wrong, Spike?" Xander jeered. He held a shield in front of his mail-clad body. "Scared of a few arrows?"

"Well, yeah," Spike admitted. "Gonna get one of those armor suits as soon as I get the bloody chance." He gritted his teeth. "Okay, if we've got to charge, then let's sodding well charge."

The whole party charged forwards as one, with the armored Minsc and Xander leading the way. An arrow pierced Xander's shield, and one glanced from one of the iron plates reinforcing Minsc's mail, and then they were on the goblins and striking with swords and maces. The fray lasted only moments.

"And now we have bows," Sorkatani proclaimed with grim satisfaction. She unfastened a quiver from a goblin corpse and slung it onto her own back.

"Hey, a cool necklace," Dawn exclaimed. "What's an ugly goblin doing with something nice like this?"

"Do you have to do that?" Buffy snapped.

"Hey, taking stuff from the dead bodies is totally what people do here," Dawn defended herself. "I'm a thief, right? So this is like my job."

"She's got a point, Buffy," Spike said.

"Fine. Fine. My little sister loots the bodies of dead goblins. I just hope they don't have fleas."

"Fleas?" Dawn recoiled. "Like, eww!"

"Regretfully, I think that none of us will be able to avoid the attentions of fleas and lice in this environment," Giles said.

"Oh, we'll get used to them," Anya assured everyone. "They won't do us any harm. As long as they're not carrying the plague, that is."

"Plague?" Buffy paled. "I totally want to go home. Right now."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

Further along the corridor they found and explored a large room. It held strange vats in which living beings were trapped in some kind of suspended animation. Imoen shuddered at the sight and rambled almost incoherently about what she had suffered at the hands of their captor. Sorkatani comforted her and took no part in the exploration of the room.

It also held a pair of imp-like creatures, one composed of vapor and one of ice, which managed to raise painful welts on Minsc's tattooed forehead before falling to his sword blows.

Crates and boxes within the room were quickly searched for items of use or value. One was booby-trapped, as Dawn discovered just as Buffy was about to put her hand on the trigger, and the young girl disarmed the trap herself as Imoen was in no fit state to take part. Inside was a quarterstaff of smoothly polished wood shod with metal.

"Enchanted," Jaheira announced. "A charm of no great power, but enough that it may strike a creature immune to normal weapons."

"May I?" Giles requested. He took the staff and made a few passes with it. "I pride myself that I am rather proficient with the quarterstaff."

"As do I," Jaheira informed him.

"Oh, I beg your pardon. If it is your favored weapon, then certainly you should take it," Giles offered.

"No need. The spear shall serve." Jaheira studied Giles' moves. "Your form is satisfactory. Impressive, even."

Spike choked back a snigger.

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

"A guardian who feeds on filth and on the bodies of prisoners," Sorkatani mused. "A monster of some kind, no doubt, but what?"

"Sounds totally disgusting," Buffy said, wrinkling her nose. "I just hope we don't meet it."

They had interrogated a golem. A laborious process, as it would respond only to questions that could have come from its master, but they had managed to extract some useful information. Most important, it would appear, was the discovery that the golem would open all the doors as it went about its task of cleaning the catacombs. Unfortunately it would not begin that task until activated with an 'activation stone', and that was apparently in the vicinity of the 'Rielev' already mentioned by the genie.

"We must find this Rielev," Jaheira stated.

"Indubitably," Giles agreed. "I suppose there is nothing that we can do but to keep on looking.

"Hey, guys, check out this totally cool sword," Dawn urged. "Imoen says that it's, like, magical."

"Not that it's a weapon of power or anything," Imoen said. "Just minor enchantments to sharpen the edge and stuff. It's too long for me."

Dawn picked it up and swung it experimentally. "It doesn't feel right for me either. So, who gets it? Buffy?"

Buffy hesitated, unwilling to appear greedy, but her eyes were gleaming.

"I prefer a curved blade," Sorkatani told her, picking up a scimitar. "Take it, Buffy."

"These scrolls contain spells," Imoen said. "Flame Arrow. Identify. Dispel Magic." She glanced at Willow. "One each, and toss a coin for the third?"

"No, you take them," Willow said. "I don't think I should."

Tara caught Willow by the shoulder. "Look, Willow," she said, with an edge to her voice that none of the Scoobies had ever heard from her before. "When we were safe at home you couldn't keep off the damn magic. The shop needs tidying? Magic. We want to see if Dawn's in the Bronze? You magically move everybody else out of the way. I'm in a bad mood with you? Hey, magic can fix that. Now we're in this place where magic is normal, and we're in danger and being attacked all the time, and you won't cast a single damn spell. Everyone is doing their part except for you. Start pulling your damn weight. Get over yourself." Tara snatched up one of the scrolls at random and forced it into Willow's hands. "Take the damn scrolls, learn the spells, and fry the damn monsters. Okay?" She turned her back on Willow and stalked off.

Willow's lower lip trembled. "Okay," she agreed in a small voice. She unrolled the scroll. "Flame Arrow. Material components, a drop of oil and a piece of flint."

"Uh, maybe you were just a touch hard on Willow there," Xander suggested to Tara.

"No. I was not," Tara said flatly. "Come on, I think we've just about cleaned this room out. Let's move on."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

They moved on and found a room occupied by inactive and unresponsive golems. Beyond that they were ambushed by goblins again, and there was another brief and almost one-sided battle in which Giles slew two goblins but took a deep cut to the arm. Tara healed him with a spell and made a point of doing so in front of Willow, who had still done nothing constructive.

After that they at last found Rielev.

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

Rielev dwelt, if you could call it that, in a bubbling vat of fluid. Preserved in a state neither dead nor alive, yet able to communicate. He had been, or so he said, a friend and colleague to 'the master', but had been condemned to the vat for some weakness or failure. He desired only death. His death, he revealed, could be brought about by removing the 'crystals' that powered the vat. Once removed, the crystals could then be used to awaken the slumbering prisoners inside the other room of vats. Rielev believed that one or more of them might know the way out of the complex.

Sorkatani granted his request, and there were tears visible on her cheeks as she pulled out the 'power crystals'. Buffy looked on with sad eyes.

"Rather be bloody dead myself than live like that," Spike muttered. "She's doing the right thing, pet."

"I guess," Buffy sighed. "The guy who runs this place is all kinds of sicko. I'm all in favor of finding him and kicking his ass."

"Yes, the ass of Evil should be well kicked," Minsc agreed. "I shall find him and he shall taste hamster justice!"

"Hope that's better than hamster jam," Spike said. "You can get chewed lips from hamster jam."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

The activation stone for the janitor golem was on a table in front of Rielev's tank. They took it and retraced their steps.

The power crystals did indeed awaken the creatures trapped in vats in the room that had so upset Imoen, but questioning them proved to be futile. The beings could not hear or see anything outside their vats. They rambled, distressingly, even horrifyingly, but that was all.

The ramblings did provide nuggets of information that might eventually turn out to be of practical value. There was a room belonging to 'the Mistress', which was apparently deadly. The 'Master' had a genie trapped within a bottle. A statue, small enough to be 'taken', was necessary to gain access to the genie. Meaningless at the moment, however, and the party left the room and went to activate the janitor golem.

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

"What the hell is that?" Xander stared unbelievingly at the hideous creature that barred their path.

"An otyugh," Sorkatani answered. "A carrion eater, but a predator too. Very dangerous. It takes little hurt from most weapons. Blunt or enchanted weapons can harm it, I think. Worst of all, its tentacles and bite carry a dread disease."

"I'm not surprised," Buffy said, watching the monster splash through sewage as it lumbered towards them. Its tentacles thrashed menacingly, and a huge maw full of jagged teeth gaped.

"Sounds like a job for me," Spike volunteered. "Disease can't hurt me, pet."

"I would recommend that you refrain from biting the otyugh," Jaheira advised.

"Wasn't going to, p- Jaheira," Spike replied, screwing up his mouth at the thought. He extended a hand to Buffy. "Give us the hammer, would you, love?" She passed him the weapon without comment. Spike grinned. "It's clobberin' time!" He hefted the hammer and charged.

Spike slammed home the hammer with vicious force. The otyugh's rubbery body shuddered under the impact, but it stayed standing and struck back with a tentacle. Spike dodged and struck again. A tentacle ripped through his suit and left bloody wheals on his shoulder. "That the best you've got?" Spike grunted, and hit the monster on the top of what approximated to a head.

The otyugh was sagging, obviously injured, when Spike slipped on the filthy stone surface and went down to one knee. He put a hand down to support himself and the otyugh lashed out with a tentacle, connecting with the arm that held the hammer and wrapping round to pinion the arm. Its huge mouth gaped wide and approached Spike's head.

Buffy raised her sword and sprang forward, as did Sorkatani and Minsc. Xander was only a pace behind them.

"No!" Willow yelled. Her hand pointed and arcane words burst from her mouth. A flaming arrow shot forth from her hand and streaked through the air to impale the otyugh. It writhed in apparent agony and lost its grip on Spike. He jumped up and swung the hammer. A second later Buffy arrived and slashed with her sword, with the others close behind. The otyugh went down under a hail of blows and stayed down.

"Are you all right?" Buffy asked.

"Been better," Spike replied, "but nothing serious." He passed the hammer back to Buffy and walked over to Willow. "Thanks, Red," he said. "Saved my bacon there."

She smiled. "Not something a Jewish girl does often. Are you okay?"

"Thanks to you, yeah. I'd hug you, pet, only I doubt if you'd appreciate it."

"Uh, yeah, you are pretty stinky. I'm glad you're okay, Spike."

"A mighty butt-kicking for the forces of Evil," Minsc boomed.

"Well done, Willow," Tara said. "I'm proud of you."

Willow's smile vanished. "Don't patronize me. I didn't want to see Spike get his head bitten off and I acted. I didn't think about it and I didn't do it so that you'd think better of me. I've had it with your blowing hot and cold." She turned her back on Tara and walked away.

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

"Things don't seem to be going too well for those two," Warren commented. "It doesn't look like we'll be seeing much in the way of hot girl-on-girl action."

"Oh, hi, Warren, I didn't know you were watching." Jonathan paused the game and hit Q for a quick-save.

"I wasn't. I just caught the end of that fight." Warren gazed at the screen. "If they take the exit to the right from there they get to the dryads, right? I so want to see what Spike makes of them."

Jonathan grinned. "Slurpees?"

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

The sewer confluence where they had fought the otyugh proved to be a fertile ground for scavenging. A stack of chests contained potions, scrolls, a key, a helmet, and a crossbow. Unfortunately it also contained a booby trap, which the thieves failed to spot, and a hidden spring-powered blade slashed a half-inch deep gash in Dawn's forearm. Tara had to cast her healing spell twice before the gash stopped bleeding and closed up.

"I don't think I've got much juice left," she admitted. "Uh, maybe one more at most. Try not to get hurt, guys."

"These potions are as effective as the spells," Jaheira pointed out. "There is no reason to despair as yet. Although the advice not to get hurt is sound anyway." She sighed. "I too have little left in the way of healing spells. I am tired, and hungry, and we have not yet seen any sign of my husband Khalid."

"Husband?" Giles exclaimed.

"Yes. He was with me when we were attacked and he too was captured. I fear for him."

"Ah, yes, quite. Well, don't despair, there seems to be rather a lot of rooms in this place. I'm sure we'll find him eventually." Giles fidgeted with his glasses and backed away, and then turned to Buffy and Sorkatani, who were examining the loot from the chests. "May I take the crossbow? I was never much of a hand with the longbow, but with a crossbow I can hit what I aim at."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

Another long corridor, another fight with goblins, and then something new. A chamber with carpets, tables, cabinets, shelves, and a padded armchair.

Imoen put out her arm and stopped Buffy as she was about to step onto the carpet. "Watch out for traps," she cautioned the Slayer. "Why would there be a carpet here? I suspect a hidden pit."

"With spikes at the bottom?"

"Quite possibly." Imoen crept cautiously onto the carpet, prodding it with her bow stave as she advanced. No pit, but there was a bear trap. Imoen managed to snatch the bow away before the jaws snapped shut; a leg would have been harder to save. One of the sets of shelves was booby-trapped too.

The treasures within the room were certainly worth protecting. A statuette, possibly the one that gave access to the genie in a bottle. A key that tingled with mystical power. An amulet that granted additional spells to a wizard or witch. An enchanted helmet, the Helm of Balduran, that Sorkatani told them was famed in her home city of Baldur's Gate as one of the items that had helped the adventurer Balduran become the mighty hero who had founded the city. She laid no claim to the helmet other than by the gleam in her eyes when she looked upon it, but everyone assented when Xander said "I guess that should go to you, huh?"

And, most eagerly greeted of all, a tray bearing a loaf of stale bread, a wedge of hard cheese, and an apple with wrinkled skin.

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

An antechamber to that room held an ambush party of goblins and another one of the devices that Xander insisted were transportation portals. His deduction was based upon their similarity to devices from _Star Trek_, rather than from any knowledge of this environment, but it seemed logical enough and his identification was accepted as correct.

Again they failed to find a way of activating the portal. It had a slot for a key, and they were accumulating an impressive collection of keys, but none of them were the right key for this slot. They cursed, looted the goblins, and moved on.

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

"Hello, nurse!" Spike's eyes widened and he let out a low whistle.

Xander's eyes widened as he too gazed at the beautiful and scantily-clad dryads. "You took the words right out of my mouth."

"It must have been as you were kissing me." Spike couldn't resist completing the line. Xander recoiled and his mouth screwed up. Anya had started to aim a disapproving glare at her fiancé but Spike's words defused her anger and she burst into laughter instead.

Sorkatani cast a brief puzzled glance at the strangers to her world but then dismissed their incomprehensible behavior from her mind and advanced to speak to the dryads.

They revealed that they were slaves, concubines, to the owner of the complex. They pleaded for help and claimed that if their acorns were taken to the Dryad Queen in the Windspear Hills they would be able to escape their captor, Irenicus. They could not exist away from their trees unless the acorns were there to receive them.

Sorkatani immediately offered to help. The acorns, however, were in the possession of Ilyich, the leader of Irenicus' duergar mercenaries.

"Duergar?" Spike put in. "The famous disappearing racehorse?"

That interjection produced a chuckle from Giles and blank looks from everyone else.

"The Dark Dwarves," Sorkatani explained, frowning at the vampire. "If we find this Ilyich we shall retrieve your acorns and do our best to take them to your Queen. If we can escape this place ourselves, that is."

"If you bring us the acorns we shall tell you how to escape," one of the dryads replied.

Sorkatani clucked her tongue in irritation. "That is unfair. We would help you anyway; there is no need to withhold that information to compel our compliance. Ah well, I suppose I cannot blame you. Very well, we shall return with the acorns, if it is in our power."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

Beyond the dryad grove they found a bedchamber. Richly furnished and decorated, and full of tripwires, alarms, and traps. They missed an alarm and a bell sounded. Nothing happened immediately and they searched the room for valuables and weapons.

Imoen had, apparently, been shown the room before. She began to mutter about her captor and what he had done to her. Sorkatani again tried to comfort her, and she was taken by surprise when a golem burst into the room.

"The sanctity of the mistress' room has been violated. The intruders must die," the golem grunted, and knocked Sorkatani to the ground.

Buffy kicked it into the wall. Minsc charged it with a war hammer. Giles struck it with his staff. Buffy hit it with her own hammer as it bounced back from the wall and it crumpled to the ground.

"You are a great warrior," Minsc praised Buffy. "You kick the butt of Evil most mightily. Boo says – duck!"

"Huh?" Buffy looked at him uncomprehendingly and was knocked to the ground by the fist of a second golem as it attacked with blinding speed.

Spike snarled and leaped to the attack. Giles, Xander, and Minsc followed close behind and the golem was destroyed in less than a minute.

"We will have matching headaches, sister in arms," Sorkatani said to Buffy.

"I guess so," Buffy replied, rubbing her head, and she turned to Minsc. "Next time, I'll duck when you say duck. Or when Boo says duck. I thought it was, like, boo to a goose."

"Boo would not goose you," Minsc assured her. "He is a well-brought up and polite hamster."


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter Three**

"Oh, this reminds me so much of Candlekeep," Imoen commented. "Dusty old tomes all over, bookcases nearly spilling, it's like we never left."

Giles ran his fingers over a shelf of books. "It inspires certain feelings of, ah, homesickness in me too."

"Yeah, including the whole being attacked by homicidal monsters in among the book stacks thing," Xander put in. "Just like old times."

"Check the shelves for spell-books," Sorkatani ordered Imoen.

"That seems like a good idea to me," Buffy said. "Will, Giles, you do the same, 'kay?"

"I'm on it," Willow assented.

"Certainly." Giles began to take books from the shelves one after the other, scanning through each before putting it back. He read a little more of the book each time. By the fifth he abandoned his mission and stood reading the text.

"Uh, Giles, back on topic," Buffy prompted him.

"What? Oh, yes. This could be very useful, you know. A history of Baldur's Gate. We must learn more about this culture if we are to spend any time here."

"We might not be even in Baldiegate," Buffy pointed out. "Sorkatani didn't recognize the money, remember? If the book's so interesting, take it with you. Let's just find what we need to get the hell out of here."

"Oh, very well." Giles sighed and returned to his task.

"I don't know why you didn't ask me," Anya complained. "It's not as if haven't got experience with spells, and shelves, and finding items for impatient customers."

"I kinda thought you might not need to be asked," Buffy said. "Okay, Anya, would you help search the shelves for anything useful like, you know, spell-books and things?"

Anya's smile spread across her whole face. "Why, of course, Buffy, since you ask so nicely." She hastened to the nearest shelf and began industriously sorting through the books.

Buffy frowned at her for a moment and then looked away. She met Sorkatani's eyes. "Uh, Anya can be a little strange sometimes," Buffy said.

Minsc was frowning at the bookshelves. "Swords, not words!" he grumbled. "Evil cannot stand before the might of a righteous man and his hamster."

Sorkatani grinned and raised an eyebrow. "You were saying?"

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

Spike pulled his fangs from Ilych's throat and allowed his face to resume its human appearance. "Tough little bugger," he remarked. "Think he cracked a couple of my ribs."

"You'll heal," Buffy said unsympathetically. The sight of Spike drinking the blood of a dwarf, as close to human as made no difference, was making her fingers itch for her stake. "Isn't he the one with those acorn things?"

"Think so." Spike began to explore the body and found several pouches tied to the dwarf's belt. He ripped them free and opened them up. "Fair bit of cash. Hey, food! Only more black bread and cheese, but it's something. And, lookee here, acorns. Good thing we bumped into those dryad bints before we came this way or we'd have probably fed them to Boo." He handed the acorns to Sorkatani.

"His armor is of fine quality," Sorkatani observed.

"Never fit you, pet," Spike said. "Bloke's a bit on the short squat size. Won't fit any of us, worse luck."

"Strip it from him anyway. I think that you will be surprised."

"Oh, all right." Spike pulled the armor free and tossed the dwarf's limp corpse down on the floor. Buffy winced. Spike held the armor out to Sorkatani. "Here you are."

The warrior girl examined the coat of mail. "A fine hauberk indeed. Jaheira, what do you make of this?"

Jaheira scrutinized the links, and paid particular attention to the steel plates that reinforced the shoulders. "The Mail of the Dead," she declared. "There is the emblem of Vorusta. There can be no mistake."

"The Mail of the Dead?" Sorkatani quirked an eyebrow and offered the hauberk to Spike. "Then it is obvious who should wear it."

"Uh, ta, love, but it's a bit short for me, innit? That Ilyich geezer was a foot and a half shorter than me. It'll be like a sodding crop-top."

"Trust me," Sorkatani said, smiling.

"Oh, all right." Spike shrugged off his tattered suit jacket and pulled the leather-lined mail coat over his head. He tugged it down over his chest and the armor extended as he pulled. "Bloody hell!"

"I told you," Sorkatani said.

"Sodding brilliant!" Spike grinned happily for a moment and then shook his head. "Hang on a minute. Should I be the one to get this? Still a couple of the rest of us without any armor. I'm pretty hard to kill anyway."

Giles took off his glasses and then replaced them. "I'm surprised, and rather pleased, that you feel that way, Spike. I agree with Sorkatani. You should have that armor."

"Mail of the Dead for the Dead Male," Xander agreed. Blood was trickling from his nose, broken during the fight against the half-dozen duergar guards, and Anya was dabbing at it with a shred of torn clothing. "And, got to say, it looks better on you than that stupid jacket."

"Hasn't got any pockets, though," Spike grumbled. "Where am I going to keep my ciggies?"

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

"Okay, we've got the acorns. So, we head off back to the dryads, I guess." Buffy picked up a morning star from the duergar weapons rack and swung it idly.

"Uh, wait a minute, Buffster." Xander's nose had stopped bleeding now, but it was still swollen and his nostrils were crusted with dried blood. "I see these guys and I think… kitchens."

"Huh?"

"They have to eat, right? And I don't mean just one piece of bread and cheese. An army marches on its stomach, or whatever. These guys were guards, they had to have rations, and we've got to have rations too. My stomach is kinda forgetting what it's like to have food inside. I vote that we search along that way for their kitchen, or food store, or canteen or whatever."

"Boo says that Xander speaks wisely," Minsc agreed. "I too am still very hungry."

"Okay, okay," Buffy said. "What do you say, Sorkatani?"

"I agree." Sorkatani raised her sword and headed for the room's exit. "We search for food."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

"Stop!" Anya's voice rang out loudly and urgently.

Imoen froze. "What is it?"

"Tripwire," Anya told her. "Just in front of you." She moved forward and pointed. "Not very well concealed, really. I would have done it better."

Imoen flushed. "I should have seen it. Thank you."

"Ah, perhaps we have discovered Anya's abilities," Giles said. "Another thief, it would seem."

"Thief? I don't think so." Anya wrinkled her nose. "I don't feel any urge to take hard-earned goods and negotiable currency away from the rightful owners."

"Oh. Right. Very well." Giles frowned, removed his glasses, and felt for the hem of his shirt to use as a polishing cloth. His hand struck the leather jerkin that he wore as armor and he abandoned his intended action. "Pity. I thought that we'd made a discovery there."

"Oh well, whatever Anya is, I'm sure she's a very good whatever," Buffy said. "Move on, people."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

"Stupid genie," Xander grumbled. "I thought they were supposed to grant you, like, three wishes."

"Wishes can be bad," Willow muttered.

"Okay, the 'w' word, usually of the bad, but we could have been careful. Anyway, all we got was one sword."

"It is a mighty weapon," Sorkatani said. "The Sword of Chaos. It belonged to my half-brother."

"Oh. So, you gonna give it back to him?"

"No." Sorkatani looked down at her feet. "I killed him."

"He was evil," Jaheira said. "We shed no tears for Sarevok."

"I do not want the sword," Sorkatani said. "I kept it only so that it did not fall into the hands of another such."

"It's not, like, cursed or something?" Xander asked.

"No. It is powerful, but neither good nor evil. It has certain healing powers for the one who wields it. It is only because it is a two-handed weapon that I do not desire it for myself. I like to wield one weapon in each hand. Minsc owned Spider's Bane at that time, an even finer blade, and did not want the Sword of Chaos. Perhaps you should take it, Xander?"

"For me?" Xander swallowed. "Uh, that would be cool, but, I don't know, maybe Minsc might like it? Or, and I don't know why I'm saying this, Spike? Or Buffy, of course."

"I know!" Anya piped up. "Draw lots."

"Count me out," Buffy said. "I'm okay with this sword and the hammer."

"I got the good armor," Spike said. "Doesn't seem fair for me to get the sword too."

"Boo says, every hamster has his day," Minsc said. He frowned. "I do not know why he says that. It has nothing to do with this sword."

"Okay," Xander said, "if it's just between me and the big guy, we could toss a coin. I call heads."

"And I call tails. Although Boo's tail is very small."

Sorkatani produced a coin and tossed it. "Heads it is. Take the Sword of Chaos, Xander, and use it well."

"I'll give it my best shot," Xander promised. "I wonder what its plusses are? Plus two, plus three even?" Everyone looked at him uncomprehendingly. "Okay, forget it. Hey, wait a minute! It's a two-handed sword. I won't be able to use my shield."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

The party gathered in front of the portal. "Wonder where it's going to take us? Be just my luck if it was right out in the sodding sunshine," Spike said. "Anybody any idea what time of day it is?"

Xander looked at his watch. "Eleven at night Sunnydale time. Not that that means a damn thing here. Better get ready to hold a coat over your head, Evil Dead."

"I have lost track of the passing of the hours," Jaheira said. "There is no sun or moon in this place."

"I wonder how the trees grow in the Dryad grove, with no sun?" Tara mused.

"Easy," Xander said, grinning. "A wizard did it."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

The portal did not take them into the sunshine. They used the key to activate the teleportation device, stepped one after another through the shimmering screen of force, and emerged in another stone-walled chamber not unlike the one that they had just left. Those at the front stumbled as the ones behind caught up with them and collided, and there was some pushing and jostling before everyone was through and standing in some kind of formation.

"So there is sanity in all of this madness," a voice greeted them. "If you are not in league with the evil that dwells in this unholy place, Yoshimo begs your assistance."

The speaker was a man of Oriental appearance. Perhaps five feet five inches tall, slim but wiry of build, and with jet black hair tied in a topknot. He wore a studded leather jerkin and held a katana in one hand.

Minsc had ended up at the front of the group, nearest to the man, and looked down at him with a frown on his face. "We serve no evil mages. But Boo looks upon you with suspicion, little man. How is it that you come to be here? Never have I seen his whiskers quiver so!"

"I am not sure how I came to be here," the stranger replied. "Much like you, I suspect. I have been trying to find a way out, but I have failed so far. I have been wounded in my attempts."

"How did you come to be trapped here?" Jaheira pressed him.

"It is, ah, quite embarrassing." Yoshimo coughed. "My profession does not leave itself open to those who are not wary, yet somehow I was caught unawares."

Sorkatani moved towards him. "Your profession? And what would that be?"

"I am a bounty hunter," Yoshimo revealed.

"A bounty hunter? So am I," Anya cried. "That's it! That's what I am."

"They came in search of paradise," Spike quoted, "but all they found was chocolate-coated shredded coconut."

Giles chuckled. Buffy looked from one to the other. "You know," she said, "sometimes I think that all British people are seriously strange."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

"Why'd you make her a Bounty Hunter, dude?" Warren asked.

Jonathan shrugged. "I don't know. It just seemed to fit. She's all about the money. And her stats came out right for the kit."

"Will she, like, start wearing a poncho?" Andrew wondered. "And smoking those thin cigars?"

Warren sniggered. "Maybe she'll start smoking a pipe like Colonel Mortimer."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

"I came to Athkatla some years ago from Kara-Tur to seek my fortune," Yoshimo related. "One night I went to my bed in the Copper Coronet and awoke in a strange room with a very sore head."

"Athkatla?" Imoen said. "That's the City of Coin, right, in Amn? We come from Baldur's Gate. You think we're in Amn?"

"I am unsure. I was drugged, I think. I do not know how long for. I was not particularly hungry when I awoke, though, and so I do not think that I could have been unconscious for all that long. I suspect that I have been taken no great distance."

"Logical," Sorkatani said.

"My hunger was mighty when I awoke," Minsc said.

"Isn't it always?" Imoen teased.

Minsc smiled at Yoshimo, his previous suspicions forgotten. "Then you too know the hardship of being set into a maze like a helpless hamster. We are comrades in peril. Boo asks what you propose we do next, little man."

"Search for a way out," Yoshimo replied.

"Hey, I thought this was supposed to be the exit," Buffy moaned.

"That would seem not to be the case, alas," Giles said. "I fear that we have no alternative but to continue our search for an egress."

Buffy frowned. "And we're going to get shown the way out by some stupid bird?"

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

The room was obviously a torture chamber. A heavy oak table stood against one wall and a dead body lay upon it. The corpse had been mutilated to such an extent that even Spike hesitated to look at it. Buffy positioned herself to shield Dawn's eyes from the ghastly sight.

Jaheira looked at it with the impassionate gaze of one well accustomed to gruesome death and then froze. She stood rigid for a moment and then advanced haltingly towards the table, eyes wide, and stared at it. "Kha-Khalid?" she gasped. "No! No!"

"Oh my God," Buffy gasped.

"Khalid?" Sorkatani moved to stand beside her friend. "No. Please. No."

Jaheira stretched out a trembling hand but did not touch the corpse. "This cannot be. It is an illusion, a bad dream." She laughed shrilly and almost hysterically. "An illusion! Where are the mirrors? The switches to pull to, to show where he is hidden… Khalid?" Her lips drew back from her teeth. "Damn you! I will have the heart of whoever has done this! I will tear their blackened heart from their… I will…"

"Khalid?" Sorkatani seemed stunned and almost equally grief-stricken. "What has happened? Why?" She put her hand upon her friend's shoulder.

"Shut up!" Jaheira snapped. "No more words. Words are nothing."

Sorkatani recoiled and took her hand away and then stood silent with tears trickling down her cheeks.

Buffy's group stayed silent. No-one had any idea of what they could say. Dawn began to cry quietly.

"I knew him not, but I mourn for your loss," Yoshimo ventured.

"Stranger! Nobody! I will not hear your words," Jaheira almost growled. "Leave me."

"A brave man has fallen here, but that is no reason to hurl insults at the living," Minsc chided her gently. "Here, Boo shall comfort you."

"Imbecile! Affront to nature! What do you and your rodent know? What can you know? No more words. Save your speeches. The only voice I wish to hear is… is dead! No more! No…" She sank to her knees and burst into deep, wrenching, sobs.

Sorkatani replaced her hand on Jaheira's shoulder, and then knelt down and pulled her friend into a hug. Jaheira resisted for a moment and then embraced Sorkatani, leaned against her, and cried.

Eventually she recovered herself to some extent and pulled away slightly. She recited a prayer and then clambered to her feet. "We must move on," she said in a bleak and empty voice. "Move on and seek the light."

"Can we not try to have him raised?" Sorkatani suggested. "Perhaps if we take him to a temple?"

Buffy shuddered.

"Beyond a point there can be no raising," Jaheira said. "Especially when… the body… has been desecrated. We live in a time of miracles, and nature allows the rebirth of many that have passed the veil, but there is a time when… it is better… to let go."

Willow moved away from the back of the group, staggered back into the room that they had just passed through, and threw up.

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

The party moved on in somber silence. There was no more levity. Their next battles were undertaken with a grim and sober resolve. Imps and goblins fell before their remorseless swords and they moved on into a region of the complex that appeared to be an actual building rather than an underground chamber, although there were no windows.

A floor mosaic surrounded by columns turned out to be full of ingenious and deadly traps. Disarming these gained the party an armory of magical wands; devices that spat forth fire, ice, electrical bolts and poison gas. They shared them out in coldly logical fashion and Willow accepted the Wand of Fire without hesitation.

All were now badly in need of sleep. Even Spike's eyelids drooped if he remained still for long. There seemed nothing else to do but to press on, and so they did.

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

"Should we let them sleep?" Andrew suggested. "They're, like, totally getting fatigued."

"I want to get them out first," Jonathan said. "I never liked the way you can sleep in Irenicus' dungeon without it mattering. It's kinda illogical. Hey, one time I rested the party so often that it took them three days to get out, and the fight outside was still going on. Totally illogical, Captain."

"Yeah, the designers screwed up there," Andrew admitted.

"I could do better," Warren said.

"Oh yeah?" Jonathan challenged. "It's still a totally awesome game, dude."

"As good as it gets, except maybe for 'Planescape: Torment'," agreed Warren. "Only, suppose there was a game with infinite variations? Where you could do, like, absolutely anything? Romance options for every NPC in the whole thing?"

"Yeah, that would be totally cool," Jonathan agreed. "You're not thinking…?"

"I am," Warren confirmed. "If I can isolate the way the magic changed the code…" He stared at his own monitor and scratched his head. "It's not easy. Some of it, well, it's working but I can't work out how. But if I can crack it, I can make games that would make 'The Sims' look like 'Minesweeper'. We could be millionaires, guys. Zillionaires."

"Are we still going on with The Plan?" Andrew asked. "I mean, to rule Sunnydale?"

Warren scratched his head again. "I dunno, man. It's cool to be a supervillain, yeah, but maybe being a game designer would be even cooler."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

"We are not your enemies," Sorkatani insisted. "We wish only to escape from this place. And to set Irenicus' head upon a pike. We should work together, not fight."

"Do you think us fools?" the assassin sneered. "Foolish indeed would we be to take allies from those we meet in the stronghold of the enemy. Your master dies above, and you shall join him!" He sprang forward, dagger raised, and died upon Sorkatani's blade.

Around the party the darkness came alive. An assassin vaulted over a railing and struck at Tara. Another stepped from behind a cabinet and stabbed down at Giles' back. A bowman loosed a shaft at Jaheira. At the rear of the party a figure came out of a shadow and slipped a garotte over Anya's head.

The Sword of Chaos hissed through the air. Anya's assailant let the garotte fall from nerveless fingers and toppled to the ground. Xander drew back the sword, saw the great gash that he had made in the man's skull, and felt the gorge rise in his throat.

Buffy lashed out with her hammer. The man attacking Giles was hurled from his feet and crashed into the chamber wall. He slid down the wall and lay still.

Spike saw a dagger aimed at Tara. No-one else was close enough to intervene in time. He lashed out with a kick, bracing himself for the pain from the chip, and sent the assassin sprawling. Giles brought down his quarterstaff on the assassin's head.

Spike clutched at his head, anticipating a searing pain, and then let his hand fall and stood confused.

There was no pain.

"It didn't hurt!" he announced. "The chip didn't hurt!" His gleeful gaze met Tara's wide eyes and he read fear in them. He looked around and found that he was the focus of the attention of the entire Sunnydale group. Buffy's eyes were filled with cold hostility. Spike's smile disappeared. "Oh, bugger!"

Buffy dropped her hammer to the ground. "No chip." She drew her sword. "I'm sorry, Spike, but we always knew this would happen one day."

"Buffy, no!" Dawn protested.

"Close your eyes, Dawn," Buffy ordered. "You don't want to see this."

"Now, wait a minute, Slayer," Spike said nervously, backing away with his hands raised. He collided with Minsc's massive chest and was brought to a halt.

"Boo says, what?" Minsc frowned at Buffy.

"Out of the way, Minsc," Buffy warned. "Spike's dangerous."

"Uh, Buffy," Tara began.

"What madness is this?" Sorkatani demanded. She moved to stand beside Minsc, her scimitar poised to strike, but her eyes were fixed on Buffy rather than on Spike. "Cease! You turn on your comrade. Are you mad, or possessed?"

"Spike's dangerous," Buffy told her. "The chip's stopped working."

"I know not what you mean," Sorkatani said, "and nor do I care. He has proven himself as brave and true a companion as any. Strike at him at your peril. I stand by him."

"And I." Jaheira's face was stony and her lips were a tight straight line. She pointed her spear at Buffy.

"Boo says, all for one and one for all." Minsc brought his own sword to the guard position to defend Spike.

Imoen didn't speak, but moved to join her companions.

"Spike's wrecking everything again," Xander growled. "Splitting us up. Turning us against each other."

"That is so not fair!" Dawn protested. "Spike didn't do anything."

"Except save my life," Tara said. "Stop it, Buffy."

"He's unsouled and chipless. I have to kill him."

"No you don't, Buffy," Willow said. "He's not Angelus."

"We don't have to do this, Slayer," Spike said. "What bloody difference does the chip make anyway? I still love you. Still promised to protect Dawn. Not gonna hurt you, or your pals."

"I can't trust you, Spike." Buffy sized up Sorkatani warily. She had seen the Oriental girl display a chilling lethality with that curved sword in a score of fights. Buffy was stronger, she knew that, and faster, but Sorkatani was a mistress of her weapons and killed without hesitation or remorse. "He's a vampire, Sorkatani. You don't want to protect him."

"He was a vampire ten minutes ago when you stood shoulder to shoulder with him," Sorkatani pointed out.

"She has a point, Buffy," Giles said. "I really don't think that Spike is suddenly going to turn on us. Not here, in a strange land, where we're each other's only allies."

"Spike would never hurt me," Dawn insisted.

"Spike saved me," Tara repeated. "It's not fair treating him like this. He thought he was going to suffer for saving me and he still did it."

"And hey, he's still suffering," Willow said. "Only not the way he thought. Put the sword down, Buffy. Hey, if we start fighting each other, we're all going to get killed."

"Fine! You win!" Buffy spat out, and sheathed her sword. "Only when we get out of here, and Spike starts chowing down on the locals, don't you dare go blaming me."

"I won't do that," Spike said. "Not except on people who attack me first. Right? I can control myself. I'm not a bloody animal." He turned around and faced Sorkatani. "Thanks for that, pet – Sorkatani. Means a lot that you'd stand up for me. And you, Jaheira. Imoen. Minsc. And, of course, Boo."


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter Four**

The girl was pretty, in a sultry way, with olive skin and raven hair. Her blue silk dress clung to a voluptuous but lithe figure. "Ah, excellent," she purred in seductively rich tones. "I see that I am to be provided fresh blood for once."

"Where is your master, fiend?" the leather-clad man confronting her demanded. "We seek Irenicus. Give us that upstart and you shall survive." The two henchmen at his back drew their bows and sighted along the shafts.

"Already I am dead, thief," the girl crooned. "Join me in darkness."

"Enough! Kill this creature and raze the guild. Irenicus shall learn what it means to oppose the Shadow Thieves."

"Vampire!" Sorkatani hissed from just inside the door of the chamber where the confrontation was taking place. "Kill her." Her fingers flew as she nocked an arrow and loosed.

Spike raised his crossbow and fired without hesitation. Minsc loosed a shaft. Jaheira whirled a sling about her head and let fly. Giles and Xander fired their crossbows. Yoshimo followed suit with a shortbow.

The vampire woman was already in motion. She seized the Shadow Thief spokesman and spun him into place as a shield against the arrows from his henchmen. She carried him in front of her as she charged, slammed him into one of the bowmen, and kicked out to disarm the other. Her fangs sank home into a throat.

Arrows and crossbow bolts thudded home in her back even as she bit. She snarled and turned, raising her prey as a shield against the new attackers, and charged. Spike ran to meet her, dropped low, and swept her legs out from under her. Buffy's sword bit into the vampire's neck and took off her head.

She didn't dust.

Her body dissolved into a cloud of white vapor and drifted away. The Shadow Thief's body fell to the ground and its head lolled to one side.

"Oh, bollocks!" Spike swore. "Sodding gypsy tricks."

Sorkatani showed no sign of surprise. "Follow it to its coffin and stake the body," she said in tones of command. Jaheira moved to obey.

Spike raised an eyebrow. "That really how it works here, pet?"

"So your vampires are like Dracula? Sleep in a coffin, turn to mist?" Buffy asked.

"Yours are not?" Sorkatani raised an eyebrow.

"Sleep in a coffin? Not bloody likely." Spike shook his head. "This lot are bloody posers, it – hey!"

An arrow glanced off the Mail of the Dead and fell to the floor beside Spike. Even as he turned another arrow struck, gashing his forearm below the sleeves of the mail coat. "Bloody hell!" he shouted at the two surviving Shadow Thieves, who were drawing their bows for further shots. "We're not your sodding enemies! My enemy's enemy is my friend, right?"

They ignored him and loosed again. He rolled and dodged. One of the arrows struck Minsc in the thigh. The party unleashed their own volley of bolts and arrows in answer and the thieves fell.

"Are those blokes seriously stupid or what?" Spike grumbled.

Jaheira returned. "The vampire escaped," she reported. "It entered an air shaft, a mere pipe, and I could not follow."

"Perhaps I could?" Dawn suggested.

"Hardly, child," Jaheira told her. She held her hands four or five inches apart. "The pipe was only this size."

"Hey, I wonder if Spike would turn to smoke like that if we staked him? Maybe we should find out," Xander said.

Tara turned from where she was tending to Minsc's wound. "Xander! That's not funny."

"Who was joking?" Xander shook his head. "I still think we should stake Spike."

"I thought I was passing the Sword of Chaos to a warrior, not to a mean-spirited fool," Sorkatani snapped.

Xander flushed. "Listen, lady, you don't know the history between us and Spike."

"Like when we worked together all summer? Like when I saved Buffy from burning up?" Spike reminded him, a bitter edge to his voice.

Giles sighed. "Please, both of you, stop it. You are giving me a headache. I must say, Xander, I'm rather disappointed in you."

"Yeah, Xander, stop it. For me?" Willow pleaded.

Xander simultaneously pouted and frowned. "Okay. Sorry I said that, Spike." The apology was hardly more than a grunt.

"I'm used to it," Spike grunted in return. He walked away a few yards to where the bodies of two thieves lay and began to search them for coin and useful items of equipment.

"And are you disappointed in me too?" Buffy challenged Giles.

"Frankly, yes." Giles took off his glasses and pinched the bridge of his nose. "I must say that Spike has behaved rather well since we were brought to this place. We have enough troubles without you needlessly antagonizing him."

Buffy's eyebrows shot up. "And what happened to 'I'll never want your opinion, Spike'?"

"I was wrong. Not half an hour after I said that Spike saved your life while I was just standing there doing nothing but, well, watching." Giles replaced his glasses. "Your own attitude to Spike is hardly consistent. You have actively sought his help, even his company, on a regular basis since your, ah, return. Why shun him now?"

Buffy rolled her eyes. "Because of the chip. It's stopped working. He was a serial killer in prison, and now he's escaped. We can't trust him."

"I suspect that there is nothing wrong with the chip. I don't know if Xander is right about us being somehow trapped inside a computer game, or if we are in an alternate dimension – perhaps one that somehow influenced the creation of the game – but it seems to me that the chip simply might not operate according to the parameters that define this world. If, or rather when, we return to Sunnydale I am sure that the chip will once more be in perfect working order."

"And if it isn't?"

"We can cross that bridge when we come to it. Spike's affection for Dawn is perfectly genuine, of that I have no doubt. It may act as a brake on his desire for wanton carnage, perhaps as effectively as the chip itself."

"And his 'affection' for me?"

"Led him to endure a quite horrific beating for your sake, I might remind you, and inspired him to patrol alongside us when you were, ah, in no position to be won over by his actions."

"When I was dead, you mean."

"Ah, yes. I would, of course, be appalled if you did reciprocate his affections – a ridiculous idea, I know – but he does deserve to be treated with some degree of courtesy and respect." Giles rubbed his forehead. "I need to sleep. We all need to sleep. Perhaps that is why our tempers are fraying."

Jaheira handed Spike a bottle. "This potion will heal your wound. I have but one healing spell remaining, and I would hold it back lest aid is needed by one who is unconscious and who cannot drink."

"Makes sense," Spike said, his eyes fixed on where Buffy and Giles were carrying on their conversation some yards away. He could hear them, but they were far enough away that they might not realize that. 'Giles is being fair to me for once,' he thought. 'Question is, will the Slayer take any notice?' He tore his attention away from them and drained the vial of healing potion. "Great stuff! Taken the pain right away from my ribs, too. Thanks, Jaheira."

"It is my duty to tend to any of our band who requires attention," Jaheira said with no friendliness in either her expression or her tone. "That is all. There is no need to thank me."

"No reason why I shouldn't be polite, either."

Jaheira nodded briefly and then walked away with no further words.

Sorkatani came to stand beside Spike. "Forgive her if she seemed rude."

"No problem, pet. She's been through a lot." Spike grimaced and shook his head. "The bloke who runs this place is a right bastard."

"Indeed." Sorkatani glanced around the group. "There is much friction within your group. This is not good. Dissension is a more deadly peril than any outside enemy. I sense that we are nearing the exit of this place. Once outside, it may be that our groups might go their separate ways. If so, you would be welcome to travel with me."

Spike raised an eyebrow. "Thanks, pet. I might take you up on that. Don't want to leave them, though. I made a promise to protect Dawn, until the end of the world, and I wouldn't want to go back on it. Even if her sister is being a right pain in the arse."

Sorkatani looked from Spike to Buffy and then back again. "A lovers' quarrel?"

Spike's eyebrows shot up. "What makes you say that? Yeah, I love her, but it's just one way. Had thought she was getting to like me, but it seems I was wrong."

"Perhaps. I have little experience in matters of the heart. It seems to me, though, that – no matter. Let us move on."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

"Something about this seems not right to me," Jaheira said.

"I concur." Sorkatani stared through a glass pane at the old man, locked in the room beyond, who claimed to be yet another prisoner.

"What's up?" Xander asked. "The old guy's locked in. Why not let him out?"

"Furniture," Sorkatani pointed out. "Tables, desks, an armchair, a bed. We were not so comfortable. Iron cages for us. A bare room for Imoen. Yoshimo, where were you imprisoned?"

"In that chamber where we fought the vampire." Yoshimo shuddered. "Perhaps I was to have been food for the creature. I came close to blundering into the wand traps when I escaped."

"You see?" Sorkatani shook her head. "Yet I see items within the room that would be of use to us. And look, there is food on the table! I am torn."

"He's just an old guy. How much danger can he be?" Xander shook his head. "There are twelve of us."

"Thirteen, in fact," Sorkatani corrected him. "And there are warriors and creatures in this world who could slay all thirteen in a heartbeat. Such beings, however, would not be restrained by a simple locked door. Perhaps my caution is excessive. Very well, then, we shall open the door. Unless you say otherwise, Buffy?"

"No, let the old guy out," Buffy said.

"Thank you, good people," the old man said, as Imoen opened the door of the chamber. "I have no skill in combat, but I will follow you from this place, if I may. I will try to stay out of the way."

"Fine, you do that," said Buffy, hardly looking at the man. "Okay, we've got the drill off pretty pat by now. Loot the room and move on, right?"

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

"At last it seems that we are getting somewhere," Sorkatani observed with satisfaction in her voice. They were proceeding along a broad tunnel with a sewer channel along the middle. "I believe that I can see daylight ahead. Maybe we've found the way out."

"You have found only your own deaths, foolish apes," the old man boomed out in a voice very different from the one with which he had pleaded for aid. His face transformed, the features fading, leaving him with only eyes, nostril slits, and a broad lipless mouth. He grew, rising to seven feet in height, and long arms reached out for Sorkatani.

She thrust backwards with her scimitar without even looking at him. Simultaneously Imoen knifed the creature in the side. Jaheira dropped the butt of her spear to the ground, wedged it against her foot, and angled the weapon towards the monster. Minsc grabbed the creature by one arm. Sorkatani released her scimitar, leaving it sticking out of the strange being's stomach, and caught the other arm. Together Minsc and Sorkatani pulled the creature forward and ran it into Jaheira's braced spear, impaling it, and it screamed horribly, jerked, and went limp.

Sorkatani pulled her scimitar free and wiped the blade clean. "Doppelganger," she explained to a wide-eyed and open-mouthed Buffy. "Baldur's Gate was plagued by such creatures. It is said that they are very intelligent, but I have always thought them stupid. They are so convinced that they are superior to us that they will attack against overwhelming odds. They can be dangerous if they get right in amongst you in a melee, for they will change their appearance to impersonate one of the group and friend may strike friend in error, but they pose no great threat if you keep your wits about you."

Jaheira looked at her spear. It transfixed the doppelganger, the point and two feet of shaft protruding from the creature's back, and it was coated with blood and slime. The shaft appeared to be cracked. Jaheira shook her head, unstrapped a shield from her back, and slipped her arm through its grips. Sorkatani tossed her the scimitar and looked to Minsc, who was carrying a bundle of spare weapons on his back, and the huge warrior unslung the bundle and opened it for Sorkatani's perusal. She selected a katana, fastened its scabbard at her side, and practiced drawing and resheathing the weapon a couple of times.

"Thought that bloke didn't smell quite right," Spike muttered.

"You could smell him? A useful talent," Sorkatani said.

"Trouble is, 'm getting a bit overwhelmed here," Spike said. "Place stinks. We're all bloody filthy, all you humans are sweaty, blood all over the place. Not easy for me to pick scents out, pet."

"Yeah, we could all use a bath," Buffy remarked. "We're getting to smell pretty gross."

"That's right." Dawn looked at Xander. "I guess that means your idea that we're all inside a computer game has to be wrong. I mean, computers have sound cards, and graphics cards, but they don't have smell cards. So this has got to be a real world."

Xander shook his head. "It's all pretty much D&D, anyway. Hell, we've even got Character Classes! Okay, so maybe we can't actually be in a computer, but I still think that it's the game. Maybe the guys who wrote the game dreamed about this place. Or some nerd is dreaming and we're all stuck inside his whacky D&D nightmare." He grinned at Willow.

His grin was not reflected in Willow's expression. Her eyes were screwed up and her mouth turned down. "It's all my fault," Willow said. "I did a spell. I wanted us to forget about the things that were making us unhappy. Well, I guess pretty much everything was making us unhappy. Maybe it didn't make us forget, just took us away from Sunnydale, and money worries, and the Hellmouth and all that shit. And yeah, I was stupid. And selfish. And I lied to you, Tara. I know."

"I can't see how the spell you describe could have brought us here," Giles said. "This place is hardly a paradise."

"Even though it does have Bounty Hunters," Spike put in.

Giles laughed. "Indeed. Seriously, though, Willow, I find it hard to reconcile your spell with the results, but there may be something in your hypothesis. You may have made us vulnerable to attack by some other force, a wizard or demon perhaps."

"Ethan Rayne?" Buffy suggested.

Giles frowned. "I wouldn't have thought that Dungeons and Dragons was quite his style, but I suppose that it is a possibility. The Initiative may have released him from custody after the collapse of their operations in Sunnydale. Hmm." He turned his attention back to Willow. "You were foolish, yes, Willow. Your actions were ill-considered. I see no point in dwelling on it, however. Does the timing of your spell coincide exactly with our transportation to this place?"

"Yeah. I set a fire going with some Lethe's Bramble just before I set off for the Magic Box. When the fire went out the spell would kick in and the crystal would go black."

"Crystal?"

"Yeah. I checked it after I got to the magic box, and it was still green. It's in my pouch. Oh! Crystal. If I break it then it breaks the spell!" Her hand went to her pouch.

"Wait," Tara said. "Don't break it just yet." She ducked her head and let her hair fall across her face as she realized that everyone was staring at her.

"You like being in this place?" Buffy said. Her eyebrows were raised almost into her hairline.

"Uh, no, but, we can't just leave Sorkatani like this. We have to stay until she gets out of this place. She might still need our help."

Sorkatani smiled at her. "Thank you, Tara. Spoken like a true comrade."

"But not in the Communist sense, I hope," Anya put in.

"I guess," Buffy said, sounding reluctant. "But do it the second she gets out, okay?"

"Uh, guys," Willow said, "it's out of our hands anyway. No crystal. I haven't even opened this pouch since we got here, which was dumb of me 'cause it would have been just right for spell components and stuff, but it's not there. The pouch is empty." She swallowed. "The crystal stayed behind. We're still trapped."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

"You sure are," Warren gloated. He held up the crystal. "The Willow who stayed here should have been more careful."

"So, if we broke it, would they zap out of the game and back into their own heads?" Andrew asked.

"Nope. There's nothing in here now. It's just a pretty piece of rock. Everything that was in it is in the game now. They're stuck there for good. Well, unless we reverse the download, put everything back in the crystal, and then smash it."

"Uh, Warren, you think maybe we should do that?" Jonathan suggested. "When we finish running them through the game, that is."

"Why should we?" Warren shrugged. "You heard Willow. They were miserable here. She thinks they got sent there to get away from the bad stuff. The new versions of them seem pretty happy to me. Why drag them back and mess everything up? What's Xander going to say when he finds out his girl is engaged to Giles now?"

"Uh, yeah, things could get whacky." Jonathan pursed his lips. "I don't know. I wouldn't like to be stuck in Amn myself. There's some serious shit going on there. And, well, Buffy wants to get back."

"Just so that she can get a hot shower," Warren pointed out. "I'll think about it, okay? There's a long, long, way to go in the game yet."

"Uh, Warren," Andrew said, "they're about to leave the Irenicus dungeon. Spike's going to go out into the sunlight and he's a Vampyr. He'll burn up."

"Maybe not," Warren said. "I changed a PC race to Vampire with Shadowkeeper once and it didn't really make much difference. There's no check point for PC vulnerability to sunlight. Like that bug that lets you get Drow stuff out of the Underdark. If you bypass the check point you can use the Adamantine gear no problem. It should be the same for Spike."

"And if it's not?" Andrew frowned at the monitor.

"Then it's bye-bye Spike. We'll find out in a minute. Come on, short stuff, unpause."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

"Daylight!" Sorkatani exclaimed exultantly.

"Oh, bollocks," Spike muttered. He was wearing his suit jacket over his chain mail, simply in order to have pockets to hold his lighter and cigarettes, and he took it off and held it over his head. "Hope there's shelter somewhere near. Or I could hide out in the tunnel until nightfall."

The ground shook under their feet. The 'boom' of a massive explosion reverberated through the tunnel from somewhere close at hand. Fragments of rock began to fall from the ceiling; small pieces at first, but larger rocks followed.

"Uh, guys, hiding out probably not an option," Willow cried. "The tunnel's collapsing!"

"Run for it!" Sorkatani yelled. Everyone obeyed.

They raced towards the light. Their eyes had adjusted to the darkness of the tunnels and the sunlight dazzled them. They could see little of the outside until they emerged into the open. Behind them the tunnel roof collapsed completely. Chunks of rock bounced and rattled past them. A cloud of dust billowed out and enveloped them, making them choke and cough, and blinding them again until it settled.

Imoen was the first to make it through the dust cloud. She saw the mage who had been her captor, engaged in a mismatched battle against a crowd of thieves who were falling before his magical blasts without ever getting close enough to trouble him, and she yelled out in anger. "You! You're not going to torture us any longer."

Sorkatani stumbled out of the dust beside her and stood coughing.

"So, God-child, you have escaped." Irenicus dispatched the last of his Shadow Thief opponents with casual ease and turned his cold eyes on Sorkatani and her companions.

Spike was largely unaffected by the dust. His attention was mainly focused on seeking shelter from the sunlight but he heard the words. "God-child?" he muttered. "What the sodding hell does he mean by that?"

"I won't let you leave. Not when you're so close to unlocking your power."

Sorkatani's hands blurred as she nocked an arrow to her bowstring. "Who mentioned us leaving?"

"Resistance is useless." Irenicus waved a hand and Sorkatani froze in place with the bow half drawn. Spike found himself held motionless with shelter ten feet away. The rest of the group, those who had made it out of the dust and those who were still blinded and unable to see what was going on, were similarly restrained.

All except for Imoen. She raised her hands and threw a bolt of her own magic at Irenicus. He waved a hand and dispersed her spell with ease. "Foolish. You dare pit your magic against mine?"

'Nitwit girl,' Spike thought. 'Don't try and take the bugger on by yourself! Break his spell on us lot and we'll kick his arse. Come on, love, I'm going to burn to death here!' Unfortunately his vocal chords were as paralyzed as his legs and he had no way of communicating his tactical suggestion to the girl.

Imoen advanced and threw another spell to no greater effect. Irenicus retaliated with a spell of his own; a weakening spell rather than a destructive one, apparently, as Imoen stumbled and slowed but took no serious harm.

Even as Imoen was unleashing another, equally ineffective, spell against Irenicus there were multiple shimmers in the air around the magical duelists. Several cloaked figures appeared and one spoke.

"This is an unlicensed use of magical energies! Cease this destructive rampage. You shall be taken into custody by the authority of the Cowled Wizards!"

"Do not presume to give me orders!" Irenicus growled. "Begone."

"We are the law here, mage," the wizard spokesman said. "Surrender!"

"You annoy me," Irenicus said. His voice conveyed little anger, mild irritation at most, and his next action was shockingly unexpected. "Die." He raised a hand in almost leisurely fashion and threw a bolt of energy that blasted a hole through the spokesman's chest.

"Madman!" one of the other wizards shouted. He fired a bolt of his own at Irenicus, who ignored it. The energy bolt fizzled out without touching its target and Irenicus responded in lethal fashion.

The air shimmered again as more Cowled Wizards teleported in to reinforce their colleagues. A magical battle raged for several minutes under the helpless eyes of the paralyzed adventurers and Scoobies.

The dust settled. The sunlight blazed down on Spike, who was unable even to move the jacket to protect himself effectively, and he gritted his teeth, said a silent farewell to Buffy and Dawn, and prepared himself for death.

Nothing happened. The sunlight was harmless to him.

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

"Your pathetic magics are useless against me," Irenicus mocked.

"Even if we fall, our numbers are legion," one of the Cowled Wizards pointed out. "You will be overwhelmed."

"This bores me." Irenicus lowered his hands. "Very well. I shall not resist further. You may take me and the girl."

"What? That's not fair," Imoen protested. "I've done nothing wrong."

"You were involved in the illegal use of magic," a wizard pointed out. "You shall come with us. The tribunal shall decide your fate." He inscribed a magical symbol in the air. A swirling white cloud enveloped Imoen. Another wizard sent a similar cloud to envelop Irenicus. Circles of mist surrounded the Cowled Wizards. The vapor clouds dissipated and revealed empty spaces. The wizards, Irenicus, and Imoen were gone.

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

With Irenicus' departure the spell was broken. Sorkatani lowered her bow. "Imoen!" she cried.

"No! This cannot be! The murderer of Dynaheir flees from righteous butt-kicking vengeance!" Minsc shook his head. "And he takes Imoen with him too."

"Uh, she got kinda arrested, right? So those guys are, like, the law?" Buffy tried to put a positive spin on the situation. "We can just go to them and, you know, explain."

"We are indeed still within Athkatla," Yoshimo announced. "This is the City of Coin, Buffy. There is only justice here for those who can afford it. And the Cowled Wizards are a law unto themselves."

"We shall recover Imoen," Sorkatani said. "Whatever it takes."

"That guy was all kinds of powerful," Willow said. "I can't beat him, guys. Not even close. I couldn't break that spell he put on us."

"I wonder," Giles mused. "While we were held motionless an idea came to my mind. I think that being a bard in this world may well operate in the same way as the magic in the 'Spellsinger' books."

"Hey, Giles, that's pretty lowbrow reading taste for you," Willow commented.

"A little light reading at bedtime is much more conducive to relaxation than the perusal of a serious tome," Giles said. "They are hardly great literature, but suffice to while away an idle hour. Anyway, it occurred to me that if I were to sing 'Freebird' it might well free us from our magical bonds. Alas, I was unable to make a sound. I had no access to a musical instrument, nor could I have moved my hands if I had, but it may be relevant at some future time."

"That probably made a whole lot of sense, but I couldn't follow it," Buffy said. She yawned. "Passing out on my feet here. Yeah, we should get on to the guys who arrested Imogen – Imoen – but not now or we're gonna be talking one whole lot of nonsense to them."

"We do badly need sleep," Jaheira agreed. "That must be our first priority, Sorkatani, lest we make serious errors."

"Very well, though it galls me," Sorkatani said. "Yoshimo, this is your home city, is it not? Can you show us to an inn nearby?"

"This is Waukeen's Promenade," Yoshimo told them. "There are shops aplenty, and several inns. We can bathe and sleep, and then eat well."

"Shops?" Buffy pricked up her ears. "Uh, guys, I have to say that clean clothes are pretty much as necessary as food and sleep. No use having a bath and putting this stuff on again 'cause, hey, filthy."

"Yeah, we could use some – hey!" Xander began to back Buffy's point and then broke off and pointed a quivering finger at Spike. "Evil Dead's out in the sun and not burning up."

"Just as bloody well or I'd have frazzled while that pillock had us all playing statues," Spike said. "Yeah, looks like the sunlight here doesn't do me any harm. Must be the wrong kind of sun."

"Hey, we might all have super-powers," Dawn suggested. She bent to a large lump of rock, attempted to lift it, and gave up. "Only, not so much."

"If Spike is immune to sunlight here it will make things much more convenient," Giles said. "We can travel around freely by day or by night."

"He could have just stayed in during the day." Buffy yawned again. "Come on, people. Baths and bed."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

Yoshimo led them to an inn that was a mere fifty yards away. The Mithrest Inn, which he assured them was a fine quality establishment. They were amply supplied with coin from their looting of rooms and bodies in Irenicus' underground complex. However, it turned out that the Mithrest was of too fine quality to accept the custom of such grubby and disheveled visitors. They were refused admission and had to turn to the nearby Den of the Seven Vales.

The management there was less fussy. The weary visitors were greeted warmly as soon as they proved that they had funds. Hot baths were filled and bedrooms were prepared. It seemed that the concepts of single and double rooms were alien to hoteliers in this reality; the rooms all had several beds and sharing was standard practice. The men took one room and the women took another. Xander began to protest at the idea of Spike sharing the men's room but lacked the energy to see his argument through. Everyone simply piled into the first vacant bed that came to hand and went straight to sleep.

Buffy's last waking thought was that in the morning it would undoubtedly turn out that this whole adventure had just been a dream and that she would wake up in her own familiar bed in Sunnydale.

She didn't. She woke to the crowing of cocks as dawn broke over Athkatla. They had been too tired to follow through on her suggestion that they buy clean clothes before going to the inn, and so she had to dress in the same soiled clothes as she had worn the day before. Washing was done in bowls of cold water. She had no toothbrush.

And as for the toilets… the less said, the better.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter Five**

"Hey! That door isn't supposed to open." Jonathan paused the game and beckoned to Warren. "Look at this, dude. Did you do that?"

"Do what?" Warren didn't look up but just kept on typing away at his own computer. "I'm busy. Don't bother me, man, unless the girls have taken their clothes off."

"No, really, you've got to see this. It's, like, relevant."

Warren sighed and abandoned his coding. "Okay, okay, I'm coming." He went over to Jonathan and peered over his shoulder. "What's so exciting? They're going to go through a door? Man, the excitement! How can my heart take it?"

"Where do you think they are?"

"Huh? I don't know. The Temple of Ilmater? One of the inns?"

"Nope. That's one of those fake doors. The ones where you just get that caption about 'this shop sells boring stuff like food and clothes', you know?"

Warren's eyes opened wider. "Holy shit! What happens when they go in?"

Jonathan hit the space bar. "I'm just about to find out." He watched as the characters entered a scene depicting a rectangular room filled with racks and trestle tables. One of the standard archetype figures that represented a female shopkeeper stood behind the tables. The blue ring that showed her to be a neutral character surrounded her feet. The tables were covered with little pictures of cloaks, overlapping and multi-colored, and more cloaks hung from the stands that were described in the game as armor racks.

"Oh. My. God." Warren sucked in a deep breath. "That is just totally incredible."

"It's just a shop," Andrew said, obviously unimpressed.

"A shop that doesn't exist in the game," Jonathan pointed out. "It's made itself, dude."

"Standard template," Warren muttered, "but those cloaks – they're from the animation from when you kill a magic user. It's modifying itself."

"How can it do that?" Jonathan wondered.

"It's Buffy!" Warren decided. "She expects there to be clothes shops, so there are. The game's adapting itself to match. Oh, man, I so have to see the code for this."

"I'll port over a copy after the next save," Jonathan promised. "Can you really use it in a game of our own? I mean, if we have to put, like, people's memories into every copy, that kinda rules out it being a million-seller."

Warren sucked in his bottom lip and chewed on it. "I don't know. But it has to be doing it through code. If I can extract that and patch it into a standard game, and it does the same thing, then we're really on to something."

"We can't make money out of selling Baldur's Gate mods," Jonathan pointed out, "and if we do something too similar, and put it out as our own, then Bioware will sue our asses."

"We can make a reputation out of being modders," Warren said, "but, yeah, the big bucks only come if we can make something new. Like, well, there hasn't been a good pirate game since Sid Meier's 'Pirates!', but if I could take a piece of shit pirate game and turn it into something like this I bet it would sell truckloads. They're supposed to be making a 'Pirates of the Caribbean' movie, remember? If it's a hit the market would really take off."

"And if it bombs like 'Cutthroat Island' did? There hasn't been a good pirate movie since 'The Crimson Pirate' in, like, prehistoric times. And hey, man, Disney?"

"Johnny Depp, dude," Andrew pointed out. "I think it'll be cool. I'd buy a good pirate game. With, like, swashbuckling and wenches and gold and shit."

Warren and Jonathan exchanged glances, with their eyebrows raised at Andrew's mention of wenches as a plus factor, but they made no comment.

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

"Ah, Buffy, my dear, you look positively radiant." Giles smiled fondly at the Slayer.

"Thanks. I was worried that this place would be all, like, long dresses and those pointy hats with the scarf hanging on the end, but hey, they've got some pretty okay stuff." Buffy pirouetted, showing off her new moleskin breeches and silk shirt. "Cool, huh? We lucked out in a way, 'cause we landed right in the middle of this place's version of a mall." She looked at Giles, tilted her head to one side, and raised an eyebrow. "You look more messed up than when you went out. Had a rough time shopping, huh?"

"We became involved in an adventure somewhat more violent than contesting with other bargain hunters at the sales," Giles related. "Werewolves, and ogres, and strange shadow creatures."

"Oh my," Xander added.

"All ended well, however. We took no serious hurt, freed some circus folk from an enchanted imprisonment, and reunited a mother with her lost child."

"Ah, we are all heroes," Minsc sighed happily. "Hamsters and rangers everywhere rejoice!"

"Sounds cool," Buffy said. "Tell me about it."

"Later, if you don't mind, Buffy," Giles said. "Right now I think I'll bathe and put on clean clothing."

"Me too," said Xander. "Hey, Ahn, looking good."

"Yes, I am," Anya said. "Do you know they haven't invented the bra on this world? I've changed all that. I have seamstresses working on some right now. For us first, of course, but afterwards they'll put them on sale and I'll get a commission."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

"O-kay," Buffy said. "So, we're all awake and fed, and we're all clean and shiny and we don't look like something the cat dragged in any more, and we've got maps of this place. So, let's make some moves about finding a way back to our own world."

Willow put her hand up. "Uh, Buffy, I think we've got a problem. I guess we need magical help on this one. Well, if there's a law against magic, how are we gonna find it? I guess we're not gonna find a wizard in the Yellow Pages. And hey, feeling kinda useless here, 'cause if I can't cast any spells without being arrested, well…"

"I believe the Cowled Wizards sell licenses that allow the practice of magic," Yoshimo put in.

"Figures," Spike said. "It's a racket, innit? They've got a monopoly and they're getting rich out of it."

"Perhaps, then, a suitable payment might procure the release of Imoen," Sorkatani mused. "It seems that all of us have reason to seek out the Cowled Wizards."

"I find it strange that Irenicus allowed himself to be taken so easily," Jaheira commented. "Surely he could have escaped, even if he could not have defeated them all. Did he have some ulterior motive? It was at his prompting that Imoen was included in his arrest."

"You may be right," Sorkatani agreed. She shook her head. "We do not know enough. There are questions that must be asked. Let us, then, head for the Government District and find the leaders of the Cowled Wizards."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

"This place smells," Dawn said, wrinkling up her nose. They were traversing a district of small, close-packed, houses. The people in the streets wore clothes that were patched and shabby.

"Horse manure, mainly," Spike told her. "London smelled like this when I was human. 'Course, some of it's not from horses."

"Eww. Did you have to say that?"

"Can't deny it, Nibblet. Shit happens."

"Eww," Dawn repeated.

"A word, lady?" A leather-clad figure stepped from an alley and approached Sorkatani. "You'd be the one I'm looking for, if I'm not mistaken. Sorkatani be your name, aye?"

Sorkatani rested her hand on the hilt of her katana. "Yes, I am she. What is it that you want?"

"'Tis not what I want, but what I can do for ye," the stranger said. "Ye'd be wanting information on the young lass arrested by the wizards on your arrival here, aye?"

"I am," Sorkatani confirmed. "And no doubt you would want payment for such information. Who are you, and how do you know of me?"

"My name is Gaelen Bayle, though ye'll not have heard of me," the man revealed.

"I have heard of him, Sorkatani," Yoshimo put in. "At least a little. He is a man with many connections amongst the underworld of this city. A man of his word, too, as far as that is worth."

"Speak, then, and I will listen," Sorkatani said. "Again, how do you know of me?"

"Why, ye be one of renown enough that the wise take note of your deeds; and of your misfortunes too."

Buffy frowned and pouted. Spike saw her and grinned.

"Bit jealous, are we, Slayer? Can't take someone else having the fame?"

Buffy pretended not to hear.

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

Gaelen Bayle was reluctant to discuss his offer on the open street and led the group to his house. There Sorkatani engaged in discussion with him, attended by Jaheira, Yoshimo, and Minsc, while Buffy's party waited and fidgeted.

"He offers aid to recover Imoen, and to combat Irenicus," Sorkatani related after her meeting concluded, "but at a price. A vast price. Twenty thousand danter."

Buffy's eyebrows shot up. Danter were the gold coins of Amn, and she had gained some understanding of their value during the morning's shopping expedition. "I don't know how much that is in dollars, but I'm betting it's a whole lot. How much do we have left?"

The party counted their coins and Anya announced the total. "Three thousand one hundred and eighty three."

"And we must needs eat, and our weaponry and equipment is not as I would wish for a battle against a mighty opponent," Sorkatani said. "He seems confident that I will have no option but to take up his offer. Still, I shall explore other avenues first. I am told that there is employment for mercenary warriors being offered by a girl in a tavern nearby. I may take service in her cause for a while, perhaps, if her cause is just."

Buffy shook her head. "I can't see myself doing anything like that. Still, maybe it won't be necessary, huh? Let's go see if we can sort it out with those wizard guys ourselves."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

"Oh my God! Hobbits! Real hobbits!" Dawn squealed.

The little man glowered at her. "What a rude girl! I don't know what that name is, but it sounds insulting. Keep it to yourself."

Dawn flushed. "Sorry. It's just, I've heard stories about, uh, whatever you call yourselves, but I've never seen any, well, hobbits are our name for you, before. I didn't mean to be rude. Sorry."

"Well, you shouldn't call out names like that. And we are known as halflings." The hobbit, or halfing, stalked off.

"They couldn't call them hobbits in D&D," Xander explained. "The Tolkien estate has the name copyrighted. So they had to call them halflings."

"It still seems all kind of weird us being in a game," Dawn said. "I guess everything fits, though. So, if we're gonna make it through, we're gonna have to learn the rules."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

"Well, that was a bureaucratic nightmare that could have come straight out of Kafka," Giles commented, as the party trudged unhappily out of the hall that was the nominal headquarters of the council that governed Amn.

"Or out of 'Futurama'," Xander said. "Like, 'When Hermes Requisitioned His Groove Back'." He grinned. "Hey, maybe you could sort things out with your bard mojo. You could sing Hermes' song. _When I was four there was a hurricane in Kingston Town,  
with a foot and a half of water. Everyone was alright but I cried all night; it blew my alphabet blocks out of order_."

"I have no idea what you are talking about," Giles said. "I won't dignify it with the name 'singing'." He sighed. "I really must find a guitar, or something similar. Although performing bard magic would presumably attract the same penalty as if I were a wizard, or would be subject to the same exorbitant license fee."

"Five thousand dollars! I mean danter, but hey, we could call them dollars among ourselves." Willow pursed her lips. "Five thousand just to get a license to do magic!"

"Told you it was a rip-off, Red," Spike said.

"Yeah." Willow shook her head. "How are we gonna come up with that kind of money?"

"Might want to think about that mercenary job after all, Slayer," Spike suggested.

"I suppose we could take a look," Buffy conceded.

"These Cowled Wizards have the smell of corruption," Jaheira muttered. "Spike is right. They use their privileged position to suppress those who would be their competition, or to gouge coin from their pockets."

"And they seek to manipulate me," Sorkatani said. "I sense it. I greatly distrust their representative, Tolgerias, with his request that I agree to an unspecified service before they will even discuss Imoen's case. I see why Gaelen Bayle had such confidence that I would be driven to pay his backers the sum that they demand."

"What's going on over there?" Dawn pointed at an assemblage of people at the other side of the square where the government buildings stood. "It's like they're – oh my God, they're gonna burn somebody at the stake!"

"Dawn, come away!" Buffy called.

"They're burning somebody at the stake? Buffy, w-we have to stop them!" Tara's voice trembled with her distress.

"Uh, maybe it's legal here, Tara. We can't go interfering with the law," Buffy said. "Best we stay out of it."

"Buffy!" Willow gasped. "You can't mean that. I mean, it's probably some poor witch who just couldn't pay their stupid fee."

"I think we should take a look, although not take precipitate action," Giles counseled.

Sorkatani took no notice of the discussion within Buffy's group. She strode towards the crowd, closely followed by Jaheira and Minsc. Yoshimo trailed a little further behind. Spike raised a quizzical eyebrow at Buffy and then followed Yoshimo, with Dawn, Tara, and Willow close at his heels. Buffy frowned and then set off in pursuit, accompanied by Giles, Xander, and Anya.

The woman who was tied to a stake looked exotic in the extreme. Her skin was black; not the deep brown referred to as black among the humans of Earth, but true black. Where the sunlight gleamed on her skin the highlights appeared grey. Her hair, on the other hand, was so blonde that it was almost white. Faggots of wood were piled around her legs in ominous fashion.

A crowd of some thirty people were gathered in front of the stake. They were being addressed by an armor-clad man, who was alternating his efforts between working up the crowd to a fury and delivering insults and grim promises of eternal torment to the captive.

"Look ye all upon this foul drow that we have bound before ye!" the preacher ranted. "A creature of evil and darkness. A creature of foulness and deceit, bent only on our destruction. This vile drow has foolishly come amongst us, my brethren, thinking that we would be lax in our senses! Tell me what should be done with it!"

The answering shouts from the assembled throng gave no doubt that their opinion was unanimously in favor of death by burning.

"Then the drow shall burn," the preacher pronounced.

"You rivvin are mad!" the drow woman cried. "I have done nothing to any of you. I sought only to make my way without molestation."

"Done nothing? You are a drow elf, are you not? That is enough to condemn you," the preacher told her.

The drow began to utter words in an alien language. The preacher struck her heavily in the face with a mailed gauntlet and silenced her. Tara's face twisted in revulsion at the deed. Willow hissed in anger.

"I know that voice," Sorkatani said. "Viconia."

"It is indeed her," Jaheira confirmed. Her fingers closed on the hilt of her scimitar. "I have no love for drow in general, nor for Viconia in particular, but it seems that she has done nothing to deserve her fate other than to be a drow. This is not justice."

"Sorkatani!" the drow called out almost at the same time. "Is that you? Save me! Deliver me from these madmen."

Sorkatani stepped in front of the preacher, who was a man almost as tall as Minsc, and stared up at him. "What is this madness?" she demanded.

"We burn a drow," he told her. "Join us, my lady, and rejoice in our righteous destruction of this unholy entity."

"What crime is she accused of?" Sorkatani pressed.

"What crime?" The preacher's eyebrows disappeared up under the rim of his helmet. "Why, the crime of being dark and evil, of course! Look on her. Her skin is black with the stain of her foul soul. She is a drow, and deserves no mercy."

"Racist bastard," Tara muttered. Willow's hands twitched in the hand formations of a spell, but she restrained herself and cast an uneasy glance back towards the bulk of the Council buildings that stood as a visible reminder of the severe penalties for the practice of unlicensed magic.

The stake had been set up only yards from a building that bore the crest indicating that it was also one of the offices of government. A guard in plate armor and crested helmet stood at its steps, halberd in hand, watching the proceedings. Dawn approached him. Spike followed at her heels.

"Do something!" Dawn urged the guard. "You're, like, police or something, right? They're going to burn somebody right in front of you."

The guard shrugged. "A drow has no rights in Athkatla. It's none of my business." He brought his halberd fully erect and averted his gaze from Dawn.

"You wuss! What kind of cop are you?" Dawn scolded, and she kicked the man in the shin. He yelped and stepped back. His grip on the halberd shifted and he began to lower it towards the girl. Spike growled deep in his throat and turned an icy gaze on the guard. The unmistakable menace in Spike's expression promised more pain than the guard was willing to risk. He returned the halberd to the upright position and averted his gaze once more.

"We found her in the market," the preacher continued. "She was attempting to hide her identity. That proves her to be a spy."

"It proves her not to be an idiot," Tara interjected.

"We have taken the law into our own hands," the preacher went on, "and it is good. Stand aside and watch her burn, or join us. Either way, justice shall be done."

"This is no justice," Sorkatani said in a deceptively casual voice. She whirled around, the katana coming out as she spun, and brought the blade down across the ropes that bound Viconia.

"Praise the goddess," Viconia said. "I thank you, Sorkatani."

"What? You interfere with the judgment of Beshaba," the preacher growled. "You shall join her on the pyre."

"Kill the ally of the drow!" a voice called from the crowd. Weapons that had been being brandished in a purely symbolic fashion, like the Kalashnikovs at an Afghan wedding, were now grasped in a more businesslike manner.

"Go!" Sorkatani commanded. "Leave this place. Go about your business. I have no wish to kill you."

"It is you who shall die, traitor to humanity!" The preacher raised his mace high. Sorkatani's katana lashed out first and struck him in the chest. Her blade failed to penetrate the chain mail but the impact still sent her opponent stumbling backwards. Minsc was on him before he could recover.

The mob attacked. Viconia spoke words of power and a glowing hammer appeared in her hand. She struck out with it at the first of the mob to reach her.

Yoshimo drew his blade and struck. Jaheira swung her scimitar. Sorkatani killed a man with a slash across his throat. Minsc rained blows down upon the preacher and sent him reeling back.

Dawn cocked her crossbow and loaded a bolt. A peasant with a club raced towards her. Spike met the man half-way and halted his rush with a stamping kick.

Tara raised her hand and spoke mystical words. A glowing hammer, identical to the one wielded by Viconia, filled her hand.

"No. Tara, they'll arrest you!" Willow wailed. Then a woman brandishing a meat cleaver ran at Willow, who defended herself with her staff.

Anya had a crossbow slung at her back. She slipped it free and cocked it. Xander drew the Sword of Chaos and positioned himself to protect her.

The melee spread. Giles cracked a skull with his quarterstaff. Buffy was drawn into the fight, against her will, and punched and kicked her way towards Dawn.

Sorkatani brought her katana down across the shoulder of a burly man armed with a club. The blade sliced through the man's torso almost to his waist. She pulled the blade free and thrust it into the stomach of another attacker.

Tara hammered a man to the ground. Another man ran at her with a pitchfork. Dawn shot him in the back. Spike clotheslined a man who was running at her with a knife and then stamped viciously on the man's throat. Anya fired her crossbow into the mob.

Jaheira drove her scimitar up under the chin of an attacker and forced the blade up into his brain. Minsc delivered a mighty final blow and crushed the preacher's skull. Sorkatani killed and killed again.

And then the fight was over.

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

"I owe you my life, abbil." Viconia bowed her head to Sorkatani. "You have saved me once again. I swear to you that I did nothing to provoke their attack. I entered the city only to buy food and clothing. I was seeking the market when the man guessed my identity under my hood. I was surprised and he called out, bringing others. Perhaps they assumed that I was here to spy upon them. They are so quick to fear, these rivvin."

"How do you come to be here, Viconia? Surely you can not have been seeking me?"

"I did not know you were here. I had to leave Beregost. A fortune teller advised me to travel south. One direction seemed as good as another, and so I followed her advice. I had thought it to be bad, but perhaps it was good indeed." She smiled briefly. "It would be a privilege and an honor to join you again, Sorkatani. What say you?"

"Of course," Sorkatani said, smiling in return. "Did you think that I would say no?" She swung her gaze to Jaheira. "You don't object, I hope?"

"In truth, I am not opposed to Viconia joining us once more," Jaheira said. She spoke slowly, sounding to the others as if she was reluctant to admit that she had no objections. "Remember, though, that many will think less of us simply because she is here."

"Well, they can keep their racist opinions to themselves," Tara said sharply. She stood with empty hands now; the magical hammer had vanished once the spell had run its course.

"I know you not, but I thank you also for your part in my rescue," Viconia said. "Sorkatani, we should leave this place. These scum may have friends who will seek vengeance." She kicked one of the bodies in the ribs.

Buffy stood with her mouth open watching as Yoshimo, Spike, and Dawn – much to Buffy's distress – ransacked the bodies of fallen foes. The guard at the government building door stood impassively, taking no notice of their actions, as did two guards at the door of another nearby building. Buffy felt sick to her stomach. Bodies littered the ground, the bodies of _humans_, and nobody seemed to care. Whatever sort of demon this Viconia was, surely she wasn't worth so many human lives? Or even one human life?

"I think we should split up," she said. "I'm not so sure we should work together."

"Our party has grown to be quite a cavalcade," Sorkatani said, "big enough to attract altogether too much attention. Perhaps you are right." She seemed oblivious to the reasons behind Buffy's decision. "Minsc, Jaheira, and Viconia shall stay with me, of course. I have already invited Spike to join me."

Yoshimo rejoined the main body of the party in time to hear that part of the discussion. "I wish only to stay with you, Sorkatani," he said, his tone causing the young warrior maiden to blush slightly. He was carrying a helmet recovered from one of the fallen. He bowed briefly to Viconia. "Perhaps this helmet will make your appearance less obvious, lady."

"Take this," Tara offered. She slipped off the long-sleeved and shapeless woolen sweater that she wore over the dress that she had purchased earlier that day. "It will hide your arms."

"An ugly garment," Viconia criticized, "but a practical suggestion. I will wear it for the present, until I find something equally concealing but not so horrible." She looked straight at the cleavage that was now revealed by Tara's dress. "You look much more appealing without it."

Tara blushed. "Thank you."

"I'd kinda like Yoshimo to stay with my bunch," Buffy said. "We could use someone who knows his way around this place."

"As could I," Sorkatani reminded her. "The decision must be his."

"My decision is made, and I serve Sorkatani," Yoshimo said.

"Look, guys, let's get out of here first and split up later," Willow said, glancing nervously back at the Council building. "Tara used magic, and so did, uh, Viconia, and the Cowled Wizards will be coming to arrest them any minute."

"The magic granted by the gods is not under the jurisdiction of the wizards," Sorkatani said. "There is no need to fear. Although, yes, moving on quickly would be advisable."

"Mages and Clerics don't play by the same rules, Will," Xander said. "Tara's a Cleric, I'm guessing this dark elf is too, so they can use their magic and it doesn't count."

"That's not fair," Willow complained. "It's, it's – class discrimination."

"Don't worry, Red, we'll come up with the five thousand in no time," Spike said, arriving with arms laden with pieces of plate armor. "We're up nearly a hundred from this lot. Got some decent armor that's not banged up too bad, too."

Dawn shook a pouch of coins and grinned at Willow. "Yay, go us!"

"Buffy has said that she wishes us to separate," Sorkatani told Spike. "Again I invite you to join with me. Dawn, you are also welcome. You too, Tara."

"They stay with me," Buffy said sharply. "Well, Dawn and Tara. You can keep Spike."

"Surely they may choose for themselves?"

"Dawn's my sister. And only fifteen. And of course she'd choose me."

"Not if you're going to be a total asshole," Dawn grumbled. "What do you want to kick Spike out for?"

"I think you're being unfair, Buffy," Tara said. She glanced at Viconia. "Maybe I'll go with Sorkatani's group."

"Hey, better idea," Willow said with a note of urgency in her voice. "Why don't we just, like, not split up? Okay, there's a lot of us, but we haven't really got the feel of this world yet, and we've got stuff to learn, like I didn't even know the difference between the two sorts of magic, and there's sort of safety in numbers, and can we talk about this later?"

"I concur," Giles said. He looked over the rims of his glasses at the scattered bodies of the slain members of the mob. "Are we, uh, supposed to clear up the bodies of the dead?"

"Their relatives will recover the bodies," Yoshimo assured him. "Any left unclaimed will be taken away by the city authorities. Although in certain parts of the city they would probably get eaten by ghouls."

"G-ghouls?" Dawn said, shuddering.

"Don't worry, Bit," Spike said. "Ghouls just want to have fun."


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter Six**

"Slayer, we have to talk."

"Not now, Spike." Buffy turned away from him and folded her arms.

He caught her shoulder and pulled her round to face him. "Then when? We have to talk. In private. Everybody else is busy. Now, Slayer."

"Get your hands off me!" Buffy snapped. She unfolded her arms and pulled herself free of Spike's grasp. "Anything you've got to say to me, you can say right here."

"Sure about that, Slayer?" Spike challenged her.

Buffy drew in a deep breath. "Okay. In private."

Spike walked away from the main group, who were occupied in searching the bodies of a well-armed and armored party who had ambushed them in the street and had paid the price of failure, and led Buffy to a space behind a stack of crates that one of the late attackers had used as a hiding place. "What is wrong with you, Buffy?" he asked her. "We kissed. It meant something. There was a connection, you can't deny it. You felt something for me."

"It was a mistake. That's all. I had to cling to something and you were there. I told you, it will never happen again."

"Fine. You tell yourself that. It might even be true. But how could you go from that to wanting to stake me? We had a thing. You said I was the only one you could stand to be around."

"That was before the chip stopped working. No soul, no chip – you're a menace, Spike."

"I can bloody control myself! Didn't bite any of those sodding maniacs with the 'burn baby burn' thing going, did I?"

"You still killed them. You didn't use your fangs? Big deal."

"The ones I killed were going for Dawn. Promised to protect her, I did, until the end of the world. Don't remember there being any clause about 'protect her as long as no crazy git with a knife gets hurt in the process'." Spike sucked in a breath. "Can't you see I've changed, Buffy? Sorkatani trusts me and she doesn't even bloody know me. Why can't you?"

"She doesn't know you, Spike. That's the whole point." Buffy cast a glance back over her shoulder to where the other warrior girl was stripping a suit of plate armor from a corpse. "And she's a killer. She doesn't seem to care about human life herself."

"Haven't seen her kill anybody who didn't bloody ask for it." Spike shook his head. "Strikes me you're being a bit of a hypocrite, Slayer. Those nitwit Knights of Hack and Slash just picked themselves up and walked away after you threw them off the top of the camper at thirty miles an hour, did they?"

Buffy flushed. She'd driven an axe through the chest of one of the Knights, killing him for certain, before throwing him from the Winnebago. "That's different. It was strictly in self-defense. They were attacking us."

"And those pillocks weren't?" Spike waved his hand in the direction of the fallen ambushers. "And you'd have just stood back and let those nutters set fire to that black bint back there?"

"She's not human, Spike. I was Chosen to protect humanity, not elves or whatever the hell she is."

"So you'd have let her burn 'cos she's got pointy ears and black skin?"

"I didn't say that!" Buffy protested.

"Meant it, though." Spike shook his head. "Maybe you're not the girl I thought you were, Slayer."

"Don't you dare lecture me on morality, Spike!" Buffy's eyes flashed and her hand drew back slightly as if she was on the verge of slapping him.

"Strikes me that somebody bloody should," Spike growled. "Something's changed about you these days. You're not the girl you were when I fell in love with you." He took out his cigarettes, grimaced as he saw that there were only three remaining in his last packet, and withdrew one. "You came back wrong."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

The group sat around a large trestle table in the Copper Coronet tavern. The air was smoky and heavy with the aroma of roasting pig. The clamor of a score of surrounding conversations filled the air and blurred into a din from which no distinguishable words could be picked out. Giles was tuning an instrument closely resembling a guitar, newly purchased on the trip from the Government District to this teeming slum area, and he grimaced as peaks in the background noise drowned out his notes.

"Quests are thrust upon us at every side," Sorkatani observed. "Which should we choose? The Lady Nalia's cause seems just. The boy Delon's mission seems also righteous. Both swear that their cases are urgent."

"I vote for solving those murders in the Bridge District, capturing the killer, and turning him in to the authorities so that we can claim the reward," Anya proposed.

Sorkatani nodded. "A worthy suggestion. Yet we cannot take on every task at once."

"We should split up, like I said." Buffy focused a hard stare at Sorkatani. "I can't work with you any longer."

Sorkatani's eyebrows climbed. "When first you proposed that we separate I thought it was only that you regarded our mutual party as too large. Yet now I sense from your tone that you have some quarrel with me. In what way have I offended you? An army cannot have two commanders, true, yet I had sought to avoid friction between us."

"You are too ready to kill humans," Buffy said bluntly.

Sorkatani flinched. "How can you say that? I don't kill unless I have to. Only if someone draws blade on me, or threatens the innocent. I strive for truth and justice and I always try to follow the principles that Gorion taught me as a child. I'm no wanton killer." She looked into Buffy's eyes and shook her head slowly. "I thought you liked me. We were sisters in arms. Why are you saying that?"

"She says, 'too ready to kill _humans_," Viconia stressed. "Is it, then, that she would have rather seen me burned than that you drew blade to defend me against other rivvin?"

Sorkatani's eyes hardened. "If there is truth in what she says then you are less than I had thought you, Buffy."

"That goes for me too," Tara put in. "I never figured you for a racist, Buffy."

"Hey, get off Buffy's back," Xander snapped at Tara. "Buffy's no racist."

"Well she can stop acting like one," Tara riposted.

"Both of you stop it," Willow urged, her tone hesitant rather than forceful.

"I'm not a racist," Buffy insisted. "It's just, I'm supposed to protect humans. Nobody ever said I was supposed to protect vampires and demons and elves and whatever."

"If they harm no one, why not?" Sorkatani snapped. "The good in someone is not measured by the shape of their ears."

"And I'm supposed to listen to someone who backs a vampire against humans? How do I know that you're not a monster yourself?"

"Buffy!" Dawn gasped. "Stop it!"

"And how do I know that you are no monster? You speak like one." Sorkatani rose to her feet. Her left hand took hold of the scabbard of her katana and her thumb rested under the guard ready for the start of an iaijutsu draw.

"And you act like a psycho killer." Buffy clenched her fists.

"Sorkatani is righteous and just, a true hero," Minsc rumbled. "Moderate your words, girl, or face the wrath of a man and his hamster."

"Buffy's the true hero, dumbass," Xander said angrily. Minsc put his hand upon his sword. Xander stood up and reached for the Sword of Chaos.

"Oh, for God's sake," Giles burst out. He stood up, put his knee upon his chair, and brought the guitar to a playing position. His fingers lashed down across the strings and brought forth a crashing chord, then several high sweet notes, and he began to sing.

"_Together we'll stand  
Divided we'll fall  
Come on now people  
Let's get on the ball  
And work together  
Come on, come on  
Let's work together  
Now now people  
Because together we will stand  
Every boy, every girl and man_."

The roar of conversation in the tavern dropped to a buzz and then ceased altogether. Humans, elves, dwarves, and halflings turned in their seats or stood and drew closer to the source of the music. Minsc's hand dropped from his sword hilt. Xander sat down.

"_Well now together we will stand  
Every boy, girl, woman, and man_."

Giles played the final notes of the song and lowered the guitar. A storm of applause burst out across the Copper Coronet. Coins were tossed in Giles' direction.

"That was strange, but very appealing," Jaheira commented.

Viconia licked her lips. "For an inferior rivvil he is… desirable." She removed her helmet, pulled off her borrowed sweater, and adjusted the neckline of her gown.

"Sorry about that, big guy," Xander said to Minsc.

"Ah, we are all heroes," Minsc said. "You, and me, and Boo, and Sorkatani, and Buffy. To speak up for your lord is noble. Our lords are ladies, of course, but that makes no difference."

"I'm sorry," Buffy said to Sorkatani. "I was totally out of line."

"I too," Sorkatani said. "Your words hurt me, but for me to threaten violence was wrong. I am shamed."

"I'm pretty ashamed myself," Buffy admitted. "I don't want to be, like, racist. I didn't think. See, I've always been taught 'humans good, demons evil'. I guess I've never thought about there being people who aren't humans or demons."

"Your world sounds strange indeed to me," Sorkatani said. "Tell me of it."

"Uh, okay," Buffy agreed. "So, friends again?"

"Friends."

"Well, I must say that went rather well," Giles said, and he ran his hands caressingly over the body of the guitar.

Viconia ran her tongue lightly over her lips. "Sing again, rivvil – Giles. It would… please me."

"Aye," a burly dwarf with a plaited beard chimed in. "Ye're a bonny wee singer, human. Will ye nae gi' us anaither song?" A score of other voices added their requests for more to that of the dwarf and many made promises of further gold.

"Thirty-seven gold danter," Anya gloated. "Fifteen of those alloyed gold ones with the centaur picture on them, twenty-eight silver taran, a couple of worthless coppers, a gold coin with two entwined eagles on it, and a weird triangular coin. Gold, though. Yes, Giles, you should definitely sing again."

"To sing for pay here you must give ten per cent to me, bard," the proprietor of the Copper Coronet claimed. The man, Lehtinan, wore a silk shirt that seemed too fine for the owner of an establishment in such a seedy area; although the tavern's bustling interior indicated that it was probably a very prosperous business. A golden necklace hung at his neck, the sword at his side had a hilt set with gold and pearls, and his eyes glinted with an avaricious gleam. "And ten per cent of what you have already is mine."

"I suppose that is fair enough," Giles agreed.

Anya handed over an approximation to ten per cent, scowling resentfully at Lehtinan as she did so, and Giles raised the guitar again.

"And now," he said, "for something completely different.

_Just a perfect day_

_Drink Sangria in the park,_

_And then later, when it gets dark_

_We go home…_"

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

"Truly there is merit in the idea of us dividing our forces into two groups," Sorkatani said to Buffy, "yet I would have us part as friends, and gather together again on completion of our separate quests."

"Sounds good to me," Buffy agreed. She ran her finger around the edge of her ale goblet. "Uh, as long as the guys are happy about it, and don't all want to be in the same group." She suddenly had a nervous feeling that if the party divided along lines dictated by a totally free choice then she would be left with an extremely depleted force.

"We must ensure that both groups have all the skills necessary to cope with any eventuality," Sorkatani said. "Shall we see how our comrades choose? Should it turn out that one of us falls short of some necessary skill, well, then must we seek to persuade someone to change their mind."

Buffy gulped. "Uh, okay. Let's do this."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

Minsc and Yoshimo were unhesitating in choosing to be part of Sorkatani's group. Willow and Xander were as quick to choose Buffy. Anya followed Xander's lead. Giles looked thoughtful, taking a little longer, but chose Buffy. Viconia hesitated for several moments, her eyes on Giles, before she chose Sorkatani. Spike delayed his choice too but eventually moved to stand beside the girl from Baldur's Gate. Buffy winced as she saw Tara follow him. Dawn wavered, torn by conflicting loyalties, but eventually she stood by her sister.

Jaheira chose Buffy. Or rather, as Buffy realized once she had recovered from her initial surprise, Jaheira chose to be in the same group as Giles.

"The division is as equal in numbers as can be with thirteen," Sorkatani mused, "yet there is an imbalance in skills. You lack clerics."

"Uh, Jaheira said she'd be on my team," Buffy reminded her.

Sorkatani shook her head. "Jaheira is a druid. Her healing spells are those of a cleric, but Jaheira's powers are rooted in nature and she has little force against the undead. If you came up against such creatures without a cleric you would be at a great disadvantage."

"Hey, Slayer here, I've done pretty well up to now," Buffy told her.

"Our undead may not be the same as yours," Sorkatani cautioned her. "You were not accustomed to a vampire turning into a mist, remember?"

"Okay, point." Buffy turned to Tara. "Tara, look, I know I was pretty much of a jerk about some things, but I'm sorry, okay?"

"It's not you, Buffy," Tara told her. "I don't want, uh, I think I need a bit of time away from Willow right now. It was okay when there was a great big bunch of us, but, with just a few, things could get pretty awkward."

Willow forced a smile to her face. It was fixed and unconvincing, and her voice trembled as she tried to adopt a carefree tone. "Hey, easy solved. I could go with Sorkatani and Tara could go with you, Buffy."

Buffy frowned deeply. Tara's apparent rejection had hurt, but to lose Willow would be like losing an arm.

"I'm okay with that," Tara said. "Willow – I just need a bit of space, that's all. What you did, well, it hurt me a lot. Maybe, after taking a break, we can spend time together again and see how things work out."

"I'm good with that," Willow said. "All perky, and good, and eager to go. And ready to get with the spell-casting just as soon as we get that license."

"But that leaves me without a witch," Buffy complained. "Still, I guess we just have the one, so somebody has to do without."

"You have a bard, and one talented beyond any that I have ever heard," Sorkatani said. "His skills should serve you just as well as if he were a wizard."

"Hear that, Giles? You totally rock," Dawn said.

Giles fidgeted with his glasses. "I do my best. But, really, that is too high praise. I merely dabble. I may have dreamed of being a rock star when I was young, and flirted with the magical arts a little, but really I'm just a librarian."

"A noble occupation and, in truth, I would have spent my own life as a librarian had I not been wrenched unwilling from the peace of Candlekeep," Sorkatani said. "Yet you do yourself a disservice if you claim only to dabble in the bardic arts. You are highly skilled."

"Skilled indeed," Viconia agreed. "Your voice can melt hearts and, I have no doubt, open legs."

"It was pleasing to me also," Jaheira said. "My legs do not, however, open so easily."

Viconia arched an eyebrow at Jaheira, who looked away.

"Hey, Giles, you've got groupies," Dawn teased.

"Nonsense," Giles said, his cheeks coloring slightly.

"We must divide up our money and equipment in an equable fashion," Sorkatani said. "Buffy, you still have no armor."

"I don't want any," Buffy said.

"It certainly would be advisable for you to wear armor," Giles counseled her.

"I know it would be sensible," Buffy said, "but it just seems kinda wrong for me. I worry about it hampering my moves. I'd rather stick with what I know. No armor for me."

"You are kensai," Sorkatani said. "I suspected as much."

"Ken size? Not Barbie?"

"Kensai. A Sword Saint," Sorkatani clarified. "Your weapons are also your shields and armor. I suspected as much."

"Know what you mean about the armor hampering you, Slayer," Spike commented. "Thing is, I'm getting the same feeling with this chain mail of mine. Might be the Mail of the Dead, which is appropriate, but it's buggering up some of my moves. Think I'd be happier without it."

"What's this, Spike, are you trying to prove you're as tough as I am? I don't wear armor, so you're not going to? Sword Saint? You're not any kind of saint, Spike, and trying to claim you are isn't going to cut any ice with me."

"Not claiming to be a saint, Slayer." Spike looked into her eyes. "You used to treat me like a man, and that was enough for me."

Buffy's cheeks tinged with color and she lowered her eyes.

Spike waited for a few seconds but Buffy made no reply and so he continued. "Anyway, I'd be happier without this armor. Leather's more my thing. I'll take one of those jerkins and pass the chain on to somebody else. Tara, maybe?"

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

"So what class is Spike?" Andrew asked.

"I don't know," Jonathan admitted. "I thought he was just, like, a friendly monster."

"He's a Swashbuckler," Warren said. "When he put the chainmail on I thought that I must have gotten it wrong, but it's sorted itself out now."

"Oh, yeah, a Swashbuckler is so right," Andrew agreed.

"You think Giles is gonna score?" Jonathan wondered.

"Probably," Warren said. "Now that I _don't_ want to see."

"Even if it's with Viconia?"

Warren's mouth twisted and he gave a slight shake of his head. "Hmm. Even so, probably not. I was kind of hoping Viconia would get it on with Tara."

Jonathan's eyes glazed over briefly. "Mmm, yeah."

"Well, they're not in the same party now," Andrew pointed out. "If Viconia's going to get it on with anybody then it would have to be Spike."

"I could live with that," Warren conceded.

"Or Willow. She's in Viconia's party," Jonathan reminded them.

"I could live with that, too. Could I ever live with that, dudes." Warren licked his lips. "Okay, save it now, Shorty. We're gonna have to run it on two screens to follow it all now they're splitting up."

"Sure thing." Jonathan saved and quit the game. "I need a bathroom break anyway."

Later the three sat munching on pizza and idly watching an episode of 'Star Trek: Voyager'. "I'm really getting somewhere with the coding," Warren told them. "I made a patch and tried it out on an old save. It worked fine, no glitches, and the cut scene at the end of Chapter One had the dust clouds, and Irenicus putting a Hold on them to plug up that plot hole, and the extra shops were there, and the mob burning Viconia was bigger, and all that stuff. And hey, guys, there's a whole lot of really funny new dialogue in the clothes shop, and in the Den of the Seven Vales, about this cool new invention in Athkatla. The bra."

"No clones?" Jonathan asked.

"No, no clones," Warren said. "You still get to click on the characters and direct them, and the new dialogue still comes up with options that you have to select, just like in the vanilla game, but with extra stuff. There are only the two sets of people who have actual personalities and make their own decisions. Buffy and Spike and company in the main game, and the Randy and Joan Show here in real-life Sunnydale."

"Hey, did you ask Alex about taking the diamond back for the reward?" Jonathan asked.

Warren's jaw dropped and his mouth hung open. He raised his hand and smacked himself on the forehead. "D'oh! Sorry, dudes. I forgot all about it."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

Disclaimer: The characters in this story do not belong to me, but are being used for amusement only and all rights remain with Joss Whedon, Mutant Enemy, the writers of the original episodes, and the TV and production companies responsible for the original television shows. BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER (c) 2002 Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation. All Rights Reserved. The Buffy the Vampire Slayer trademark is used without express permission from Fox. I don't know who currently owns the copyright to Bioware's game 'Baldur's Gate 2: Shadows of Amn', but it isn't me, and characters and dialogue extracts are used without permission and with no intent to profit from their use. Lyrics from 'Let's Work Together' by Canned Heat and 'Perfect Day' by Lou Reed used without permission and, similarly, with no intent to profit.


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter Seven**

"Bloody gorgeous," Spike breathed reverently. He ran his hands over the jet black leather armor that adorned the torso of a mannequin in the shop display. "Would I look bloody great in that, or what?"

Viconia quirked an eyebrow at him. "You are not unpleasing to the eye as you are, vampire." Spike now wore black boots, black breeches, and a black shirt over a red undershirt, not unlike his familiar Sunnydale outfit, but the effect was somewhat spoiled by his brown leather studded brigandine. "You gain pleasure, then, from caressing a form of smooth and shining black?" Viconia continued, her tone suggestive and her expression challenging. "Prove yourself mighty in battle and there may be such pleasures in store for you."

"Name's Spike, not 'vampire'," Spike said absently, his attention still fixed on the armor. "Am I going to have to go through all that again?" He stroked the black leather once more.

"The Armor of Deep Night," the proprietor of the Adventurer's Mart told Spike. "Crafted long ago by servants of Umberlee the Sea Queen, for one who held her favor, and filled with mighty enchantments. It resists the blade as well as does a suit of mail and plates." He spread his hands. "Twelve thousand danter and it is yours."

"Twelve thousand?" Spike winced. "Just have to put it on my Christmas wish list, then. Bugger. Haven't seen anything I wanted that much since the DeSoto."

"There is much here that would be of great use to us," Sorkatani said. "There is little that is within reach of our purse. At least now all of us have enchanted weapons, and all are armored that may wear it." She counted out coins to the shopkeeper, took up the new enchanted katana purchased to replace the one that had failed to pierce the fanatical preacher's chain mail during the rescue of Viconia, and positioned it carefully at her hip. "Mayhap we shall return from Lady Nalia's keep laden with gold enough to buy that armor, and much else, Spike." She grinned suddenly and shrugged. "On the other hand, we might get our butts kicked. There is only one way to find out. Let us, then, be on our way."

"Uh, it's a long way, right?" Willow put in. "Shouldn't we, uh, buy horses?"

"Horses are expensive," Sorkatani said, "and horse thieves are hanged. We walk."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

"Okay," Buffy said. "So, looks like we've solved the crimes. Elephant leather, tannin, it all points to being someone who works with leather, and there's a leatherworker's shop right down the street."

"And the victims were skinned," Anya added.

"Yeah." Xander screwed up his mouth. "Anyone else here thinking 'Silence of the Lambs'?"

"I was really trying not to," Buffy said. "So, what do we do? Take what we have to the cops, or go grab the guy ourselves?"

"We should catch him ourselves and turn him in for the reward," Anya stated firmly.

"If we tell the authorities now we are likely to be thanked and perhaps get some small coin," Jaheira advised them, "but to apprehend the culprit and drag him before them would gain us a larger reward. Also, should the guard arrive at his door in full panoply, he may take alarm and flee."

"So we should totally catch the guy ourselves," Dawn said.

"On the other hand, if he is innocent, our intervention may do great harm," Jaheira continued. She shrugged. "There are other workers in leather in the city, and a man may work with leather, or skin, without opening a shop for business. Yet we risk doing harm even if we take our evidence to the guard. They may seize the nearest suspect and a poor man in this city may find that innocence is no defense. As well to confront the man ourselves, I suppose."

"Okay, we go see this Kojak guy," Buffy decided.

"Rejiek Hidesman," Jaheira corrected her.

"Krajicek. Whatever."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

"What kind of sicko are you?" Buffy asked. Rejiek Hidesman had just given his version of the 'I'd have gotten away with it if it hadn't been for you pesky kids' speech and was standing with an unrepentant sneer on his face. "I hope they hang you. Come quietly and you won't get your ass kicked."

"Dead or alive, you're coming with me," Xander couldn't resist adding.

"No, I won't be doing that. My work is too important to be stopped." Rejiek moved away towards a staircase that led down towards a lower floor.

Buffy vaulted the tradesman's workbench and made for him.

"Buffy look out!" Dawn and Anya yelled almost simultaneously.

Buffy halted, but too late. Her foot had already made contact with a false floorboard. A lever tripped and two bottles crashed from a nearby shelf and broke on the floor. Their contents mixed and a cloud of vapor spread out to fill the room. Buffy gasped, staggered, and clutched at her throat. Xander reeled back, retching. Jaheira coughed and choked. Dawn collapsed to the floor gasping for breath. Anya, who was far enough back to be barely affected, fired a crossbow bolt at the fleeing Rejiek. Giles bent down to grab Dawn's ankles and tried to drag her to safety.

Tara was right at the back and the gas cloud didn't reach her. She raised a hand and gestured. "Ilman saastuminen, hälventää," she cried. The cloud of gas dispersed.

"W-way to go, Tara," Buffy wheezed. "Hey, where'd he go?"

"Down the stairs," Anya said, "and I really wouldn't advise running down after him."

"Good point," Buffy agreed. "Dawn! Are you alright?"

"Just – about – okay," Dawn panted.

"Okay, people, proceed with extreme caution," Buffy ordered. "Anya, take point, okay? Dawn, you and me right behind her."

"We should have torches," Xander advised. "In 'Silence of the Lambs' Buffalo Bill put out the lights."

"Good thought, yeah. Just watch out we don't light the place on fire." Once torches were lit, and once everyone had stopped coughing and all eyes had stopped streaming, the party advanced down the staircase.

The lower room was a scene out of hell. Partially skinned corpses lay on benches and on the floor. The stench of death filled the air. There was no sign of Rejiek Hidesman.

"Tripwire!" Anya announced. She traced its route and then carefully cut through the wire.

Dawn's eyes were wide and her face had gone pale. She gulped and gritted her teeth. "I can see another one of those trick floorboards," she warned. "Over there." She pointed at where another staircase led further down into the building.

"He's getting quite a head start," Buffy complained.

"Exactly his reason for these traps," Giles said.

"Half of the room is rigged," Anya said. "Not just along the line to the stairs."

"So he's protecting something," Buffy deduced. "Check it out. Carefully."

A search of the room turned up a scroll that contained an apparently coded message from a customer of Rejiek. "The cops will want this," Buffy said, "but hey, Giles, could you make a copy before we pass it on?"

"Of course, Buffy."

Dawn snipped through a tripwire and peered at the alcove, hidden by a bedstead, that the booby-trap had been guarding. She recoiled, turned away, gulped in a great breath and then doubled over and vomited.

Xander took her place and looked to see what had disturbed her. He duplicated her actions almost exactly. "Buffalo – Bill," he croaked, once he had recovered enough to talk. "It's a fucking skin suit. Leather jacket out of – urgh – pieces of human skin."

Buffy went to comfort Dawn, who clung to her for half a minute, and then gathered the party again for another cautious descent down a staircase.

Xander's prediction about the lights did not come true. The staircase led down into a cavern under the banks of Athkatla's river, fitted out as a cargo dock, with hoists and ramps on a wide wooden platform. There was some light filtering in from the open river, and torches flickered in sconces on the walls to provide additional light to the scene.

Rejiek Hidesman wasn't there. A boat was sculling out of the cave towards the river, and though Buffy couldn't make out the identity of the occupant she had no doubt that it was the fugitive making his getaway.

The cavern was not unoccupied, however. A bearded man in blue robes stood near a cargo hoist, his hands raised in apparent readiness to cast a spell, and another man crouched behind an inverted boat hull with a crossbow leveled. Two creatures lurched towards the bottom of the stairs. Their skin was the color of scabbed blood. They would almost have looked like skinned human corpses were it not for the clumps of reddish hair that grew in scattered patches across their torsos and legs. Wide lipless mouths gaped to display jagged teeth. A vile smell of rotting flesh rose from them.

"Ghouls!" Jaheira announced. "No, worse, ghasts." She whirled her sling about her head.

"Meddling fools, you will not disrupt Rejiek's great work. Your skins will be the final touch," the mage shouted. "I, Vellin Dahn, command your death!"

Dawn loosed her crossbow bolt at his head. He vanished before it struck and it passed through empty space. Jaheira's slingshot hissed through the air. The crouching crossbowman fired an answering shot. Buffy charged the ghasts. The fight was on.

Anya fired at the crossbowman and her bolt struck the boat hull close to his chest. He flinched briefly and then started to reload his crossbow. Xander raced towards him, the Sword of Chaos raised high, and the man abandoned his attempt to reload and drew a shortsword for close combat. Tara chanted an incantation and the ghasts wavered and backed away. Buffy spun, kicked one ghast in the face and knocked it sprawling, and in a continuation of the same move lashed out with her sword and carved a huge gash into the torso of the other. Jaheira drew her scimitar and advanced. Giles slipped the guitar from his back and struck a chord.

The man in front of Xander suddenly vanished as mysteriously as had the mage. Xander stopped, confused, and swung the Sword of Chaos in random circles.

"_Come out, come out, wherever you are_," Giles sang. Dawn choked back a giggle.

Beside Xander the air shimmered and the leather-clad crossbowman reappeared. His sword was poised for a stab. His mouth opened wide in shock as he realized that he was no longer invisible. It opened wider as Jaheira thrust her scimitar into his back and then Xander struck with his two-handed sword.

The ghast felled by Buffy's kick struck out in retaliation and connected with Jaheira's legs. She froze rigidly in place and then toppled over as the man in whom her scimitar was lodged fell dead and dragged her with him in his fall.

Buffy finished off the wounded ghast and then turned on the one that had paralyzed Jaheira. Xander backed her up and inflicted a heavy wound on it as it turned to face the Slayer. Buffy slashed off its head.

"Where did that wizard guy go?" Dawn wondered.

Giles shook his head. "Teleported away, I fear. I had thought that he had become invisible, hence my choice of song, but it would appear not. A fortuitous decision on my part, however, as it would appear that it dispelled the other man's invisibility and perhaps saved Xander from injury."

"Yeah, nice one, G-man," Xander said. He grinned. "Good enough that maybe I won't tell Spike about what you sang to do it."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

"This party's right out of my control," Warren reported. "I can select Jaheira, yeah, but I'm not getting any choices on dialogue options. I can override her target choices, and move her away from the rest of the party, but that's about it. Her AI is taking over. She's even making her own decisions about weapon selection. If I change party order to make Jaheira the leader, well, as soon as I take the mouse away it just changes right back to Buffy. The game's running itself, dudes. I might as well get back to working on the code. I'm just kibitzing here."

"I'll take over," Andrew volunteered.

"I got a better idea," Warren said. "Look, dude, I can port this super AI shit over and come up with a cool new pirates game, I think, but we're gonna need a story line. Buried treasure, Governor's daughter, voodoo magic, all that shit, you know? Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to write the story."

"Me?" Andrew said. "You mean it?"

"Sure." Warren smiled. "Okay, your stories kinda suck sometimes, a bit too much with the slushy stuff and the crazy action, but that's pretty standard for games. You'll do fine. Just don't base the main guy character too much on Spike, okay?" He reconsidered. "On second thoughts, why not? Only, pirate not vampire."

"Okay," Andrew agreed. "Uh, can there be, like, zombies?"

Jonathan looked up from the screen on which he was following the actions of Sorkatani's party. "Fifteen men on an undead man's chest."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

"He got away," Buffy said in tones of severe dissatisfaction. "Bummer. Okay, we take what we got to the cops. Let them do the rest."

"I like it not that the mage escaped," Jaheira said. Tara had freed her from the paralysis induced by the ghast, but the half-elf was still weak and affected by nausea. "Mage and murderer alike will carry grudges against us and may seek vengeance."

"Let them come," said Buffy. "That would give me the chance to kick their asses and drag them off to the cops. What do they do to serial killers here? Hanging? Beheading?"

"I believe so, although I am not familiar with the specific punishment codes of Amn," Jaheira said. "Your qualms against the taking of human life do not extend to such cases, I trust?"

Buffy shuddered. "After what we saw upstairs? I don't have any problem with capital punishment for those guys at all."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

"No horse? Thought you would have had one for sure, Milady," Spike said, letting a hint of Parker from 'Thunderbirds' creep into his voice.

"Oh, please, call me Nalia," Lady Nalia said. "I'm not one to stand on ceremony with the lower orders."

"No kidding? Right, Nalia. Where's your horse? You don't seem the sort to enjoy walking. What happened, it get eaten by the trolls?"

"It's in your pouches," Nalia said. "I sold it to go towards the money to pay mercenaries." She sniffed. "I just hope you're worth it."

"Count on it," Spike said.

"We are all heroes," Minsc boasted. "Me, and Boo, and Spike, and Viconia, and Yoshimo, and of course the great Sorkatani. And I am sure that Willow will be a hero too once we are out of the city and she can use magic."

"I'll do my best," Willow said. "So, these trolls. I knew a troll once. Olaf. Like, super mighty, but maybe not big with the brains. Are trolls here the same? Sort of great big beardy warrior types with hammers?"

"Big with the ale drinking and always up for a spot of eating babies," Spike added.

"They are great big creatures, indeed, but lack beards," Sorkatani said. "I have not heard of them drinking ale but I can well believe that they would eat babies. They rarely use weapons, for they need them not, as their claws and teeth are all the weaponry they need. Trolls are deadly, and greatly to be feared, for they are extremely hard to kill. They recover from even death blows. Only fire, or acid, can bring them to their final death."

Willow fidgeted with a strand of her hair. "I guess I'd better prepare some, like, fire spells."

"And I will prepare fire arrows."

"Just don't hit me with them," Spike cautioned. "Inflammable bloke here." He frowned at something ahead of them. "What the sodding hell's going on there?"

The city gates were blocked. A wagon had lost a wheel right in the middle of the archway, and shed its load onto the road. Workmen labored to clear the way while the gate guards watched over them.

"A delay," Nalia moaned. "This really is intolerable."

"Yeah, real inconsiderate of them to lose their wheel just to bugger up your day," said Spike.

"Jest not, Spike," Sorkatani said. "Such things happen. Viconia tells me she was held in prison for a day before being brought out to be burned just as we were in the vicinity. I suspect that it was no coincidence. Gaelen Bayle and his people may not be the only ones watching me."

"Just have to stay sharp, then, won't we?" Spike looked around for something to occupy his time while they waited for the way to be cleared. His eyes fell upon a shabby building with a tavern sign depicting a flying crane hanging above its door. "Tell you what, love, what say we go for a pint while we're stuck here?"

"Ah, a cool goblet of ale would be refreshing," Minsc agreed. "And there may be nuts for Boo."

"I see no reason why not," Sorkatani agreed. "Very well."

"Do we have to?" Nalia moaned. "It's not a very prepossessing establishment."

"Feel free to hang around out here," Spike said.

"Oh, I suppose I'll have to accompany you," Nalia said in tones of weary resignation. "Perhaps a small glass of wine."

Spike quirked an eyebrow. "Yeah, that'd suit you down to the ground."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

The tavern was small and grubby. The floor was covered with straw. The ale, however, was good, and there were indeed nuts for Boo.

Spike contemplated his last cigarette. "Don't suppose there's any more of these in this world," he said. "Guess I'll just have to get used to smoking a pipe."

"You could always give up," Willow suggested.

"Why should I? Not as if it's a health risk," Spike said. "Nah, a pipe just doesn't have that badass vibe," he mused. "Have to roll my own. If I can find paper thin enough." He tilted his head as if listening to something, turned, and stared at the wall. "Is it my imagination, or is there a door there?" he asked.

Yoshimo followed his gaze. "Perhaps." The bounty hunter stood and walked over to the wall. "Yes, there is a door here. Well concealed. Strange, in a tavern."

"Ah, yes," the innkeeper confirmed. "That be the Crypt."

"Sounds like home from home," said Spike.

"It be the lair of a Lich," the innkeeper went on in the tones of one relating a ghost story. "Once a mighty mage, now undead, he now eternally guards a great treasure, or so they say. None can attest to the truth of the tale for, of those who have ventured within, none have ever returned."

"Great treasure?" Spike was intrigued. "Fancy a side quest, Tani?"

"Tani?" Sorkatani raised her eyebrows, and then smiled. "I like it." She considered his suggestion. "We do not have the equipment to confront a lich. They are powerful, extremely dangerous, enemies. This katana of mine lacks the enchantment to cleave their undead flesh. I doubt that we have any weapons that would bite, nor have we talismans to resist his dread spells. Perhaps another day."

"Fair enough." Spike finished his goblet of ale, stood, and stared at the secret door. "I'll be back," he growled, in as good an impression of Arnold Schwarzenegger as he could manage, and he brought a grin to Willow's face. "Hang on a minute," he said, narrowing his eyes, as a thought struck him. "Wonder if they do cigars in this world?"

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

Buffy scowled. "Slaves. Forced prostitution. Gladiator combats. This place stinks."

"No kidding." Xander's scowl matched hers. "They allow such things here?"

They had returned to the Copper Coronet after collecting a reward of five hundred danter for exposing the Bridge District skinner murderer. Giles had performed again, with satisfactory financial results, and the tavern proprietor, Lehtinan, had invited them to spend some of his earnings in a visit to his 'special entertainments' in the rear area of the tavern. The nature of those entertainments, which took place behind doors guarded by burly thugs, shocked the exiles from Sunnydale.

Jaheira too showed great displeasure, although less surprise. "It is against the law, but in this district that means little. The city guards rarely show their faces here, I gather."

Buffy perked up. "So, if we freed the slaves, nobody would arrest us for it?"

"Correct. We might make enemies, but we would also make friends. It would be a good deed, Buffy."

"Okay," Buffy said, "let's do it. The boss guy said we can go into the back rooms, so, let's poke around some."

They explored the area beyond those to which their invitation extended. A guard tried to stop them passing a door; Buffy punched him out and led her party onwards. Beyond the door two more guards took violent objection to their presence. Buffy used one of them to club the other into unconsciousness, in the process rendering the first equally hors de combat, and when another three came to their assistance they were subdued in equally short order.

The area beyond that door was lined with cells. Some were occupied by gladiators led by a warrior named Hendak, who seemed very Viking-like to the Scoobies, and others were filled with children.

"The children will be sold as servants," Jaheira explained. "Some may face worse fates."

"Not while I'm around," Buffy said forcefully. "I don't see any keys. Dawn, Anya, can you get them open?"

The best efforts of the two girls to pick the locks failed. Giles' attempts to sing them open were no more successful, and the doors were reinforced to such an extent that they resisted even Buffy's attempts to force them open.

"The key is held by the Beastmaster," Hendak told them. "His room is on a corridor to the far side of the arena pit. Free me, Buffy, and I will take my revenge upon that swine Lehtinan. Greatly have I suffered at his hands, and too many of my companions have died for his profit."

"I'm on it. I'm on it," Buffy said. "Come on, guys." She led the party along the designated corridor to a section where there were more cages. These ones, however, contained animals. Panthers, bears, and a massive creature with a humanoid body topped by a bull's head.

"Hey! Guests aren't allowed through here," a hulk of a man in a fur-trimmed jacket growled, stepping out of a side room to bar their way. He clutched a longbow in one hand. A beautiful but deadly female leopard padded at his heels.

"Uh, veterinary inspection?" Buffy said. "No? Okay. Here's the deal. You hand over the keys to let out the slaves, and I don't kick your teeth down your throat."

"Foolish child!" the Beastmaster growled. "I have a counter offer. Surrender, and live as a whore. Otherwise you die now."

"That's it," Buffy hissed. "You're heading for a world of hurt."

The Beastmaster put his hand to a lever on the wall and pulled it. All the cage doors flew open at once. "Attack, my children," he boomed. "Aid your master! Tabitha, kill!"

From every cage a raging creature emerged and fell upon the Scoobies. Two of the small apelike monsters that they had encountered in Irenicus' dungeon, gibberlings, leaped at Tara. A black panther pounced on Anya. A black bear bared its teeth and aimed a blow of its paw at Jaheira. A hulking brown bear reared up and clawed at Giles. The minotaur swung its axe at Xander. Tabitha the leopardess launched herself at Buffy.

Dawn was spared the attentions of any of the beasts in the initial charge. She thrust with her short sword at the panther that had knocked Anya to the ground. Jaheira uttered a word of command and the black bear swerved away from her. Giles was desperately fending off the brown bear with his staff; the black bear hurled itself on his assailant and clawed and bit. Xander defended himself with the Sword of Chaos. Tara wielded a mace against the gibberlings. Buffy met Tabitha's leap with her sword and impaled the lithe creature on the blade. It howled in agony but tried to force itself forward, lashing out with its claws and driving Buffy back.

The Beastmaster howled in anguish. "Tabitha!" He drew back his bowstring and loosed a shaft. Buffy dodged. The arrow hurtled past her and struck Giles in the armpit. It penetrated up to the depth of the flights.

Giles did not even cry out. He toppled face first to the ground, jerked twice, and was still.


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

"It's not fair," Willow complained. "Tara's all with the 'Don't use magic for this, Willow. Don't use magic for that, Willow', and then suddenly she's all 'Oh, Willow, you should be using magic for that and you're a wuss for not doing so.' Okay, I did a bad thing. If she wants to walk out on me for it, okay, maybe I don't blame her. I deserve it. But hey, where does she get off with the 'Magic's only okay when I say it is' thing? It's not like anybody ever said, 'hey, Buffy, you mustn't use your Slayer strength for that, put that heavy thing down', or 'hey, Buffy, don't use your Slayer speed when we're playing Dodgeball', or whatever."

They were walking across wide fields of grass interspersed with clumps of heather and small copses of trees. Spike scanned his surroundings constantly, looking from side to side and ahead, but he was not primarily occupied in watching out for danger. He was revelling in the sights and sounds that he had not experienced for well over a century, other than for one day that had ended ignominiously, and he was finding it enjoyable and diverting. Small animals rustled in the grass. Birds sang in the trees. A buzzard soared in the sky high overhead. Bees buzzed in the flowers. Willow's ramblings were a distraction, but Spike found that he didn't mind. The little witch was treating him as a confidant and it made a pleasant change from her attitude in the past.

"S'ppose she just wants you to think a little before you act, Red. You've gone off half-cocked a time or two, have to admit."

"Like when I brought back Buffy, you mean?" Willow shook her head. "Yeah, I messed up. I never thought to check where she was. Hello, séance? Or thought to dig her up first. Yeah, you were right all the time, Spike. There are always consequences."

"Yeah. Thing is, Red, you've got to balance it out. There's always consequences, but they're not gonna be worse than having some steaming great monster eat your face would be, are they? Think that might be all Tara was meaning." He smiled at Willow. "Hope you birds get back together."

She looked at him and smiled back. She would have described his smile as 'fond' had it come from anyone else and, when she thought about it, perhaps there was no reason to read it any differently just because it was Spike. "Thanks, Spike. Uh, look, I think I pretty much owe you an apology. I was pretty mean to you back around the time we brought Buffy back. You didn't deserve it. I'm sorry, Spike."

"'S alright, Red. Spoke up for me when Buffy was all for staking me, didn't you? Don't mind calling it quits if you don't."

"I was just saying what was right, Spike." Willow shook her head. "I don't get it with Buffy. I thought she was okay with you these days. Hey, I'd even gotten the impression that she'd been hanging out some with you lately. And then suddenly she's all 'hey, Spike's dangerous and we have to kill him'."

"Well, I am dangerous," Spike said, smirking.

"Yeah, you're the Big Bad, I won't forget it," Willow said, and she shot him a quirky little grin. "I don't think you're dangerous to us, though." She fell silent for a little while, and they walked on across the fields, listening to Nalia delivering a long and tedious speech to Sorkatani about the duties of the upper classes to the lower.

"Spike," Willow said after a few minutes, "if we ever get back to Sunnydale, what then? Uh, I mean 'when we get back', hey, got to think positive, right? I mean, hey, what if your chip doesn't work when we get back? Like, if it's not that it doesn't work here because of them not having computers, but, say, that it got fried when you were zapped by that sorta electric shock machine, you know, the one just after we got out of the cage room?"

"If the chip's dead? Buffy will stake me. End of story."

"And you wouldn't fight back?"

"Said once I'd rather die than live in a world without her in it. Makes it a bit bloody pointless fighting her, dunnit?"

"So we'd have to stop her," Willow said. "We talked her out of it here, didn't we?"

Spike stopped in his tracks. "You'd still speak up for me back in Sunnydale?"

"Well, yeah. You said it yourself, Spike. You worked with us all summer. We just brushed that off, and maybe we shouldn't have done. I know you wouldn't hurt Dawn. You've been okay all the time since we got to this place, Spike. I'm getting the feeling that you wouldn't hurt me either, not just here but at all, and you wouldn't hurt Tara either. And I think that if you promised to keep off the human diet altogether then we could trust you to keep your word. Right?"

"Yeah, right," Spike agreed. He started walking again. "Don't give a toss about humans that I don't know, yeah, but I know you lot wouldn't stand for me eating them. 'S not worth the hassle."

"And no hurting Xander," Willow warned.

"Not gonna promise not to punch him on the nose if he gets on my wick too much," Spike said. "Won't do him any real damage. He's okay, most of the time. Was pretty decent to me a time or two, like when I got my hands carved up by that sword. He's all right. Don't tell him I said so, mind."

"I won't," Willow said. She breathed in deeply. "You know, this isn't so bad, really. The air smells kinda fresh out here. No pollution. Must be all kinds of strange to you, walking out in the sun, right? First time in, like, more than a century?"

"Apart from that one day when I had the Gem of Amara, yeah, and that didn't last long enough for me to get used to it." Spike grinned at her. "Wonder if I'll freckle?"

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

"Hey, interesting," Warren remarked. "Giles is dead."

Jonathan looked up from his own screen. "What happened?"

"Don't know, dude. I didn't see it happen. They're doing the 'free the slaves in the Copper Coronet' bit. I think maybe a bear got him."

"They didn't rest before they started that bit," Andrew said. "I think he was down on hit points anyway. Reload from the last save, dude?"

"I don't know." Warren ran his fingers through his hair. "That would mean Jonathan would have to go through a boring bit again. Unless you want to make Sorkatani take on the lich after all?"

"They'd get creamed, dude. They marked it down for the future. They can do it later and get Daystar – that is the right crypt, dudes, isn't it? – but not now." Jonathan looked across at the other monitor. "You think Buffy will work out that they can get Giles raised? Or can Tara do it?"

"She's still a level or two too low, I think," Warren said. "I think I'll leave them to it. Jaheira can tell them about Raise Dead. If she doesn't, well," he shrugged his shoulders, "then it's just Giles' tough luck."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

Buffy walked slowly towards Giles' body. Her eyes were wide and unblinking. Her arms were red to the elbows with the mingled blood of the Beastmaster and his pet leopardess; she gave no thought to wiping it off, and she paid no attention to the smears of blood that were spreading on to her clothes. She stepped over the dismembered bodies of the minotaur, of the leopards, and of the bears without giving them an instant's thought.

The only thing that mattered was that Giles was dead.

Dawn crouched over the body and cried. Buffy arrived beside her and put a bloody hand on his shoulder. Xander limped to join them. A wound in his right thigh was oozing blood that was trickling down his leg and into his boot.

No-one spoke for several moments until Anya broke the silence. "He's dead. Giles is really dead."

Tara swallowed hard. "Uh, g-guys? I think, uh, w-we can g-g-get him back."

Buffy turned a gimlet stare on her. Tara lowered her eyes. "They can bring p-people back from the dead here. I, I don't think I can do it myself, not yet, but they can do it."

"Don't you think you've done enough damage?" Buffy said in a tone laced with venom. "He's dead. Isn't that enough?"

"Tara speaks true," Jaheira said. "Khalid was beyond aid, but Giles is not. We must take him to a temple. They can restore him to this life that was taken from him before his time."

"And if he's happy?" Buffy swung her attention between Tara, Xander, and Anya. "I guess you'd still want to drag him back, huh?"

They quailed before her furious gaze and made no answer.

"I have lost the one who meant more than any to me," Jaheira said. "I would not lose Giles too. He has made me feel that perhaps there might be some small joy in my life yet." Jaheira met Buffy's gaze squarely and unflinchingly. "The decision is not yours to make, Buffy."

"Not mine to make?" Buffy gave a horrible mirthless laugh. "Oh, right, you don't know about what they did to me. I was in Heaven and they dragged me back to a bright and cold and noisy hell. Nobody said to me 'Should we resurrect you or leave you where you are, Buffy?' Let Giles sleep in peace."

"Did he, then, drag you from the Afterlife against your will?"

"No," Buffy admitted, her tone softening. "Not Giles. Willow, Tara, Xander, and Anya. Not Giles."

"Then you have no cause for anger at him."

"Anger? At Giles?" Buffy shook her head slowly. "You think – no. I want to spare him what I went through."

Jaheira continued to look unwaveringly into Buffy's eyes. "Then let Giles make the decision for himself. We must ask him."

"You – you can do that?"

"Not I. I am a druid, and the human dead are outside my sphere. But I have seen Viconia talk to the dead, and others, and the temples in this city will have priests who can perform the ritual."

"I think I can do that," Tara said. "I'd need to rest first, and pray, b-but I can do it."

"Fine," Buffy said. "Fine. You do that. Ask Giles what he wants us to do. Like you didn't ask me." She raised her sword and looked at her bloody arms. "You rest, you pray. I've got slaves to free. And if anyone gets in my way, well, they can just get out again or take the consequences. I'm through pulling my punches."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

Hendak the gladiator pulled his sword free from the lifeless body of Lehtinan and brandished it over his head. "Lehtinan is dead," he cried. "There shall be no more slavery in the Copper Coronet."

"Fair enough," commented Bernard the bartender, who had stood impassively watching as the escaped slaves fought and killed the tavern owner and his guards and bouncers. "Only how are you going to make sure it sticks?"

Hendak frowned. "There is only one way that I can." He brandished the sword again. "Lehtinan stole from me five years of my life. I claim this tavern as repayment for the years I have spent here enslaved. My fellow slaves, you shall share the coin from Lehtinan's coffers…"

"Not including the float and the money to pay the brewery and the butcher," Bernard interjected.

"Although not the money needed for operating the business," Hendak agreed, "or you may take employment here."

"Yeah, seeing as how you lot have killed or chased off the bouncers, there's plenty of jobs going," Bernard agreed.

"And you shall be manager," Hendak said.

"Fair enough," Bernard said. "Had to do most of that stuff for Lehtinan anyway. As long as you pay me a manager's wage."

"Can he just do that?" Buffy wondered. "I mean, just take over this place like that?"

"He has been fighting in the pit for five years and he still lives," Jaheira said. "Who would argue? If Lehtinan has heirs there may be trouble. We shall see."

"Buffy, I own you a great debt," Hendak said. "As for how I can reward you, I must first see to my fellow slaves. Then we shall see."

"I didn't do it for any reward," Buffy told him.

"Yet you have earned one," Hendak said. "For now, I order that you and your fellows shall always receive a discount – is that the right word, Bernard?"

"Yeah, a discount. What, ten per cent, you reckon, Hendak? Or, shall we say, twenty?"

Hendak nodded. "On all that they ever buy here."

"We'll have to take advantage of that," Anya commented.

"You have brought danger upon yourself, Buffy," Hendak went on. "Lehtinan was a good customer to the Slaver ring. They may seek revenge on you."

"Let them. I'm ready and waiting," Buffy said. "Or maybe I'll take the fight to them. There are more slaves in this city?"

"Of course. Their stronghold is not far from here. A ship dry-docked upon the land and used as a building. It is well-guarded, or was when I was kept there, and that will not have changed."

Buffy's face held no expression. "I need to see to Giles first before I make any decisions." She looked at her bloodstained arms and shuddered. "And I could really use a hot bath."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

Tara spoke the final phrase of the incantation, blew out a candle, and then and lit it once more. "It is done," she said. "Rupert Giles, speak to me. I, Tara, implore that you answer."

The corpse did not stir, not even its lips moved, but Giles' voice sounded clearly to those gathered around. "What is your question, Tara?"

"Uh, how are you?" Tara asked, and blushed. "That was dumb. Sorry."

"Actually, I feel quite well," Giles responded, "apart from the death."

"Are you in Heaven, Giles?" Buffy asked.

There was no answer until Tara repeated Buffy's question.

"Well, no," Giles told them. "I'm in a sort of waiting room, actually. Rather boring, to be honest. It's like the waiting room at Bristol Temple Meads, in a way, only there isn't anywhere that I can get a cup of tea and there are only terribly partisan religious tracts to read. And no sign whatsoever of any train coming."

"What are you waiting for?" Tara asked.

"I don't think they know what to do with me," Giles revealed. "I'm not a worshipper of any of the gods of this world, you see. They don't seem to have an Afterlife that is appropriate for me."

"We should totally get him out of there," Dawn said.

"Yeah. Hang on in there, G-man, we'll have you back in no time," Xander said.

"Do you wish us to raise you from the dead?" Tara asked.

"That would be rather a good idea."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

"There is one thing that I don't understand," Sorkatani said to Nalia.

"And Columbo turns back and solves the whole case," Spike muttered to Willow. She giggled.

"You are a lady of position. Your family holds a keep and lands. They have been occupied by monsters. Why, then, did you not just go to the authorities? Surely they would have sent troops to drive the trolls from your holding. Why hire mercenaries?"

"I know what would have happened if I had taken my case to the Council of Six," Nalia replied. "Lord Isaea Roenal would have been sent to clear the keep. He is, well, our fathers are friends and they had hoped that we would marry. There was talk of betrothal. The trouble is that Isaea is a, well, he's a complete bastard, if you will excuse my vulgarity. Cruel, and greedy, and he treats the lower orders as chattels, and he has unpleasant personal habits. He consorts with prostitutes and there are tales that he, well, I'm not going to discuss such things. When I refused the betrothal he swore that he would force me into marriage and he told me what he would do to me on our wedding night." Nalia's mouth screwed up tightly. "I think I'd kill myself first."

"Kill him instead," Viconia said. "Much better."

"Then I'd be executed," Nalia said. "A wife in Amn is subservient to her husband. His property, even."

Willow bridled. "That's barbaric."

"Indeed," said Viconia. "The ridiculous customs and beliefs of the rivvin defy understanding. How can they not recognize the natural superiority of the female? Males are stupid. They compensate for their pitiful brains by gloating over their crude physical strength and bulging muscles. Not that bulging muscles are entirely unpleasant, in their place, but when they have served their purpose in the bedchamber the males should be dispatched back to the battlefield or to menial tasks of physical labor."

"That's not the way it is here," Nalia said. "If Isaea led a force to free the keep then he could force the marriage upon me. There wouldn't be anything that I could do about it. The only way that I can avoid that fate is to drive out the trolls and rescue my father myself."

"And so we shall," Minsc said. "We are all heroes. Trolls? Ptah! They shall fall before us and the butts of Evil will be kicked most mightily, yes indeed."

"I do not wish to bring you pain," Sorkatani said, "but have you considered that your father may already be dead?"

"He's worth a fortune in ransom," Nalia said. "It would make no sense for them to kill him." Her composure cracked and she gulped deeply. "He has to still be alive. He just has to."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

"So you seek to have your companion returned to this life?" The priest cast a dispassionate gaze over Giles' corpse. "What do you offer in return for this service?"

"Uh, money, I guess," Buffy said.

"Helm the All-Seeing does not bestow his favors so lightly," the priest told her. "You must speak with High Watcher Oisig. If he judges you worthy then we shall consider your request."

"High Watcher?" Dawn exclaimed. "This is totally the right place!"

"So, this is, like, the Council of Watchers?"

"We serve Helm, who watches over all," the priest intoned. "Come."

Buffy's party followed the priest into the temple. Buffy couldn't help expecting to meet a clone of Quentin Travers but in fact High Watcher Oisig was a tall, balding, man of stern demeanor and with a large and aquiline nose. He wore plate armor under his robes even in the temple. A shield emblazoned with the 'gauntlet and staring eye' emblem of Helm was propped up against his massive chair of intricately carved wood.

"Before I agree to grant your request," the High Watcher told Buffy, "you must tell me about he who is deceased. What god did he follow? What causes did he espouse?"

"Uh, I don't know about the god thing," Buffy said. "We're not from your world. But he was my Watcher."

"Watcher?" Oisig sat up very straight. "Then surely he served Helm."

"I, well, maybe," Buffy said. "We don't have the same gods where I come from, okay? But he Watched over me. Taught me, researched demons so that I could, you know, Slay them, looked up prophecies, all that stuff. He is, he was, as good as they get. And he's not happy where he is. Bring him back. Please?"

"Your case has merit," Oisig agreed. "I shall do this."

Buffy sighed with relief.

"You must perform a service in return, however," Oisig went on.

"Figures," Buffy muttered. "Yeah, this is the Council of Watchers."

"There is a strange new cult in the city," Oisig explained. "They follow a god they call the Unseeing Eye. To reach rank in the cult believers must pluck out their own eyes."

"That's insane!" Buffy exclaimed. "How could anyone be that stupid?"

"Well, some people are dumb enough to join the Scientologists," Xander reminded her.

"Point," Buffy said. "Okay, new religion with really dumb ideas. Go on."

"They preach blasphemy. Not the worship of a new god, but the idea that all other gods are false. Only the credulous and the gullible are swayed, but they are condemning themselves to eternal limbo, and Helm would not see them suffer so merely for being fools."

"It's not just because they're following a different god, then?"

"The Unseeing Eye is no true god. No new deity could arise without the knowledge of Helm the All-Seeing. We have no quarrel with the followers of other true gods, unless their aims conflict directly with the precepts of Helm." He fixed his stare on Tara. "What god do you serve, priestess?"

"Goddess," Tara said. She hesitated for a moment, lowering her eyes, and then raised her head with a proud tilt to her chin. "Mielikki."

The High Watcher nodded. "A worthy goddess indeed. There is no temple to Mielikki in this city but you would receive a warm welcome at the temple of Lathander. It lies close at hand." He turned his gaze back to Buffy. "I ask you to investigate the cult of the Unseeing Eye. Seek out the leaders and expose them if they are frauds. If they are evil, or are indeed demons, slay them."

Buffy bit her lip. "And your guys can't do this investigation for yourselves exactly why?"

"The lair of the cult is screened against our divinations," Oisig told her. "Our priests are well known in this city. The cultists would not believe that a priest of Helm would turn away from his deity. You are strangers here and they would have no immediate reason to suspect you of spying."

"Makes sense, I guess." Buffy looked around her group. "What do you say, people?"

"We could, uh, try the temple of Lathander," Tara suggested.

"If this cult is a foe to all gods, then whatever temple we went to might well make a similar request." Jaheira said.

The High Watcher nodded. "I spoke to Arval the High Mornmaster at a banquet three days ago. We discussed the Unseeing Eye and his misgivings match my own." He shifted in his seat as if uncomfortable. "Also, we watch the doings of the temple of Talos, for Talos is a foe to Helm, and I know that the Stormherald Nallabir sent forth a party to investigate the Unseeing Eye. They did not return."

"Great," Buffy muttered. "Why do I have this feeling that I'm going to end up fighting a hell god again? Okay. We'll do it. But bring back Giles first, okay?"

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

"Tell me, vampire," Viconia said, "What charm it is that allows you to walk in the sun?"

"Will you drop the 'vampire' stuff?" Spike grumbled. "Name's Spike. Want me to go round calling you 'drow'?"

"I am not ashamed of my noble race, vampire. Call me 'drow' if you so desire, as long as it is not in a place where the mention would bring a mob of idiotic rivvin howling for my blood," Viconia said. "Again, what enchantment protects you from the sun? It hurts my eyes, and makes my head ache, and I would fain make use of such protection for myself." She brought her index finger to her mouth and ran her tongue over it slowly. "My gratitude would be most pleasurable."

Willow turned crimson. "Uh, maybe you could just get a hat?" she suggested.

"A hat?" Viconia frowned. "Of what use would that be? A shawl over my head did serve as some protection, but a hat would not shield my eyes. All that it would do would be to make me look like a stalagmite."

"You mean those kinda ice-cream cone things are the only hats that women wear here?" Willow's brow creased as she searched her memory. She had seen working women wearing small bonnets tied down with a scarf, and she had seen those who appeared to be noblewomen wearing the ridiculous conical hennin. Other than that she had noticed only wimples and headscarves that gave little shade to the face. Some men, however, had worn more practical headgear. "Uh, maybe you've got a point. Hey, when we passed those guys plowing in the fields, some of them had hats with brims, right? You could wear that kind of hat."

Viconia shuddered. "Adopt the garb of a human male? And a mere laborer at that? I would rather endure the headache."

"Suit yourself," Willow sniffed.

"Again, vampire, tell me your secret."

"Why do you call Spike 'vampire'?" Nalia asked. "He is disrespectful, and mildly annoying, but hardly a ravening monster of the blackest evil."

"Because he is a vampire, rivvil," Viconia said.

"But he's out in the sunshine!"

Viconia rolled her eyes. "Exactly. That is the secret I seek."

"Spike is a vile monster?" Nalia's hand moved towards the hilt of her sword.

"Oh, bloody hell," Spike moaned. "Not all that again."

"A monster, perhaps, but hardly vile," Viconia said. "His form is pleasing to my eye. I sense that he could be entertaining in the bedchamber."

"Count on it, pet," Spike said almost by reflex.

"Call me not 'pet'!" Viconia snapped. Her tone of lazy banter dissipated completely and was replaced by an edge that hinted of real anger, or perhaps even of pain. "I am the pet of no mere male. None shall own me."

"Didn't mean anything by it. Too bloody touchy by half, you are. Tell you what, suppose I call you 'Vicky'?"

Nalia looked from one to the other, her brow furrowed, and her hand no longer near her sword hilt. "I don't…" she began. The rest of her sentence was lost as Viconia spoke over her words.

"Do not presume to patronize me, vampire," the drow snapped. "Your diminutives diminish me."

Sorkatani had been listening to Yoshimo relate tales of his homeland Kara-Tur, where she had been born but of which she had no memories, but now she turned her attention to the other conversation. "He calls me 'Tani'," she reminded Viconia. "I do not feel diminished by it."

"That is your choice, Bhaalspawn," Viconia said. "I do feel so diminished, and I will not permit it."

"And yet I have heard you call Jaheira 'mongrel'," Sorkatani pointed out. "You insult others and yet will not tolerate insults to yourself. That is hardly fair. I will not tolerate discord, for it puts us all at risk."

"Jaheira and I understand one another better than you might think," Viconia said.

"Perhaps." Sorkatani fixed Viconia with a stern stare. "I will have this matter resolved. Call him 'Spike' and he will call you 'Viconia'. Agreed?"

"Fine by me, Tani," Spike said.

"Oh, very well," Viconia sighed, with a roll of her eyes. "Tell me of your charm to resist the sun, _Spike_."

"Not going to drop it, are you, _Viconia_? There is no charm. It's just the wrong sort of sun. Not the same as in my world. Doesn't do me any harm, for some reason, and that's it. No trick that I can pass on to you."

"That is unfortunate," Viconia lamented. "So I must continue to endure this discomfort? Tell me, Bhaalspawn, why do we not march by night and camp by day?"

"By day we can see what lies ahead," Sorkatani told her. "Not at night, at least not for any great distance."

"Who knows what mousetraps we might blunder upon in the dark?" Yoshimo chimed in.

"Exactly. If we camp at dusk then, should we be attacked in the night time, at least we will have seen the ground on which we are to fight. Nalia, how far is it to your keep?"

"Not far. Three, perhaps four, miles."

"Then we shall camp now. In the morning we shall come fresh to the keep and survey it to make our plan of attack. Minsc, gather firewood."

"Should I hunt for our supper?" he suggested.

"If you see game close at hand, yes," Sorkatani said.

"I'll go with you, okay, Minsc?" Spike volunteered. "Spot of fresh blood would do me a power of good."

"Yoshimo, once Minsc and Spike return, lay traps around our encampment," Sorkatani went on.

Yoshimo bowed "It shall be as you desire, my lady."

"Viconia," Sorkatani said to the drow as the others began to disperse to their tasks, "you addressed me by a name that was ill-advised."

"Forgive me, oh Child of Prophecy, Mistress of Thrones and Crowns," Viconia said. Her tone was unrepentant.

"This is no mere matter of pride," Sorkatani said sharply. "The trouble that it could bring upon us would be far worse than any mob of peasantry seeking to burn the drow, or to stake the vampire. Call me not 'Bhaalspawn'. Do not call me 'Child of Prophecy' either."

"I am sorry, jabbress," Viconia said with more sincerity. "I did not think. Your point is well made."

"You are forgiven," Sorkatani said. She had been standing stiffly erect, her posture that of an officer, but now she relaxed her stance. "You are my friend, and I do not wish us to quarrel. Come, let us work together to make camp."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

Willow stood alone. She had been given no orders, knew very little about the business of camping in the wilderness, and felt rather useless. She trailed along after Nalia, who seemed to know exactly what she was doing despite her being a noblewoman who might have been expected to be no more knowledgeable than was Willow, and tried to be of help by doing what the other girl was doing. Her mind was only partially on her tasks, however.

'Bhaalspawn'? The wizard Irenicus had called Sorkatani by that name back when they had first seen the warrior girl. It sounded kinda, well, ominous. Willow resolved to discuss the matter with Spike later.

And also to talk about hats. Anya had introduced the bra to this world, Willow thought; maybe she could do the same with women's headwear. Those kinda flowery bonnets like in 'My Fair Lady' would keep off the sun and still look feminine. Spike had been around in those days, he might have some pointers, and hey, fashion revolution! Or those sorta Fifties hats with that little veil, like Sophia Loren in some old movies, or hey, Audrey Hepburn sometimes. Spike had been around for those too. He could be a lot of help; that is, if he didn't think that discussing hats wasn't too girly for the Big Bad.

Willow wished that Buffy was there. Or Dawn. Even Anya. And, of course, she missed Tara most of all. Willow glanced at Viconia. 'Looks like I was wrong when I thought that she was gay', she thought, and then mentally kicked herself. Had she been considering being unfaithful to Tara? Bad Willow, no biscuit. Even if she and Tara were kinda on a break it would still be wrong. Wouldn't it? 'Yes it would', she told herself sternly, and put Viconia out of her mind.

Even so, as Willow lay uncomfortably on the hard ground near the camp fire later that night, she found herself thinking that it might be kinda nice to have warm arms wrapped around her, and smooth black skin sliding against her own. And her last thoughts before she fell asleep were speculations about the color of Viconia's nipples.

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

"Watchers? How extraordinary," Giles said. "It does seem extremely, ah, appropriate."

"Are you okay?" Buffy asked. "I mean, no ill effects from being, well, dead?"

"I'm fine, Buffy," Giles assured her. "The whole business was boring in the extreme, but that's all." He looked around at the interior of the temple. "I must say I'm intrigued by the concept of a God of Watchers. Perhaps I should look into this religion. Having somewhere to go after death would be preferable to what I in fact experienced."

Buffy's smile lost its warmth. "Yeah. No Heaven for me this time round, huh?"

"Oh, Buffy, I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to bring up, ah, unpleasant memories."

"Pleasant ones, Giles. That's the whole point."

"I'm kinda interested in this Helm character myself," Xander remarked. "I don't know why, but I get the feeling this place would be sorta right for me too."

"I would be happy to give you instruction in the worship of Helm the All-Seeing," Oisig said. "Or, rather, allocate priests to that duty. Once you have completed your mission, that is."

"Yeah. Right. Okay, guys. Let's not hang around. On with the show. Maybe we can get it over with quick. I mean, bunch of blind guys? How tough can they be?"

Everybody looked at her.

"Oops! I so shouldn't have said that."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

"They're doing the 'Unseeing Eye' quest? Already? They are so going to get their asses kicked," Andrew opined.

"I don't know, dude, Buffy is pretty high level, and she's got that whole Regeneration thing going," Warren said. "Xander's got a hell of a lot of hit points too. Hard to kill that guy."

"Giles is high enough level but his Constitution score lets him down," Jonathan mused. "He still should have gotten through the Copper Coronet fight okay if he'd thought to get properly healed up before he started. I hope they've learned better by now. Anya's tougher than I would have thought, and sneaky. Has anyone seen her take any damage at all since the game started? No? Thought as much."

"Anyone want to bet on who's gonna get killed down there?" Warren suggested.

Jonathan shook his head. "Tara and Dawn. No question."

"Yeah," Andrew agreed. "But they'll get them raised, right?"

"Unless the Beholders disintegrate them," Warren pointed out. "No coming back from that one, dudes. One blast, one failed save, and poof! Ashes to ashes and dust to dust. Sayonara and goodnight."


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter Nine**

"Why does it have to be sewers?" Buffy moaned. "Hey, I'm gonna spend more on new boots in this place than we're gonna make from quests."

"Yeah, it's all kinds of gross," Dawn agreed.

"We need some kind of wipe-clean waterproof leather," Anya mused. "Crocodile leather? Maybe, in this place, dragonskin? There might be a marketing opportunity there."

Xander gazed into the darkness. "We're kinda exposed here. Walking along with these torches, anything out there can see us coming before we can see it."

"I may be able to do something about that," Giles said, "but only by making a lot of noise, and that would give away our position in itself."

"A song?" Buffy wrinkled up her brow. "Can't see that it would make things any worse. Go for it, Giles."

"Very well. Join in with me on the choruses." Giles strummed out an urgent, throbbing, rhythm on his guitar.

"_I know you've deceived me, now here's a surprise  
I know that you have 'cause there's magic in my eyes_

_I can see for miles and miles and miles and miles and miles  
Oh yeah_

_If you think that I don't know about the little tricks you've played  
And never see you when deliberately you put things in my way_

_Well, here's a poke at you  
You're gonna choke on it too  
You're gonna lose that smile  
Because all the while_

_I can see for miles and miles  
I can see for miles and miles  
I can see for miles and miles and miles and miles and miles  
Oh yeah_..."

Buffy peered into the darkness. "Nothing. It's a bust, Giles. Maybe, like, outdoors it might have helped, but down here, totally zilch. I can't see any better than I could before."

"Me neither," agreed Dawn.

"I don't think it's helped me any, Giles," Tara said. "Sorry."

"Fifty, maybe sixty, yards thataway," Xander announced. "Hoppy little creatures kinda like, what do they call them, wallabies. Except with bows. Closing in. They don't look friendly, people."

"I see them," Giles said, as he slung his guitar on his back and cocked his crossbow. "It has certainly worked for me and, it would seem, for Xander."

"Not for me," Anya said.

"My night vision is spoiled by the torchlight," Jaheira said. "The song has made no difference. Other than, perhaps, to strengthen my resolve."

Buffy tossed her torch in the direction that Xander was indicating. It soared through the air, briefly illuminating a score of scampering bipedal creatures, landed in the main sewer flow, and went out.

"Kobolds," Jaheira identified the little beings. "Thieves and cannibals. They will lurk in the dark and shower us with flaming arrows. They cannot be reasoned with. Only killed."

Xander threw his own torch after Buffy's. He was able to take more careful aim and his torch landed on bare stone flags. It remained alight. The kobolds made angry chattering noises. One of them loosed an arrow. It burst into flame as it streaked through the air. More arrows followed.

"Okay, we kill them," Buffy commanded. "Fire one! Charge!"

Dawn, Giles, and Anya fired their crossbows. Xander loosed an arrow from a bow that he had acquired from the corpse of the Beastmaster, to which he had taken with surprising ease, and then drew the Sword of Chaos. Tara let a slingshot fly. Jaheira had never heard the term 'fire' applied to the release of missile weapons, and she was confused for a moment, but then she whirled her own sling and let loose. Buffy charged up the corridor waving her sword, with the others following behind.

The wallaby-sized kobolds were no match for humans at close quarters. They had a joker in their pack, however; a tiger-headed humanoid, strong and fast, who appeared to be in command of the tribe of smaller creatures. It wielded a scimitar with skill and fury but managed only to graze Buffy's arm before going down under her blows and those of Xander. Once their ally, or perhaps more accurately their leader, was dead the kobolds lost their nerve and fled at high speed, through the tunnels, leaving most of their force dead behind them.

The tiger-man wore extravagant and gaudily-colored pantaloons and a silk shirt. Over it, however, he was wearing a cloak of green and brown patches that didn't go with the rest of his apparel at all. Buffy took a closer look at it. "Strong material," she commented. "I landed one on it and it didn't get cut. Think this is something special, Jaheira?"

"It may well bear an enchantment of protection," Jaheira agreed. "Yet I trust not anything from such a creature. It may also be cursed. We must examine it magically."

"Anything you can do, Giles?" Buffy asked.

"I think so, Buffy," Giles said. Again he slipped off his guitar, raised it, and struck a note.

"_Bagpuss, dear Bagpuss,  
Old furry cat-puss,  
Wake up and look at this thing that I bring.  
Wake up, be bright, be golden and light,  
Bagpuss oh hear what I sing_."

The tiger-man sat up. Dawn gasped in horror. Xander raised his sword.

"It is the Cloak of the Sewers", the creature's corpse said in a pleasant and very English voice that bore no resemblance to the voice in which it had barked commands to the kobolds. "It helps the wearer to resist harmful spells. It grants protection against blows equal to that from a leather jerkin, and may be worn over armor or in combination with talismans or rings of protection. Once per day the wearer may transform himself into a rat, or a troll, or a mustard jelly, for as long as he desires." The tiger-man flopped limply to the ground once more and lay motionless.

"A mustard jelly?" Dawn said. "Eww."

"Sounds repulsive," Giles agreed.

"A creature of living slime," Jaheira informed them. "Corrosive to the touch, hard to kill, and an eater of flesh."

"Consider that 'eww' tripled," Dawn said. "Cubed."

"I'm still wigged out from Giles' song," Buffy said. "Still, hey, useful. Well, maybe not the mustard jelly bit."

"These should be pretty useful too," Xander said, displaying a bundle of arrows salvaged from the bodies of the kobolds. "Fire arrows."

"Yeah," Buffy agreed. "Neat. At least when we're not on the receiving end."

"They use some cunning alchemy to make the arrows catch light in the air," Jaheira said. "Their one accomplishment, for in all other ways they are but savages. Even their swords they must barter for, or steal, for they do not work metal." She stripped a quiver from a kobold's corpse. "Arrows such as this served Sorkatani well in Baldur's Gate."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

"Kobold arrows," Sorkatani said, in tones of satisfaction. "These will serve us well against trolls."

"We have but few," Captain Arat, commander of what was left of Nalia's father's retinue, told her. "There is a storeroom in the keep with more, but we were driven off before we could reach it. There were not just trolls, but the yuan-ti snake men too, and they had monstrous burrowing creatures with them to breach our defenses. We were outflanked." The remnants of the keep's defenders had taken refuge in an encampment surrounded by a wooden palisade. They were battered, badly equipped, and demoralized.

"I shall look out for this storeroom," Sorkatani said. "Will your men follow us into the keep?"

Captain Arat shook his head. "I cannot inspire them. They are without hope. Yet if you can get to the drawbridge and lower it I believe I can rally them to come to your support."

"So we go in through the secret tunnel, kill our way to the drawbridge, and let you in? That the plan?" Spike looked askance at the fire arrows. He appreciated their value against the regenerating trolls but was wary of their potential to do him serious harm.

"As good a plan as any, I think," said Sorkatani.

"I pray that you find Lord De'Arnise alive," Captain Arat commented. "If he is dead then the lands will belong to the family Roenal. I have no wish to serve them, not after serving an honorable man for many years."

"Will the lands not then pass to the Lady Nalia?" Sorkatani tilted her head slightly to the side and frowned.

"She is betrothed to Isaea Roenal," the Captain said. "Or she was, rather, but the betrothal will stand if her father is not there to uphold the Lady's objections."

"I will never marry that man," Nalia stated.

"Indeed not, my Lady. Yet you may still lose the lands."

"It's not going to happen." Nalia stared at the brooding bulk of the keep. "We're going to find my father alive. We have to."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

"I can't believe somebody actually runs a business down here." Buffy shook her head.

"No rent to pay," Anya pointed out. "I can see the logic."

"Yeah, but the down side is sharing his shop with a whole load of monsters."

"He probably reckons it's better than sharing it with the cops, Buffy," Dawn pointed out. "That guy? Totally a fence."

"I guess so," Buffy agreed. "But hey, we got five hundred dollars – danter – just for killing some dumb troll for the guy. Not bad."

"Well, let's hope those guys up ahead are as friendly," Xander said.

Buffy peered into the shadowy distance but could see nothing. "Only one way to find out. Maybe it's those cult guys we're looking for."

"You there! Hand over your gold or I split your skulls wide," the gruff voice of a dwarf rang out in challenge. "A thousand danter will do."

"You can not be serious," Buffy replied. "A thousand? Forget it."

"Then you shall fall beneath the edge of my axe," the dwarf growled. "Gallchobair! Draug! Loot and slaves are here for the taking!" He raised his axe and charged. Buffy met him half way and a ferocious duel began.

As the rest of the party advanced to support her one of the other group chanted an incantation. A wave of terror filled the hearts of the Scooby party. Xander, Anya, Tara, and Jaheira turned and fled. "What the hell?" Buffy exclaimed. She was distracted enough by the flight of her friends that one of her blows went wide. The dwarf's answering axe stroke was better aimed and would have bitten deep into Buffy's body had she not made a frantic leap backwards.

Dawn aimed her crossbow at a man in wizard's robes. She fired, wounding the man slightly, but before she could reload another dwarf closed with her and knocked the crossbow from her hands.

"Take that one alive," shouted the priest who had sent half of the Scoobies fleeing in panic. "The Slavers will pay well for a pretty lass like that, especially if she's a virgin." He drew a mystic symbol in the air and uttered a phrase in an unknown language. A score of whirling blades appeared in a circle around him and shielded him from attackers.

"_We play the game with the bravery of being out of range,_" Giles sang. "_We zap and maim with the bravery of being out of range_." The panic-stricken flight of the Scoobies slowed and stopped.

Buffy kicked her opponent under the chin with such force that the dwarf was lifted from his feet and hurled through the air. He hit the sewer wall with force enough to crack the bricks and his axe fell from his hand. He slid down the wall, slumped to his hands and knees, and began to grope for the weapon. Buffy turned and headed for Dawn's assailant.

The enemy cleric made another mystical gesture and began another chant.

The second dwarf grappled with Dawn, seized her wrists, and pinned her against the wall. The wizard arrived, spoke a word of power, and Dawn slipped into unconsciousness. The dwarf picked her up and slung her over his shoulder and the wizard turned to rejoin the fight. He found himself face to face with a raging Slayer.

Buffy cut the man's throat before he could raise his hands for a spell and then she turned on the dwarf. She swept his legs out from under him, plucked Dawn from his grasp, set her sister down against the wall and thrust down with her sword to impale the dwarf before he could regain his feet.

"Dawn! You okay?" Buffy asked. She reached out for her sister but then a pillar of fire lanced down from the ceiling and enveloped the Slayer. Buffy screamed in pain. The flames lasted only a moment, and then were gone, but they left Buffy on her knees on the ground, gasping in pain, and unable to defend herself.

"_I am the god of hell fire_," Giles retaliated, "_and I bring you… Fire, I'll take you to burn. Fire, I'll take you to learn. I'll see you burn_!" A jet of fire sprang from the guitar and enveloped the enemy priest with results that matched those of the spell that had incapacitated Buffy.

The original dwarf had retrieved his axe and was making for Buffy. Before he could take advantage of her weakness Xander and Jaheira charged back into the fray. One stroke from each landed on the dwarf and sent him crashing to the ground.

Giles' flame jet went out. The cleric fumbled for a healing potion. Anya shot him with a crossbow bolt and hit him directly in an eye.

Tara arrived, silent and shame-faced, and tended to Dawn. The girl stirred from her enchanted sleep and seemed none the worse for her experience.

Jaheira cast healing spells on Buffy. She had to cast over and over again before the last of the burns was healed.

"Man, that was close," Xander panted. "Nice one, Spellsinger."

"I don't think we were playing in the little leagues here," Buffy said. "Those guys had serious firepower. No pun intended."

"They appear to be remarkably well equipped," Giles observed. "I suggest that we, ah, loot their bodies in the, ah, traditional manner, return to an inn, and assess their goods and divide it out in the most effective fashion. Some rest and recuperation would be advisable too, I think."

"No kidding," Xander said.

"That experience was very distressing," Anya said. "I think that I could do with some orgasms before I'll feel fit to do any more fighting or trekking through dark sewers." She frowned. "I wonder how this world deals with contraception?"

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

The trolls in this world were indeed nothing like Olaf. They were primitive, animalistic, and entirely devoid of tactical ability. Their sentries gave no thought to trying to raise the alarm but merely rushed to attack when they detected the intruders. Consequently Sorkatani's party was able to infiltrate the keep with considerable success.

They slew trolls by the score. Their stock of fire arrows dwindled, Willow's repertoire of fiery spells was almost exhausted, but the keep was almost clear. The drawbridge had been lowered, Nalia's retainers were fighting the remnants of the troll forces in the upper floors, and Nalia guided Sorkatani and her group down into the cellars of the keep to where Nalia suspected that her father might be imprisoned.

They opened a heavy wooden door and entered a large chamber. Massive shapes lumbered to confront them. Not trolls, although just as large and fearsome, but creatures of vaguely insectoid appearance. Rather like, Willow thought, beetles crossed with Sumo wrestlers.

Their eyes glittered with an eerie light. Spike met one's stare full on and his own eyes glazed. He lashed out with his sword; not at the creature but at some invisible opponent. "Doc," he grunted, "I'll kill you this time." He whirled and struck again, this time slicing a gash half an inch deep across Yoshimo's shoulder and chest.

"Spike!" Willow cried.

"Run!" Sorkatani commanded. The party spun around and ran for the door. Willow didn't follow immediately; Sorkatani snatched her up and carried her out bodily. Minsc slammed the door, as soon as they were all through, and pushed home the locking bar.

"Umber hulks," Sorkatani explained. "In their gaze lies madness. Spike would slay us and know not what he was doing."

"Can we, like, cure it?" Willow asked.

"It wears off with time," Viconia assured her. "Or I can dispel the affliction. Not, however, when fighting off umber hulks. They are hard to kill, especially as you must not meet their eyes. And all the time Spike would be lashing out at foes real and imagined, as likely to connect with me as with them." She laid healing hands upon Yoshimo's wound.

"So how do we kill them before they eat Spike?" Willow asked.

"In the Underdark we slay them with poisonous vapors," Viconia said. "They are very vulnerable to such things."

"And Spike isn't," Willow said, giving a grim smile. "I think we're in business."

They spent a minute in planning and preparation, and then Willow began to recite an incantation. She gestured, Minsc threw open the door, Willow uttered the incantation's final syllable and cast the spell, and Minsc slammed the door once more.

There was a heavy thud as something crashed into the door. The wood cracked but did not break. A moment later there was the sound of a second impact against the wall beside the door. There was no third impact.

The party waited. Eventually the door shook once more. "Hey, what the hell are you tossers playing at?" Spike's voice demanded. "Where've you sodding well gone?"

They opened the door. The spell had run its course and the magical poisonous cloud had dispersed. The umber hulks lay inert. "What did you lock me in with those buggers for?" Spike grumbled, "or, should I say, with those bugs?"

Willow explained what had happened. "I'm glad you're okay, Spike," she told him.

"Glad I didn't do any serious damage to you lot," Spike said.

"We're nearly there," Nalia said. "The dungeon. Of course, the dungeon is only a hangover from a less enlightened age, Father would never have employed it for that purpose, but it would certainly be the logical place for them to have imprisoned him."

"Assuming someone was telling the stupid pillocks what to do," Spike said.

"Someone undoubtedly was," said Sorkatani. "Trolls, yuan-ti, and umber hulks, all working together to capture and hold a keep. Such a thing could only happen under the direction of a more civilized being."

"Human?" Spike suggested.

"That would be logical." Sorkatani shrugged her shoulders. "It is pointless to speculate at this stage. Let us press on. We may get the answer to this riddle directly from the mouth of Nalia's father himself."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

"Ah, Buffy," Hendak greeted the disheveled Slayer. "We have found Lehtinan's treasury. There are enchanted weapons within. He had debts against the inn, and I am selling off the weapons and the like to pay the debts. Then no-one will dispute my claim to the property. You and your comrades shall have first pick, of course."

"Well, I had kinda counted on having a bath," Buffy said. "We just picked up a bunch of cool stuff too and we haven't had a chance to look it over. Give us an hour or two, 'kay?"

Hendak agreed immediately. An hour later Buffy's party assembled and began an extended session of bargaining and bartering. Items were bought, sold, and taken in part exchange.

Xander's eyes fell upon an axe. It was a single-handed weapon, short enough to be thrown, yet long enough to be wielded effectively in hand-to-hand combat. "Nice piece," he commented.

"It is called Azuredge," Hendak related. "Crafted expressly for the destruction of the undead. Even a glancing blow can slay a ghoul, zombie, or such other foul being. It comes back to your hand if you throw it."

"I guess you'll want that, Buffy," Xander said.

"Huh? No, you take it, Xan. I'm kinda off axes." She gazed rapturously at a sword with an elaborately decorated guard and a shining blade with a very slight curve to it. Not a standard longsword but not a saber either; something between the two. "Ooh, shiny."

"The Blade of Roses," Hendak told her. "As fine a blade as is to be found in the city. Enchanted to make the blade as sharp as a razor, and strong withal. Even demons can feel its bite. But I must confess, Buffy, that the greatest enchantments cast upon it are the ones that make the wielder look good."

"How much?" Buffy asked.

"I had planned to ask five thousand danter. Perhaps if two wealthy buyers were interested I might get six. To you, three thousand five hundred."

"Deal." Buffy caressed the hilt of the gleaming weapon. "I think I'm in love."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

"Your father is dead," Sorkatani said gravely. "I am sorry."

Nalia put her hand to her mouth. "We have to take him to a temple. We can restore him. Let me see."

"You should not see this, lady. He cannot be raised."

"No!" Nalia cried. She pushed past Sorkatani, who tried to restrain her only for a moment but released Nalia as soon as she began to struggle, and rushed into the dungeon chamber that held her father's body. A moment later the rest of the party heard her wail of grief and despair.

"The same as Khalid?" Minsc asked.

"Worse," Sorkatani said. "I will not say. I advise you not to look." She shuddered.

"I have seen worse, in the Underdark," Viconia said, "but not often."

"Wonder if that Roenal character knows how to hire trolls," Spike commented.

"My thoughts exactly," said Sorkatani. "He will be the new lord of this place, with none to stop him, and no-one can point a finger at him and say that he caused the death of Lord De'Arnise. But it is no business of ours." Her fingers rested lightly on the hilt of her sword. "Unless, that is, Nalia asks for our help once again."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

"Uh, guys, I've just had a thought," Buffy said. The group, healed, bathed, rested, and re-equipped, was setting out for the sewers to continue the expedition. "If people can get raised from the dead here, well, how can you be sure they stay dead? I mean, suppose we go down there and get jumped by the same bunch all over again? 'Cause they'd probably be pretty pissed at us, right?"

"We're wearing the best of their armor and weapons," Anya pointed out. "If they want to fight us in their underwear, well, they can bring it on."

Jaheira's face was creased with lines of deep sadness. Giles reached out to take her hand, reconsidered, and abandoned the movement inches short. However Jaheira extended her own hand and took hold of his. "There is a point beyond which there can be no raising," she said. "Only a savage or a monster would willfully mutilate the dead to that point, and so indeed one may fight the same foe twice. Sorkatani and I have done so already. Yet if the vanquished all fall, usually there is none to raise the fallen. And if the body cannot be recovered it cannot be raised, save by the greatest of mortals. Our late enemies are not likely to be recovered. There was an otyugh down there, I saw its tracks, and they feed on the dead. As do kobolds."

"Well, that was a nice inspiring speech, I don't think," Anya said. "Can't we talk about something more cheerful like, for instance, my designs for waterproof adventurers' boots? Jaheira, would those sewers by any chance contain alligators?"

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

"We will still be well short of Athkatla by nightfall," Sorkatani said. "Another night under the stars, it would seem."

"The stars disturb me," Viconia moaned. "There is no roof to this world. I feel that I might fly into space. And yet, the night is preferable to another day trudging under the pitiless glare of the sun."

Willow raised her eyebrows. The day was mildly warm, with a slight breeze, and occasional clouds passed in front of the sun. It was far removed from a trek across Death Valley. "Oh!" she said. "I remember. Spike, we totally have to talk about hats."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

"Maybe they've got a chance of making it through the Unseeing Eye quest after all," Warren remarked. "They picked up some good stuff from those hijacker guys. Smart buying decisions too. Azuredge, dudes. That will save them some grief. I still think Tara or Dawn is gonna die, though." He turned away from his monitor. "How is the other bunch getting on?"

"They cleaned out the De'Arnise keep like Gangbusters," Jonathan reported. "They're on the way back to Acathla now. Just going to settle down for the night." He moved the cursor over to the corner of the screen and checked the elapsed time within the game. "They must be about due for the first of Sorkatani's nightmares now. I'll call it quits for the night after that, I think."

"Yeah, me too," Warren said. "Hey, Andrew, your turn to get the pizza."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

Spike woke and sat up. For a second he was disorientated, thrown off balance by waking out in the open air, but then memories flooded back. He reached for his sword. Something had woken him in the middle of the night; therefore either they were under attack or he was being called for his turn on watch.

Or it was something else. Noises. Coming from Sorkatani and from Viconia. Sobs. Whimpers. Pleas. Thrashing in their bedrolls as if trying to escape from bonds or from the crushing grip of unrelenting hands. Frantic gasping entreaties.

Nightmares.

Spike listened for a moment and then stood up. It was disturbing. Lethal and steel-hard Sorkatani whimpering like a frightened child? Arrogant, snarky, Viconia pleading? Oh, Spike had entertained himself with a few moments imagining that he was making Viconia plead, before mentally kicking himself and going back to thinking about Buffy, but in his mind she'd been pleading to him _not_ to stop. Whereas this…

"Shar save me! Please! Don't! Oh, please, stop! Don't! No! Have pity! Shar! Please, no. No! Kill me! Please, kill me!"

Was this a mere nightmare or was Viconia reliving something that had actually happened? Spike went into game face without making any conscious decision to do so. He was angry. Revolted by the thought of what he suspected might have happened to Viconia. And yet – had he not done things not dissimilar? 'Playing with his food' hadn't been Spike's usual habit, but there had been occasions when he had used a pretty victim to satisfy more than his hunger before she had died. He'd never given even a moment's thought to how the victim would have felt. Happy Meals with legs, toys for his amusement, is all that they had been to him. Fuck, feed, and move on.

Now Spike stood with his fists clenched so tightly that his nails were digging into his palms, feeling a helpless rage that was at least partly directed at himself, and not quite understanding why.

Minsc loomed out of the darkness bearing a longbow. He cast a brief worried glance at Viconia, but his first loyalty lay elsewhere, and it was to Sorkatani that he went. He looked down at her, his normally cheerful face uncharacteristically grave, and then lowered himself to one knee. Minsc reached out a hand towards her face but stopped short of actually touching her.

"Death is my gift," Sorkatani moaned. "No. I will not give in. I shall not do it. You shall not break me. Imoen! Imoen! Death is my gift."

"What is going on?" Yoshimo asked. The bounty hunter padded almost noiselessly into the firelight.

"Nightmares," Minsc rumbled. "She frets for Imoen, I think."

"Let her go," Sorkatani rambled. "Take me. Love. Give. Forgive."

"What is it? Are we being attacked?" Willow awoke and sat bolt upright. "Spike! What's wrong?"

"Nothing to worry about, Red," Spike reassured her. "The other lasses are having nightmares, that's all." He shivered, although the night was warm. "Bloody creeping me out, though."

Now Viconia seemed to be choking. Her hands clawed at the air in front of her face. Spike opened and closed his own hands. Those gestures – surely they weren't? They were. Spike recognized them, just as he had recognised the wounds on Buffy's hands on the night when she had come back.

Viconia too had dug herself out of her own grave.

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

"Holy shit," Warren said. "A whole new cut scene."

"Yeah," Jonathan said. "Looks like Sorkatani's nightmare was kinda catching."

They watched for a while. "Uh, guys, I don't think I like this," Andrew said.

"Shit," Jonathan breathed. "It's what happened to Viconia. Playing out instead of her just talking about it."

"Damn," Warren said. "I'd better check out the patch to make sure this doesn't show up in the version without the Slayer's bunch in it. This is way past NC-17, guys. We could get into a lot of trouble if we put this out for download."

"I can't watch any more," Andrew said. He turned away and headed for the bathroom.

"I don't blame him," Jonathan said. "Holy shit."

"Yeah."

Warren and Jonathan watched in horrified fascination as the dream sequence ran its course on screen. When it finished Jonathan saved the game and powered down his PC. "That, well, it wasn't fun to watch," he said. "Not one bit."

"Damn right. I'm gonna check out the patch, like I said." Warren went to his own computer and Jonathan went to make coffee. Warren's eyes fell on a device on his workbench; a piece of work in progress,

The prototype cerebral dampener. Intended to control women and make them his helpless sex slaves. Waiting only for the musk gland of a Homja-Maleev demon and an incantation from Jonathan to make it operational.

Warren picked up a hammer and slammed it down hard. The cerebral dampener shattered into a hundred pieces.

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

Disclaimer: lyrics from '_I Can See For Miles_' by The Who, '_The Bravery Of Being Out Of Range_' by Roger Waters, '_Fire_' by The Crazy World of Arthur Brown', and the '_Bagpuss_' song by Oliver Postgate and Peter Firmin, are used without the permission of the copyright holders and with no intention to claim ownership or profit from their use.


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter Ten**

"We're getting slaughtered in here, Buff," Xander said gloomily. Buffy flicked a sidelong glance at the lifeless body of Jaheira. Xander saw her look and winced. "Sorry. But we are getting our asses kicked. We're pretty much out of arrows and stuff. Running out of potions. Tara can't have much juice left in her tank. I say we go back out into the city, re-supply, and come back."

"There is merit to that suggestion," Giles agreed, "but, on the other hand, we are likely to arouse suspicion if we return to the gateway in our current condition."

"Uh, Giles, have you forgotten something about those guards? They're blind. They won't notice a damn thing."

"They must have some way of perceiving their surroundings," Giles pointed out. "They could hardly function if they couldn't."

"Hey, you think maybe they're like Daredevil? Super-hearing to compensate for the whole lack of eyes bit?"

"That is possible, Xander. Certainly I believe that it would be foolish of us to take it for granted that their lack of eyes means that they will not have their suspicions raised by peculiarities in our appearance or actions."

"And carrying a dead body out with us would definitely count as peculiar," Anya said.

"Why take her?" Buffy asked. "She's in her Afterlife, right? Back with her husband? Why not just leave her alone?"

"I believe her religion requires her to be buried outdoors," Giles said.

"I'd ask her," Tara said. "I wouldn't just drag her back if she wanted to stay, Buffy. We've learned our lesson. I'd only do it if it was what she wanted."

"You'd do it?" Buffy's eyes widened. "As in, you would bring her back yourself rather than getting that High Priest guy to do it? You can do that?"

"I – I think so," Tara said.

"And there's no chance of anything going wrong?"

"No. It would either work or it wouldn't work. That's all."

Buffy's forehead wrinkled and she closed her right eye as she considered this. "Okay. Talk to her. If she wants to come back, fine. If she doesn't, just let her be. Okay?"

Tara nodded. "I couldn't do it right now anyway, not without a long rest first," she said. "There's time to think about it."

"So, are we going to beat a strategic retreat for now?" Xander asked.

Buffy frowned. "I hate giving up when we're so close," she said. "All the way out, and then all the way back in again, taking the missing piece of the magical super-zapper with us. Suppose they get their hands on it? I want to just get it over with."

"Yeah, well, so do I, Buff, but those beholders have just got so much firepower. I thought I was toast back there when they froze me rigid and then kept blasting me. If Giles hadn't got me loose with 'Freebird' I'd have been a goner for sure. And suppose they zap Giles like that?"

"I could get him out of it," Tara said. "I think."

"Maybe, but he'd take a beating first," Xander said. "The Buffster's the only one who can really stand up to them and even she can't take that kind of pounding for long."

"Perhaps," Giles mused, "I might be able to do something about that. If only I could think of a song appropriate to dishing out damage to the Beholders themselves."

"A soccer song?" Dawn suggested. "They're great big balls, right? So, something about kicking them?"

"I'm afraid I can't think of anything relevant," Giles said. "Balls. Rubber ball? Great – aha! I think I have it."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

Sorkatani looked uncharacteristically nervous. "There are some things that I have not told you," she told Spike, Willow, and Yoshimo. "I think that I owe it to you to be completely honest. I hope that it will make no difference between us but, if it means that you feel that you can no longer stay with me, so be it."

"This about that dream you had last night?" Spike asked.

"In a way." Sorkatani breathed in deeply, held for a moment, and then let the air out in a long sigh. "My story is, shall we say, unusual. You may find it disturbing. Minsc and Viconia are already aware of my background, and Jaheira has known of it even longer than have I, but – well, listen to my tale."

"Uh, sounds kinda ominous," Willow said, and made a not altogether successful attempt to summon up a cheerful smile.

"It is," Sorkatani said in somber tones. "I was very young when Gorion brought me to Candlekeep. Too young for me to have any memories of my homeland Kara-Tur, although I have tried to learn of it from books, and I have made an effort to learn the language. When I was old enough to understand he told me that my parents were dead and that he had rescued me from danger. I never pressed him for further details, for to me Gorion was my father. He brought me up to follow the law, and to value justice, and to protect the innocent, and I have tried to live up to those ideals. He used to tell me 'Love, Give, Forgive. Try always to keep that in mind, Sorkatani, and you will not go far wrong'."

Willow's eyes widened. She knew that those words had been used to Buffy, by the First Slayer, when Buffy had gone on a Vision Quest to learn more about the meaning of being a Slayer.

"For years I saw no other future for myself than working with Gorion in the libraries of Candlekeep," Sorkatani continued. "I practiced the martial arts, true, but mainly as a way of keeping fit, and it did not occur to me to wonder why Gorion not only permitted but encouraged me in their pursuit. Until one day when he told us that our lives were in danger, and that we must flee, and he revealed to me the secret of my parentage."

"You're the rightful empress of that Kara-Tur place?" Spike guessed.

"Would that it was that simple," Sorkatani said. "No. My father was no emperor. He was a god. Bhaal. The Lord of Murder. Now dead, and I am his heir."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

The beholders were hideous creatures resembling giant armored eyeballs floating above the ground on invisible supports. One giant eye took up most of the front of the monsters, and a wide mouth filled with conical teeth gaped below it. Their top surfaces were surrounded by a fringe of tentacles. Each tentacle ended in a small eye; and each of those eyes was capable of shooting out deadly blasts of magic. The central main eye projected a beam that cancelled the magic of enemies.

The Scoobies had fought their way past hordes of zombies, mummies, ghouls, and shadow creatures that sapped the strength of anyone who they struck in combat. They had fought a demon that thrived on pain and despair, and had eventually defeated it by putting aside their weapons and having Jaheira and Tara cast healing spells on the demon. They had talked to a dying god.

But the beholders were kicking their asses. Three of the eye monsters had cut off their advance and had them pinned down in a side tunnel, unable to go any further without running into a concentrated barrage of the blasts that had wounded each of them and had killed Jaheira. It had looked as if retreat was the only possible option. Until now.

Buffy poised herself like a sprinter. She was charged up with every protective spell that Tara could muster. "Ready when you are," she said.

"Very well, Buffy," Giles said. "This should distract them more than somewhat, I believe. It would be better with a piano, but I will just have to do the best that I can with the guitar." He fidgeted with his glasses briefly. "I did have to modify the words a trifle. I hope that it will work. Yes, it should work. It will."

"Just go for it, Giles," Buffy urged.

"Very well. One, two, one two three four;

_I shook your nerves and I rattle your brain  
Too much love drives Beholders insane  
I broke your will  
Oh what a thrill  
Goodness gracious – great balls of fire!_"

Buffy took off from her crouch and accelerated towards the beholders. Giles' song took effect and the monsters burst into flames. They bobbed and swirled, displaying obvious signs of being injured and confused, and then rotated so that each could use its central eye beam to put out the flames on one of its fellows.

But by that time Buffy had reached them. The Blade of Roses sliced deep into one beholder and sent it crashing down out of the air. She thrust out with the lesser blade in her left hand and drove it deeply into a second monster. The Scoobies broke from cover and loosed a volley of their few remaining missiles. Xander threw Azuredge; the magical axe severed an eyestalk from the unengaged beholder and then returned to Xander's hand. Buffy dodged under a paralyzing blast from one of the monster's other eyes and thrust home with both of her swords.

"Okay," she said, as the rest of the Scoobies joined her. "This should be where we find the rest of that super zapper thing. Anya, Dawn, check it out, would you?"

"I'm on it," Dawn said.

"I've found it," Anya gloated.

"Right," Buffy said, "time to kick the ass of the Unseeing Eye." She sucked in her lower lip and bit it briefly. "That is, if a thing like a floating eyeball actually has an ass."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

"It was in the Time of Troubles," Sorkatani related, "when the gods walked the earth alongside men, that Bhaal perished. He had, however, foreseen his death and made plans for that eventuality. His purpose may have been to ensure his line of succession, or to arrange his own return from death; no-one knows. What is known, as Gorion revealed to me on the day that we fled from Candlekeep, is that Bhaal fathered children on mortal mothers. I am one, and Sarevok whom I slew in Baldur's Gate was another. There may well be others, in fact I would be surprised if there were not, but I do not know for sure."

"You can't help who your father is," Willow said. "Uh, I'm having some trouble with the whole concept of gods actually getting down and doing the, uh, you know, but, hey, if you're worried that you take after him, well, I don't think so. You're your own person, Sorkatani. In fact, hey, you remind me a whole lot of Buffy." She gulped. "Maybe you might not take that the way I meant it, 'cause you and Buffy didn't seem to be hitting it off that well when we split up, but hey, Buffy's my best friend and I think she's about as good as they come, and, well, being like Buffy is definitely of the good as far as I'm concerned."

Sorkatani smiled at her, a fond smile that lit up her face. "I take that as you meant it, for I well know that Buffy is a true hero. Our parting was not in anger." The smile faded away. "She said things that angered me, true, but when I thought on them later I wondered if her criticisms of me were in fact just. Am I too ready to kill? Always I must watch myself. The taint of murder runs in my veins. Sarevok believed that through killing he could gain the power of Bhaal. He slew Gorion, he sought to slay me because he feared that I was a rival for the power, and he plotted to start a war between Baldur's Gate and Amn. I, with the aid of my friends, stopped him. And I killed him."

"You could do nothing else," said Yoshimo.

"I could see no other course, true," Sorkatani agreed. "Yet I cannot deny that I have killed many along the way, and not all were evil. Some were fooled by Sarevok's lies. Some were honest men, doing their duty, when Sarevok's allies had labeled me criminal and murderer and I was sought by the law. At least one could have been a friend had things happened differently. I did not seek their deaths; but I caused them nonetheless. And now it seems that I have brought death to Khalid, and to Dynaheir, because of who I am. Death is my gift."

Willow felt the hairs on the back of her neck rising. 'Death is my gift'. Words she had heard from Buffy in chilling circumstances. When Buffy had retreated into a fugue state following Glory's capture of Dawn, and when Willow had visited Buffy inside the Slayer's mind, Buffy's inner self had repeated that phrase over and over as she acted out killing Dawn. Words that had been spoken to Buffy by the First Slayer on the spirit quest; and words that could be interpreted in many ways. Was Sorkatani's use of the same phrase coincidence? Willow didn't know.

"Bollocks," Spike said. "Sorry, Tani, but it is. Okay, some bugger wants something off you. My guess is he thinks he can use you to grab some of that god power."

"That is my guess too," Sorkatani agreed.

"Still doesn't make it your fault that your friends got killed. Blame that Irenicus bloke, not yourself."

"I do; but I cannot help feeling guilt." Sorkatani looked at them one after the other; from Willow, to Spike, and then to Yoshimo. "Will you still stay with me now that you know my past?"

"I will follow you 'til the end, my lady," Yoshimo said.

Spike pursed his lips. "Can't make the same promise, Tani. Already made a promise to Buffy and it's got to take priority. Nothing to do with who you are, though, love. Far as I'm concerned you're one of the good ones. Good as they come."

"Uh, what Spike says goes for me too," Willow said. "I, uh, if it came down to choosing between you and Buffy I'd choose Buffy, but hey, best friend here, I really have to. I'd rather we all got together again so that I didn't have to choose."

"Same here," Spike said.

"Thank you, my friends," Sorkatani said, smiling.

Viconia had moved closer to the group as they talked and had stood quietly listening. Now she spoke up. "I will stand with you, abbil, and this time until the end. I regret that I did not face Sarevok alongside you."

"You said that I was soft, and that my reluctance to kill would get me killed, and those who followed me," Sorkatani remembered. "Have you changed your mind, or have I grown hard?"

"I regret that I did not stand at your side to face Sarevok. If I had my time over again I would choose differently. I will not desert you again; even if your decisions seem to me to be foolish, even weak. That is all."

"That is enough. I thank you, abbil." Sorkatani rose to her feet. "The sun is well above the horizon. Let us go."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

"This sucks," Buffy complained. "We killed the bad guy. It should have been all over."

"I don't get it." Xander shook his head. "Clerics get their power from their god. We blew up the Unseeing Eye, right? So how come his priests were still throwing spells at us? And hey, it wasn't even a real god. Just a monster faking it. I don't get how they even had spells in the first place."

"I must confess that it has me somewhat perplexed," Giles agreed. "We were lucky to survive that encounter."

"Damn right. If it had been Buffy that they'd mind-zapped instead of Dawn we'd have been toast."

"I'm sorry, okay?" Dawn said. "I totally didn't know what I was doing."

"Don't worry about it, Dawnster," Xander replied. "I'll heal." He grimaced. "Although, having to do it the old-fashioned way sucks. The 'presto, healo!' thing has bandages totally licked."

Buffy screwed up her face. "And that's an image I so could have lived without."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

"Ah, it is a fine day to be a hero," Minsc commented cheerfully. "We are mighty, yes, and mighty are we." He looked down at Willow. "You are indeed a great witch, Willow."

"I, well, I do my best," Willow replied.

"Will you be my witch?"

"Uh, yours?" Willow's hands fluttered. "I, uh, not that I'm not flattered, Minsc, but, I kinda like girls, you know?"

"Yes, girls are nice," Minsc smiled. "The sight of a pretty girl can bring joy to my heart."

"And to mine, Minsc, which is kinda my point," Willow said. "I'm a lesbian."

"I am from Rashemen," Minsc said. "Is Spike also from Lesbia?"

Spike almost choked trying to hold back his laughter.

"It's not a country," Willow said. "What I'm trying to say is, I'm gay."

"And who would not be, walking in the sun on a fine day, returning victorious from a fine session of giving the butts of Evil a good kicking?"

"What she tries to say, oafish one," Viconia put in, "is that she lusts after women rather than men."

"Oh." Minsc frowned. "You thought then, Willow, that I was courting you?"

"Kinda, yeah," Willow said.

"Nothing was further from my mind," Minsc assured her. "I think of you in the manner of, perhaps, a sister."

"Guys always do," said Willow, simultaneously relieved and disappointed. She had to admit that she had felt rather flattered at the idea that the giant warrior was attracted to her and it had given her something of a boost to her self-esteem. That now dissipated.

"I wish to be your protector," Minsc went on, "as I was to Dynaheir. My dajemma ended in failure. Dynaheir died, and now Boo and I cannot return to Rashemen, for we would be disgraced in the eyes of my people. We can only be redeemed through giving good and faithful service to another worthy witch."

"Fyunch click," Spike said.

Willow turned big round eyes on the vampire. "You know about Moties?"

"Uh, yeah," Spike admitted. "Read a lot, Red. Don't spread it around, right?"

"Okay, Spike," Willow agreed. "Although, not really understanding why not, but okay. Thanks. That clarifies things a lot." She turned back to Minsc. "I think I get it, and, well, I'm kinda flattered, and it would be nice, but, what about Sorkatani? If Buffy needed me back, and I went, it would kinda leave Sorkatani short. You're her strong right arm, right?"

Minsc's face fell. "Sorkatani is my comrade and my leader. Yet it is my duty to protect a worthy witch. What should I do, Boo? I am torn."

"Feeling kinda torn myself here," Willow admitted. "Let me think about it, Minsc, 'kay? Maybe after I've seen Buffy again. And Tara." She chewed on her lower lip. "I hope they're getting on okay without me."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

"Spike reads Larry Niven?" Andrew cocked his head to one side. "That's kinda weird, guys. I mean, he's a Vampyr, like centuries old, dudes, and he reads science fiction?"

"He's a nerd like us," Jonathan grinned, "only he keeps it kinda close to his chest. I guess it doesn't go with the whole bad boy image."

"So, dude, you think that maybe I could be as cool as Spike? If I got the, you know, boots and the leather coat and shit?" Andrew ran his hand through his hair in an attempt to slick it back. "And the English accent? 'Blimey, mate, give us a cuppa tea'." He pursed his lips. "Uh, maybe the accent doesn't work. But, hey, the coat would be cool."

"The accent sucked," Jonathan confirmed. "Can I say, 'Mary Poppins'? Not cool. But yeah, the coat could be cool." He looked down at himself. "Only, I think maybe it wouldn't look right on me."

"Spike's cool 'cause he's got that whole undead, super-human strength, thing going for him," Warren said. "I don't think it would work out so well for you guys. Start trying to look like real bad-asses and some biker dude would kick your asses."

"Uh, Orbs of Nezzla'Khan?"

"I'd kinda forgotten about them, dudes," Warren admitted. He scratched his head. "There's only the one set. Tracking them down would be a whole lot of work. I'm kinda busy here, guys. Getting the super-realistic stuff to work with a 3D engine wasn't easy, but it's looking good now, and I think I can port it over to work on X-Box without too much trouble. After that I'll try a version for PlayStation. I'd just as soon give looking for the Orbs a miss." He left his own computer and came over to join the other two. "Anything interesting happening?"

"Minsc wants Willow to be his witch," Jonathan said. "There was this whole misunderstanding when she told him she was a lesbian. Pretty funny. I haven't been keeping track of Buffy's party lately. They're probably still down in the Pit of the Unseeing Eye."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

"Uh, Viconia," Willow began, and then hesitated. She wasn't sure how to bring up the topic of Viconia's distressing nightmare.

"Speak, rivvil," Viconia said. "I shall not eat you." Her eyes gleamed wickedly. "Not, that is, unless such is your desire." Her innuendo brought a blush to Willow's cheeks. "Such coyness is foolish," Viconia said. "I am aware that you desire me, rivvil. And why should you not? You know that I could give you great pleasure should I so choose. Well, girl, what is it? You wish to seek entry into my bedchamber for a night of passion? Such might not, perhaps, be entirely out of the question. You are not unappealing, for a rivvil, and the thought of your limbs intertwined with mine does not totally revolt me. It might be an entertaining way of whiling away an idle hour."

Willow's blush deepened and she lowered her eyes. "Uh, that's not it," she said. "I mean, Tara. I'm in love with her. Okay, we're kinda on a break, but, I'm not that kinda girl."

"The loss is yours," Viconia said. "What is it, then? Speak out."

Willow lost her nerve. "Uh, I was just wondering, what does 'abbil' mean? I thought maybe, 'leader', only Sorkatani called you 'abbil' as well. Is it, like, 'friend'?"

Viconia's lascivious smirk left her lips. "It is the rarest of terms in the drow language," she said. "It means 'comrade'. 'Trusted friend'. We drow do not give our trust lightly. We learn early in our lives that to trust is to risk betrayal. 'Trust is for the foolish', we say. And yet – I trust Sorkatani. I do not merely believe that she would never betray me; I know it." She glanced at the others in the group. "The oafish Minsc, too. He is strange, boorish, and in many ways like unto the weak and foolish children of the rivvin. Pathetic. And yet – I trust him. My time among the rivvin has made me credulous and weak."

"I don't see that," Willow said. "I mean, I trust Sorkatani too, a whole lot, and I've only known her a few days. You've known her a long time, right?"

"I have." Viconia did not expand upon that. "Is that all, rivvil?"

"Uh, just about," Willow said. "Unless, uh, there isn't anything you might want to, you know, talk over? With another girl, you know?"

Viconia's eyes conveyed nothing of her inner thoughts as she stared levelly at Willow. "No. There is not. Go now, rivvil. Your company grows tedious." Her gaze swung towards Spike, who was walking beside Minsc at the head of the party. "Perhaps your vampire companion might be more entertaining. He will not share your foolish scruples."

Willow followed her gaze. "I kinda think maybe Spike might surprise you," she said. "He can be a surprising kinda guy. He's got layers. Like an onion. Or, maybe, more like cake."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

"Hey, that's a surprise," Warren remarked. "I didn't expect that, dudes. Jaheira's dead."

"Jaheira's dead?" Jonathan repeated. "Should we reload?"

"No need. They're carrying her around with them so they must be going to Raise her." Warren looked over the display and gave a low whistle. "Man, they've been taking some heavy punishment. Buffy's picture's gone red most of the way up to the top. Xander too. Giles, Tara, Dawn, they're all hurting. Except for Anya; she hasn't taken much damage at all. I told you she was sneaky."

He right-clicked on one of the portraits and started to check the inventory screens. "Tara's pretty well out of spells. One Dispel Magic and one Speak With Dead. That's it. No sling bullets left. Xander's out of arrows, the girls are down to their last few bolts, and most of them are way down on hit points. They so need to rest, dudes, but I guess they don't feel like they'd be safe sleeping down there, and I can't get enough control over the party to make them. Still, it looks like they've got the quest pretty well cleared up. They should be okay. There's just that one last fight with Gaal to go."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

Gaal, High Priest of the Unseeing Eye, turned his empty eye sockets on Buffy. "You!" he spat out venomously. "You have slain the Unseeing One! We are bereft! Yet enough power remains to punish you for your vile deed." He raised his hands high and began to chant. Behind him a mage tossed a shaving of root into the air, gestured, and spoke a syllable in a language unknown to the Scoobies.

"Now wait a minute," Buffy said. "It's over. Why fight? I don't want to kick a blind guy when he's down."

The guards of the Unseeing Eye ignored her and launched themselves into the attack. They moved with eye-baffling speed. One set upon Xander, raining blow after blow down upon him in quick succession, too fast for Xander to block, and only his plate armor saved Xander from serious injury in the first seconds of the combat.

Another took on Buffy. His speed matched the Slayer's and their blades clashed and re-clashed in a temporary impasse. Then Gaal's incantation took effect and a pillar of flame lanced down and struck Buffy. She cried out in pain and shock. Her next parry missed. The guard's sword thrust out, took Buffy in the center of her chest, and drove through. The point emerged from her back and Dawn screamed.

"_Slow down, you move too fast_," Giles sang. "_You got to make the morning last_." He saw Buffy's terrible injury and his song faltered. "Buffy!"

The song had already done its work. The servants of the Unseeing Eye lost their magical speed as their Haste was dispelled. Xander parried the next blow aimed at him without difficulty. His expression was filled with grim resolve as he struck back at his attacker. Dawn loosed a crossbow bolt at the warrior who had stabbed Buffy. Anya loosed one at the mage. Tara launched herself at Gaal and delivered a blow with her mace. He parried with a war hammer and knocked her to the ground.

Buffy looked down at the sword that transfixed her chest. "Death is my gift," she said. Blood trickled from her mouth as she gasped out the words. "Maybe… third time… will be the charm." She brought up her own swords. Her opponent tugged on his two-handed weapon and it began to slide free. Too late. Buffy's left-hand sword bit into his side, the Blade of the Rose slashed his femoral artery, and the man collapsed in a welter of blood. Buffy's face twitched into a smile of grim satisfaction and then went blank.

She toppled forward until the pommel of the sword hit the flagstones and halted her fall. Slowly Buffy slid down the blade, more and more of it emerging from her back, until the cross-guard rested against her chest and brought her to a halt. Her own swords fell from her hands. She lay there, motionless, as the combat raged on; impaled grotesquely upon the blade like a butterfly on a pin.

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

Disclaimer: lyrics from '_Great Balls of Fire_' by Otis Blackwell and Jack Hammer, most famously performed by Jerry Lee Lewis, and '_59__th__ Street Bridge Song (Feeling Groovy)_' by Simon & Garfunkel, are used without the permission of the copyright holders and with no intention to claim ownership or profit from their use.


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter Eleven**

"Do all in this city know my doings?" Sorkatani complained. "Am I watched wherever I go? Does every mage with a scrying crystal spy upon me when I bathe? We had barely passed the gates when we were accosted."

"Your comings and goings are noted, that is certain," Viconia agreed.

Sorkatani pursed her lips and gazed for a moment in the direction in which the emissary had departed. "I shall think on her message. An invitation to a meeting in the Graveyard District after dark? I like it not."

"Probably wise to be suspicious, Tani," Spike commented. "It reminds me – well, it reminds me of me. When I was evil."

Willow looked at him sharply, opened her mouth to speak, but then shut it again with the words unsaid.

"I shall go to no such meeting," Sorkatani decided. "Let the lady who would speak with me seek me out herself. I shall not dance to her tune."

"So, you will then go to Gaelen Bayle?" asked Yoshimo. "You have the gold to meet his price now."

"Not yet," Sorkatani said. "I do not entirely trust his offer of help. Also, I sense that there are battles ahead and we are still not equipped as I would wish. I would seek Jaheira's counsel before making any decision. Let us go from here to Waukeen's Promenade. We shall bathe, and eat, and visit the Adventurer's Mart, and then go to the Copper Coronet to seek out Buffy and her party."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

"Buffy Anne Summers," High Watcher Oisig intoned, "speak unto us. What is your fate? Where do you dwell in the Halls of the Dead? Is it your will that you be returned to the realms of the living, or that you be permitted to sleep in peace with your journey through this world complete?"

"Uh, hi guys," Buffy's voice rang out through the temple. "I'm, well, not so much with the being in Heaven thing this time. It's just, like, dark and empty and kinda cold. Get me out of here."

"Oh, Buffy," Dawn wailed. "That just sucks."

"Hell, yeah. Hang on in there, Buff, we'll have you out in no time," Xander called.

High Watcher Oisig passed on Xander's message and turned to the other dead body. "Jaheira, speak unto us. What is your fate? Where do you dwell in the Halls of the Dead? Is it your will that you be returned to the realms of the living? Or that you should be permitted to sleep in peace, your journey through this world complete?"

"My journey is incomplete," Jaheira's spirit replied. "I cannot rest." She fell silent.

The High Watcher stood waiting, obviously expecting her to speak again, but Jaheira said no more. "It seems clear that both your colleagues desire to return," Oisig said. "So shall it be."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

Sorkatani knelt by Minsc's body. "Minsc," she lamented, "how it must gall your mighty warrior spirit to have fallen in a mere tavern brawl."

"Mourn not, abbil," Viconia said. "I shall Raise him."

Willow wiped away the blood that was trickling from her nose. "It still feels all kind of weird to me that you can do that stuff. I mean, I brought Buffy back from the dead, and it was this whole big deal with the sacrifices and stuff, and, well, maybe I shouldn't even have done it. It kinda, uh, was a bad thing and she hated being back. Maybe it wouldn't be right to do it to Minsc. Suppose he's in, well, Valhalla, or whatever, and we drag him back here and he's all gloomy and stuff?"

"Minsc has perished before," Sorkatani said, "and was glad indeed to return to my side." She turned her gaze to the bodies of their fallen foes. "I am troubled," she said. "Have I done an evil thing in slaying these warriors? Am I, as Buffy said, too quick to kill? They sought to provoke me, true, but I could have ignored their insults, swallowed my pride, and turned away. Had I done so then Minsc would still be alive, as would they."

"Can't see as you could have done anything else, Tani," Spike put in. "They were spoiling for a fight. If you'd backed down they'd have pushed harder, seems to me, and you'd have had to really crawl to get out of it."

"Would that have been so bad?" Sorkatani wondered.

"Would you have them call you 'coward'? For you to be known as such would be perilous indeed, abbil," Viconia advised. "You would be set upon at every turn by those who covet your goods and your power. Better to be known and feared."

"She speaks truth, my lady," Yoshimo backed up the drow. "To appear weak in this city is to invite attack."

"Respect," Spike said. "It's all about respect." He looked down at the bodies. "How's this work, then? Do we take their stuff, like we would if they'd jumped us in the street, or is it different 'cos we're in a hotel?"

"Their possessions are ours by right of conquest," Yoshimo told him, "save that we must recompense the innkeeper for damage to his furnishings and for robbing him of paying guests."

Sorkatani frowned heavily. "I wonder, are there wives and children waiting for their return? Should their goods be returned to such families?"

"That would be weak and foolish," Viconia sneered. "Still, I am yours to command. If you wish it, I shall question the spirits of these _elginhyrr oolos_ and find out."

"Let it be done."

"Red could do with a bit of patching up, looks like, before you start on with that," Spike pointed out. "Yoshimo, too."

"I'm okay," Willow said. "Uh, maybe I could use a little pick-me-up, but that's all. I think." A frown appeared on her brow and her mouth twitched. "Hey, I used magic, guys. Are those Cowled Wizard characters going to show up to, like, haul me off to prison?"

"You need not fear, Willow," Yoshimo reassured her. "The Cowled Wizards do not interfere with what happens within taverns." He grinned suddenly. "Perhaps they fear that meddling will lead to them being refused service. Also many inns purchase spells of privacy to shield their guests from prying eyes."

Willow breathed in deeply. "Wow, that's a relief."

"Your magic is strange and powerful," Viconia complimented her. She touched her fingertips to Willow's forehead and spoke an incantation. The flow of blood from Willow's nose stopped. "Perhaps you are not as weak and foolish as you first appeared."

"Uh, thanks," Willow said. "I think."

"Our foes were truly well equipped," Yoshimo observed. "Who would have thought that an argument over who should be first to use the bathrooms would have been so profitable?"

Sorkatani shook her head. "This was not a righteous fight," she said. "It could have been avoided. To slay so casually, and then to strip the bodies of the dead like buzzards at a carcass, smacks over much of robbery and murder."

"It is the custom," Yoshimo said. He shrugged. "Don't worry about it."

"They would have done the same to us," Viconia said. "Now they have paid the penalty for their foolishness."

"Uh, got to say it's been wigging me out, this whole 'kill people and steal their stuff' thing," Willow said. "I mean, even when they're, like, bad guys, and just attack us for no reason, it just seems kinda, well, ghoulish. This is even worse."

Spike frowned deeply. "Don't see anything wrong with it myself. Only, it strikes me that Buffy would say that it's wrong. Dunno why, but she would."

"You are right. She would, and she would be right to do so." Sorkatani thrust forward her jaw. "I shall have them Raised."

"That is madness!" Viconia hissed. "You have lost your mind. Bringing enemies back from the dead? Do it yourself, for I will have no part in such foolishness."

Sorkatani inclined her head to the drow. "I do not ask you to. Perhaps I am being foolish, as you say, but I must do this or feel shamed. I shall take them to a temple."

Willow smiled. "That kinda makes me feel a lot better about things too."

"It's bloody stupid," Spike said, "but I've got the feeling it's what Buffy would have done, so I'll back you up on it. 'Course, if the wankers aren't grateful and come back for a rematch, I'll kill them again like a shot."

"You are truly noble, Lady," Yoshimo said. "I am unworthy to walk in your shadow."

"Don't be silly," Sorkatani said, and blushed.

Viconia stared at Sorkatani and shook her head slowly. "I do not understand you. Yet I am yours to command. Usstan dosst." She bowed her head. "If you are set on this foolishness, jabress, then let us waste no more of our hard-won gold than we must. I will not call upon the power of Shar for such an action, for I doubt that she would approve, and so you will have to purchase the necessary scrolls from a temple and I will read them for you. That will be cheaper than paying a priest to perform the rituals."

"I thank you," Sorkatani said. "First, of course, we must see to Minsc."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

"Empty places," Buffy said. "That's all there were. I just wandered around, all alone, nothing to see, nothing to do. Still, back now, huh? Thanks, guys. And this time I mean it. I'm glad you brought me back."

Xander and Dawn beamed in delight. Giles smiled fondly at his slayer. Anya smiled too, but her smile seemed less openly joyful, not quite reaching her eyes. Tara bit her lip and looked at Anya's slightly guarded expression. A thought had struck her and she wondered if the other girl was thinking along the same lines.

When they had brought Buffy back from Heaven, had they robbed her of her only chance of true eternal peace?

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

Amon the Sorcerer bowed low before Sorkatani. "Your grace and mercy passes understanding," he said. "I thank you."

"Men should not die over matters as trivial as who is first to the baths," said Sorkatani. "To have left you dead would have been an ill deed."

"Few are noble enough to act on that feeling if it would cost them gold," said Amon. "Truly you are a great lady."

Sorkatani shuffled her feet. "Not really. I just try to do the right thing." Her mouth twisted slightly and she glanced at the two corpses, a human barbarian and a dwarf, that still lay on the floor. "I am sorry that your companions could not be raised."

"Everyone's time comes to an end eventually," Amon said philosophically. "It was bound to happen. I take this as a warning. I shall retire from adventuring and open a shop."

"It serves the fools right," said the other man who had been Raised. "Again and again they would charge into trouble. I've lost count of the number of times we've had to drag them to temples and reach deep into our purses to bring them back from the consequences of their recklessness. Well, no more. If you are retiring, Amon, I think that I shall seek employment among the Shadow Thieves."

"It would not be the same without Pooky," the mage said, referring to his imp familiar who had also fallen in the brawl and who had dissipated upon death. "Fare thee well and good luck, Brendan." He turned to Willow. "The spell that you cast, causing the air to thicken and bind us, is unknown to me. Teach me, I pray, and I will trade you spells of my own."

After the former foes had departed the party finally got their long-delayed baths. There were no individual bathrooms in this inn; that was a luxury found only in the most exalted of establishments, where the clientele included the nobility and the wealthiest of merchants. At the Inn of Seven Vales there were two bathrooms, each containing four tubs, and the group divided themselves up on the basis of gender.

Sorkatani disrobed with an absolute lack of embarrassment about nudity in the company of other women that Willow envied. The showers at Sunnydale High had been something to be endured, rather than enjoyed, as far as she was concerned. She undressed shyly, squirming inwardly as she saw Viconia's gaze lingering on her body, and slipped under the suds with some relief.

Willow couldn't help taking pleasure in the sight of the nude bodies of the other two girls. In the case of Sorkatani it was a purely innocent aesthetic pleasure. The warrior's body was sculpted perfection, the golden skin glowing with health, and Willow was reminded yet again of how like Buffy Sorkatani was in many ways. And, perhaps even more so than Buffy, Sorkatani might as well have had 'het' stamped on her forehead.

Not so Viconia. Willow couldn't keep herself from sneaking glances at the slim and lithe body, the gleaming skin of charcoal grey, the nipples of deepest black, and the faint dusting of fine white pubic hair. Willow squirmed at the uncomfortable thought that she would have been totally unable to resist the slightest of invitations from Viconia had Sorkatani not been present.

Willow squirmed even more as she suddenly remembered Sorkatani's comment about 'mages with scrying crystals watching me as I bathe'. She blushed, covered her breasts with one arm, and with her other hand scooped soap suds to cover her groin. Viconia raised an eyebrow at her. Willow blushed even deeper, and opened her mouth to explain, but then she remembered Yoshimo's remark about inns purchasing privacy spells for the protection of their guests. 'I'm being silly', she thought, and forced herself to relax. 'Nobody is watching me. Well, except Viconia.'

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

"Oh, man, I think I'm in heaven," Warren drooled. "That is so cool. Those babes are so hot."

"Yeah," Jonathan breathed. "I just wish we could, like, zoom in a bit."

Andrew frowned. "They're only, like, an inch or so high on the monitor," he criticized. "It's not like you can see all that much, dudes."

"Hey, be impressed," Warren said. "Remember that the original just has, like, a static animation of a room with a mouse that scuttles across the screen and goes 'squeak'. What's a mouse compared to pussy?"

Jonathan chuckled.

"It's still kind of, well, boring," Andrew said. "What are the guys doing?"

"Taking a bath too," Warren said. "And hey, if there's one thing that I don't want to see it's Minsc in the nude, dude."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

"Uh, I'm kinda puzzled by the whole resurrection thing," Willow said. "It's still wigging me out that you can even do that stuff. I mean, where I come from it's a whole massive deal, and not really of the good, and it can go pretty wrong, and, well, not the same as here. You take it so, like, for granted I was thinking 'hey, maybe death's not all that big a deal here, not as long as you've got friends and money and stuff', only, then, it didn't work on those two guys and nobody seemed all that surprised."

"Coming back from the dead is no trivial matter," Sorkatani said. "It strains the heart, or so I have been told, each time a little more. Once, or twice, and the damage cannot be perceived. A dozen times, and only one with the constitution of an ox is likely to survive for more than moments. The heart restarts, indeed, but then it stops. It is said that once there was a warrior of the Northlands who was slain and raised a full score of times. Few others have passed even half that tally. The dwarf and the barbarian no doubt had died in battle several times before. Their allocation of lives had run out."

"Like the nine lives of a cat? Uh, no, you probably don't have that expression."

"It is a saying among the people of the Sword Coast too," Sorkatani smiled. "Yes, an apt analogy."

"Uh, so we can come back from the dead, but it's not, like, a permanent free pass. We get a few goes and then that's it." Willow twisted and stretched to soap her back. "I get it. Uh, would it be, like, bad manners to ask how many times you've, uh, died?"

"It would," Viconia said. "Yet we are comrades. Ask away, abbil, I will take no offence."

Willow raised her eyebrows. Viconia's use of the word for 'trusted friend' was unexpected. "Okay, how many."

"Twice," Viconia told her. "Also, once I was turned to stone, but in that state I but slept and was not dead."

Willow turned to Sorkatani.

"Never," the Perfect Warrior said before Willow could ask. "I cannot be raised. I saw what happened to Sarevok. He broke apart on my sword. Crumbled into pieces, turned to dust, and whirled away on the wind. His spirit was carried off to the inferno that houses all that remains of Bhaal. That same grim fate awaits me."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

Jaheira's eyes were wide and sad. "In the glades of Silvanus I wandered," she related, "and yet I was not content. There was music of harps, and pipes, and yet it did not bring me joy. It seemed to me only a pale shadow of music that I had heard in life."

"Were you not, ah, reunited with your husband?" Giles probed gently.

"He sat under a tree, and ate fruit, and smiled," Jaheira told him. "His eyes dwelt upon the nymphs even as he spoke to me." She winced. "He told me that he knew a peace that he had never felt in life, and I felt a sting in his words; for always I urged him on to achieve more. Rarely did I praise him. Never did I let him rest and reflect upon what he had accomplished. I was a bad wife to him in many ways."

"Surely not," Giles said. "You really are a quite, ah, remarkable woman."

"A less remarkable and more pleasant woman would, it seems, have suited Khalid more," Jaheira said sadly. "He chided me; gently, but chide me he did, and although he invited me to join him beneath the tree I would not do so. I wandered on, seeking I know not what, and nothing that I found filled the emptiness that was within me. Then a voice called to me, and I answered, and then I was pulled away from the glades and returned to life. Even as I left I heard Khalid calling to me, telling me to be happy. Yet I fear that I have no capacity for happiness. Always I remain discontent."

"I must confess that I have something of the same inclinations," Giles said. "Buffy has encouraged me to, as she puts it, 'lighten up'. I pride myself that I have managed to unwind at least to some extent."

"I found myself missing your company, as I wandered the forests of the Afterlife," Jaheira admitted. "And your strange yet entrancing songs."

"Ah. Thank you," Giles said. "I, ah, could play you something now, if you wish."

"Aye, bard, ye dae that," a dwarf spoke up. "Play us a bonny song. There'd be gold in it for ye."

Giles flushed. He hadn't realized that the conversation had been audible to the other patrons of the Copper Coronet.

The dwarf's request was backed by more and more voices and a throng began to gather. Buffy and Anya had been talking to Hendak; they returned to the table and joined in with the clamor of encouragement. "Hendak doesn't want the ten per cent cut," Anya said. "Bernard says you draw in the crowds and they get a return that way. You can keep everything you make."

"That's jolly decent of them," Giles said. "Very well. I shall play something that, I hope, may lighten Jaheira's spirits somewhat." 'And perhaps Buffy's', he added silently. He raised his guitar. At the very moment that he was about to strike the first chord he saw Sorkatani enter the building, with Willow, Spike, and the others following in her wake. He hesitated for a moment but then saw Willow gesture to him to continue. "Live it up!" he announced, and began to play.

"_How can you see looking through those tears?  
Don't you know you're worth your weight in gold?  
I can't believe that you're alone in here  
Let me warm your hands against the cold_

_A close encounter with a hardhearted man  
Who never gave half of what he got  
Has made you wish you'd never been born  
That's a shame because you got the lot_

_Hey yeah you with the sad face  
Come up to my place and live it up  
You beside the dance floor  
What do you cry for?  
Let's live it up_

_If you smiled the walls would fall down  
On all the people in this pickup joint  
But if you laughed you'd level this town  
Hey lonely girl that's just the point_

_Hey yeah you with the sad face  
Come up to my place and live it up  
You beside the dance floor  
What do you cry for?  
Let's live it up…_"

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

Disclaimer: the lyrics to '_Live It Up_' by Mental As Anything, written by Greedy Smith, are used without the permission of the copyright holders and with no intention to claim ownership or profit from their use.


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter Twelve**

"Isometric?" Jonathan frowned at the monitor. "I thought you were going to make it full 3-D, dude."

"Hey, it looks great," Andrew enthused. "Who cares if it's isometric if it looks this good?"

"Well, yeah, but the reviewers would still say it's, like, kinda old-fashioned," Jonathan pointed out. "And hey, if that's the Infinity Engine, then we'd have to pay, uh, license fees and shit. Not cool."

Warren raised an eyebrow. "Hey, what do you think I am, stupid? I took the Infinity Engine apart, same with the Dungeon Siege engine, a few others, and I used the bits that are common to them all or were freeware. Then I added my own stuff and the special magic tweaks. It works and nobody can sue us. Okay, maybe I don't know quite _how_ some of it works – like, it has to have '**#00FF00'** in a lot of the lines but it isn't anything to do with the color, which doesn't make any kind of sense – but it does work, and that's the important thing. And man, how it works."

"It's totally awesome, dude," Andrew praised.

"Yeah, it is," Jonathan conceded. "Not that I'm not impressed, Warren, 'cause really I am. The detail is just totally incredible. It's just, well, you did say that it would be 3-D."

"Watch this, R2," Warren ordered. He clicked with the mouse, hit a key, and the perspective changed. Suddenly the screen display was in first person point of view, looking through the eyes of a single character, walking through the streets of the virtual, fully 3-D, Port Royal. A cutlass blade gleamed in the foreground, obviously held by the perspective character, and it flashed and twirled through a display of cuts and thrusts as Warren's fingers danced across the keys.

"Fucking A!" Jonathan gasped. "I, like, grovel in your general direction, dude. Awesome to the max."

"Isometric to control your whole crew of pirates," Warren explained, "and switch to first person 3-D when you just want to be the PC. Do I rock, or do I rock?"

"You rock," Jonathan said. "Oh man. This is just, like, totally cool." He gazed in awe at the screen. "How much have you done?"

"This is all there is so far. One section of Port Royal. A couple of taverns and shops, some guards to fight, a couple of tavern wenches who'll do some flirting, that's about it. No plot." Warren swung his gaze on Andrew. "How are you getting on with the storyline, dude?"

"I've jotted some ideas down," Andrew said. "I had to do some reading up on the historical stuff before I could really get going. You want it to be before the Port Royal earthquake, or after?"

"Whichever," Warren said. "As long as there are lots of boarding parties and muskets and cutlasses and shit. And tavern wenches with flashing eyes and plenty of cleavage."

"During," Jonathan suggested. "An earthquake right in the middle of the game."

Andrew's eyes glazed over. "Oh, yeah. That would be so cool."

"How's the naval combat going to work out?" Jonathan asked.

"I've been doing the same reverse engineering stuff with some naval games, but it's not working out too good," Warren admitted. "There's no spark to it. I can get it to work, yeah, but it's nothing special. The magic code isn't changing anything about the ships."

"Maybe that'll change when Buffy's guys set sail for Spellhold," Jonathan suggested.

"That's what I'm hoping," Warren said. "The code changes keep getting bigger the further they go. Getting more complex, showing things in more detail, but speeding up the game at the same time. I'm hanging back on putting it out on the boards 'cause it's always like the next version would be better."

"What happens when you go further in a patched game than I've gone with Sorkatani?" Jonathan asked.

"It loses something," Warren said. "The enhanced pathfinding carries over, the improved AI for the party members, some of the cool new avatar fight moves, being able to take eight in the party instead of six, that sort of thing, but outside the party things go pretty much back to how they are in the standard game."

"I'll press on, then," Jonathan offered. "Want me to try to give them a nudge towards Spellhold as soon as possible?"

Warren considered the idea for a moment. "No, do all the quests you can," he said. "Super-detail the whole place. What are they up to now?"

"Buffy's planning on taking on the Slavers," Jonathan reported. "Sorkatani's thinking of going to the Umar Hills, maybe taking on the lich at the Crooked Crane tavern first."

Warren cocked his head to one side and looked at Jonathan. "_Sorkatani's_ thinking of going to the Umar Hills?" he repeated. "Uh, Player Character, dude, remember? You control her. She does what you want."

Jonathan lowered his eyes. "Uh, not so much," he admitted. "She's kinda gotten away from me. I never planned on her Raising those guys from the Den of Seven Vales. Hell, it never occurred to me that she even _could_ get them raised. She's getting to be the same as Buffy. I can watch but I can't control. Viconia's slipping away, too. Even Minsc. I've still got full control of Yoshimo, I think, but that's it."

"Holy shit!" Warren exclaimed. "They're coming to life. We've created a whole new life form."

"That's, like, totally awesome," Andrew breathed in tones of reverence. "We are as gods."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

Patrons had swarmed into the Copper Coronet, drawn by the sound of Giles' exotic and alien music, and there was little chance for the Scoobies and Sorkatani's group to talk in anything approaching privacy. Only when Giles tired, and made it clear that there would be no more music from him that evening, did the crowd begin to disperse.

"Hey, Will," Buffy said, when she at last had a chance to take Willow aside, "how's it been?"

"Cool," Willow said. "Uh, not that I haven't missed you, Buff, 'cause I have, but Sorkatani's real nice, and Viconia, well, she's all kinds of snarky and takes some getting used to but I'm kinda taking to her and, well, she's pretty hot, and Minsc is, uh, really sweet, and he wants me to be his witch, not in the, you know, boy and girl way, but like he'd be my bodyguard. Spike said it's like I'd be his fyunch click, which is a pretty good way of putting it, I guess."

Buffy's eyebrows shot up. "Hey, slow down, Will, you're kinda overwhelming me. Really not following you. Fiancée chick? Huh? You're going to marry Minsc?"

"Oh, yeah, right, you won't have read 'The Mote in God's Eye'," Willow said. "No, it's, uh, like Minsc would be sorta assigned to me. He'd put me first even over Sorkatani. It's what he did for Dyanaheir, who was killed when they were captured, and I'd kinda be taking over from her. And, hey, I feel kinda honored, you know?"

"So you've been having a good time?"

"Well, yeah. Apart from all the fighting, and the trying to snatch sleep barricaded in a basement, and the horrible trolls, and stuff, but otherwise it's been, well, pretty great. I mean, not the same as being with you and Xander and Dawn and Giles and, well, Tara's a touchy subject right now, but well, not the same but good anyway."

"And you're managing to put up with Spike? He's not spoiling things too badly?"

Willow raised her eyebrows. "Spoiling things? Spike? He's a friend, Buff."

"Friend? Spike?" Buffy's eyebrows fought Willow's for the altitude record and won handily. "When did this happen?"

"Uh, I'm thinking maybe when we took the Winnebago and ran from Glory?"

Buffy's eyebrows left base camp, recruited a Sherpa guide, and completed their ascent of the highest peak. "I'd say, 'huh?' but I'm kinda speechless here."

"Spike's not evil any longer, Buffy. I mean, really. He still talks the talk, all the 'hey, I'm bad, evil vampire here', but he doesn't walk the walk any more. He's even getting less with the talk these days, like he was saying to Sorkatani 'Hey, that's like me when I was evil', and I don't think he even thought about it."

"You're not, you can't be, getting interested in Spike?" Buffy asked.

"Hello, gay now, remember? Nothing like that. Not one bit." Willow bit her lip. "I might be, uh, kinda getting interested in Viconia."

Buffy's eyebrows donned an oxygen mask and set off for the summit of Everest. "But what about Tara?"

"If Tara's willing to take me back, well, I'm here waiting," Willow said. "I love her. But it gets kinda lonely at night and, hey, I'm not going to spend the rest of my life waiting and hoping." Willow's eyes narrowed. "And, hey, Buff, a word of warning, 'cause I sometimes get this feeling that maybe what you feel isn't the same as what you say? Neither is Spike."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

"Everybody always wants me to do, like, all sorts of crappy stuff," Buffy complained. "It's like I can't walk down the street without somebody saying 'Excuse me, lady, demons have kidnapped my cat, can you get him back?' and that sorta thing."

"It is the lot of a hero," Sorkatani said. "And what can we do but agree?"

"I guess so. But hey, it always turns into something more, you know? Like, the temple of Helm asked us to go persuade this sculptor guy to do a statue for their temple, and we said okay, fine, and it turned into this whole big thing with an escaped murderer, and ghosts, and things. We got a reward for him, and Anya was really pleased, only now the Cowled Wizards want us to track down this guy who murdered two of them. They say that if I take the job they'll look into Imoen's case, only, I think they're kinda… weasels."

"I trust them not," Sorkatani agreed. "Still, perhaps they may keep their word. I can but hope. Did they say where this murderer may be found?"

"Some place called the Umar Hills," Buffy said. "Jaheira says she knows where it is."

"That is where I plan to go, too. A village is under attack by some dark force, perhaps a witch of legend returned from the grave, and they seek heroes to oppose the evil. I must attend Nalia's father's funeral first, and then I shall set off for the village of Imnesvale. Shall we travel together?"

"That might be kinda cool," Buffy agreed. She paused to wave a greeting to Giles and Jaheira, who had just re-entered the inn on their return from a visit to a weaponsmith. "I kinda want to get rid of the Slavers first, though. Hendak says there are two ways into their place; the front door and a tunnel through the sewers. What say we work together on that one too? You take the low road and I'll take the high road, or whatever, hit them from both sides at once?"

"A fine plan, Buffy," Sorkatani agreed. "Let us not delay. If we launch our assault today then it can be done before I must go to the funeral."

"I'm afraid that I'll have to ask you to hold back on that plan, Buffy, Sorkatani," Giles put in. The two girls looked up and they saw that Giles was standing with his arm around Jaheira; not in a gesture of affection, as had been their first thought when the couple had walked in, but to hold her up. She was pale, sweating profusely, and looked hardly capable of standing unaided. "Jaheira is ill. She has been cursed."

"I'll call Viconia," Sorkatani offered.

Jaheira shook her head and winced at the pain that the gesture brought to her. "I fear that it will be of no use, Sorkatani. If Baron Ployer told the truth then he is the only one who can lift it."

"Baron Ployer?"

"An old enemy," Jaheira explained. "I crossed him years before I met you. He has plotted this revenge ever since." She shivered. "He claims I shall be dead in three days. Dead without the possibility of resurrection. Only he can lift the curse. He fled, with magical aid, before we could seize him. And it seems that none know where he has gone."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

"Hi, guys," Willow greeted cheerily, as she walked into the Copper Coronet with Viconia at her side. "You're looking at Athkatla's newest licensed witch. Duly authorized to turn everybody into toads wherever I like. Not that I would, 'cause hey, toads are kinda icky, and it would be bad, but all the Cowled Wizards care about is that they got the money."

"Their corruption is an affront to my senses," Viconia sneered. "Vile rivvin, grubbing for coins in the dirt." She pulled off her headscarf and helmet, shook her head, and ran her fingers through her long white hair. "Perhaps some rivvin are not altogether vile," she conceded. "The hats that you have sketched are appealing to me. It will be pleasant to walk under the sun without a cap of iron. If, that is, the female can school her clumsy fingers to do the sketches justice without a drow with a whip standing over her to punish her for errors."

"Uh, you look pretty gloomy," Willow said, as she saw the glum looks on the faces of Buffy, Sorkatani, and Giles, and noticed Jaheira's wan and sickly appearance. "Bad day?"

"Pretty bad," Buffy confirmed.

Viconia's gaze fell on Jaheira. "Your face is lined, mongrel," the drow taunted. "Without powder and paint you show your age. Did you spend the night rutting to exhaustion? Your legs are as quick to part as any, I see."

"Vile harlot, close your ugly mouth," Jaheira snapped back. "Poisonous words spew forth from your lips whenever they are not clamped around a male member. Or a–" She broke off and burst into a fit of coughing.

Viconia raised a nonchalant eyebrow. "And yours, elg'caress. Did you take it in too deep and choke, tree-hugger?"

Giles glared at her. "Shut up, you hateful woman," he growled.

"You absolute bitch," Buffy snarled. She clenched her fists.

"She's been cursed, Viconia," Sorkatani said quietly. "She's dying."

Viconia's hand flew to her mouth and her eyes became huge circles. "Nau! Forgive me, abbil, I did not know." She almost ran to Jaheira, ignoring the angry looks from Giles and Buffy, and reached out to touch the half-elf's forehead with the tips of her fingers. "Bol alu!" she said in tones of command. "I bid this curse be gone and the tu'rilthiir female be healed."

The air seemed to grow thin and the background noises faded for a moment. Willow's skin prickled as she felt a flow of magical energy. Then the clatter of dishes from the inn's kitchens resumed and the magic was gone. Viconia stepped back, her face grave. Willow had noticed that the drow's 'abbil' had been addressed to Jaheira, rather than to Sorkatani, and she wondered just how real the apparent enmity between the two women might be.

"Won't – work," Jaheira choked out.

"What rath'arg has done this thing?" Viconia asked.

"One Baron Ployer," Giles said. His anger had cooled as he saw Viconia's reaction to the revelation of Jaheira's condition. "An old enemy of Jaheira's, apparently. He hired three wizards to curse her. He claims that it can't be reversed."

"We shall see if he changes his mind when the lash strips the skin from his back," Viconia said grimly.

"First we must find him," Sorkatani said.

"Uh, three wizards, you said? Maybe they're, like, licensed," Willow suggested. "We could maybe see if we could track them down through the guys at City Hall."

Giles nodded. "An excellent suggestion, Willow. They were rather distinctively garbed in robes of black and green, almost like a uniform. It may indeed be possible to identify them." He grimaced. "Although I hold no great hopes that the authorities will be cooperative without some, ah, financial inducement to some low official."

"Hi, honeys, I'm home," Xander called out as he entered. Anya, Tara, and Dawn followed close behind. "Hey, what's with the long faces?" Xander asked. "I don't see Spike around, so you should be all full of the happy."

"Not funny, Xander," Willow said.

Buffy began to explain the situation to the new arrivals. Halfway through her explanation Minsc, Yoshimo, and Spike came in. Spike was resplendent in the Armor of Deep Night, and was grinning from ear to ear; an expression that quickly changed when he heard the latest unfortunate events.

"So we find the bloke and rip a cure out of his hide," Spike growled.

"We could put up a reward," Anya suggested. "Wanted posters."

By this time Jaheira had recovered her breath and was able to speak. "Bernard," she said the tavern manager, "you know many people and have many contacts. Do you know Ployer?"

"If I did I'd have spoke up already," Bernard said. "Don't know him, leastways not under that name, and the description don't mean anything to me neither."

"Ployer said he had put up with living in poverty so that he could pay the wizards," Giles said. "One has to say that this appears to be one of the least salubrious parts of the city. It would be a logical district in which to find him."

"I'll keep my ears open," Bernard promised. "I'll spread the word about that reward the lady Anya mentioned, if you want."

"Ployer also mentioned having crossed swords with an old colleague of mine from the Society of Harpers," Jaheira added. "Belgrade. Have you heard anything of him? Do you know where I might find him?"

"Well, yeah, happens I do," Bernard said, "but he can't help you." He shook his head slowly. "You'll find him in the Graveyard District."

"The Graveyard District? You mean…?"

"Afraid so. Couple of weeks ago he turned up about three streets away. He was about thirty-five, forty, right? He looked ninety. And he was as dead as cold mutton."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

"A thousand danter," the mage called Terrece said. "That is our offer."

"We will happily pay you that much to lift the curse," Giles said.

"That is, alas, impossible," Terrece said. "The curse is keyed to Baron Ployer. While he lives only he can break it."

"While he lives?" Anya was quick to seize on that point. "So, all we have to do to break the curse is to kill him?"

"I didn't say that," Terrence said. "And remember that he has hired the group that I represent to protect him. You cannot get to him without going through us. Unless, that is, you outbid him. A thousand danter for us to withdraw. Five thousand, and we will kill him for you."

"You're the kind of scum that gives pondweed a bad name," Xander said. "Hey, not even loyal to the lowlife who's paying you. Give me one good reason why I shouldn't just chop your head off right now."

"Xander, desist," Giles urged. "We are right in front of the Government buildings."

"And they didn't take any notice of the whole 'burn the drow' and 'fight the lynch mob' thing, did they?" Xander pointed out.

"I am a respected wizard duly licensed by the Council and the Cowled Wizards," Terrece said, puffing out his chest. "Hardly in the same category as a non-human asylum seeker and a mob of Beshaban fanatics. You cannot lay hands upon me with impunity."

"Oh?" Willow's fingers twitched. "Hey, have you considered a career as a toad? 'Cause I'm thinking it would be pretty much a step up for you."

"You would dare to challenge me to a magical duel?" Terrece's lip curled. "I would not demean myself with such a mismatch. Unless you threaten my group's employer, that is, and to do so would be a grave mistake. You have turned down my generous offer; so be it. Pray that we never meet again." He drew a circle in the air, stepped through it, and was gone.

"I so have to learn to do that," Willow muttered.

Giles shook his head sadly. "Not a very productive trip, I'm afraid."

"Oh, I wouldn't say that," Anya contradicted him. "We have learned something very useful. If we find this Baron Ployer, and start twisting his arm, then a bunch of wizards will come rushing to save him. Now that we know we can make sure that we're ready for them." She gave Giles one of the broad smiles that normally she reserved only for customers with platinum credit cards. "Don't worry, Giles, we'll save your girlfriend."

Giles colored. "She's not my girlfriend," he said. "Dear Lord, she lost her husband less than two weeks ago."

"Not yet, perhaps," Anya said, "but you can't deny that there is an attraction. On both sides. We'll get you to the altar yet, Giles." The smile disappeared abruptly. "How are Xander and I going to get to the altar? If we don't get back to Sunnydale we'll miss our wedding!"

"Easy, Ahn, no need to panic," Xander soothed. "It's still, like, three, four, months away."

"Yes," said Anya, "but in ten days we've made precisely zero progress towards getting home. If we don't start doing something about it then suddenly it will be our wedding day and we won't be there to get married." She looked sharply at Willow. "And I'm beginning to think that maybe some people aren't all that keen to get home."

"Uh, Ahn, you're being kinda inconsistent," Xander pointed out. "One minute you're all with the 'Hey, let's get Giles married off to a girl from this world', and the next it's 'hey, we've got to get out of this place'."

"If it's the last thing we ever do," Giles muttered. "Eureka!"

"Huh?" Xander turned and started at him.

"I may have come up with something," Giles said. "There might be a way that I can get us home." He sighed heavily. "Alas, I fear that it would not be possible to take Jaheira with me. Still, we have to return to Sunnydale, and the longer we leave it the greater the wrench will be."

"That's, uh, great," Willow said. Her tone conveyed no great enthusiasm. "I guess we've got to get back. I mean, I'm missing college, and there's, uh, probably all kinds of interesting stuff happening, and, uh, I, yeah, we have to get back. Haven't we?"

"We have to go," Giles said. "I refuse to depart while Jaheira is in such dire straits, however. On with the quest."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

"Hey, look at that," Jonathan said. "This is just amazing."

Andrew ignored him. He was deep in the world of the Caribbean circa 1690, busy writing a scene in which the hero had to decide between attacking a treasure galleon, with an immediate payback in the form of loot, and protecting a convoy of ships carrying indigo and sugar from a French pirate, thereby gaining the favor of the Governor of Jamaica and a lead in to a major romance plot.

Warren paid more attention and wandered over to join Jonathan. "Yeah, that's new," he agreed. "Makes a whole lot more sense, dude. I remember Ployer gives this whole spiel about how he's been sleeping under rags so as he can spend his cash on the wizards, but when you track him down it's the standard template with carpets and tables and cabinets and shit. This fits much better. Straw on the floor, just the one table, and – hey! He's wearing full plate armor!"

"Yeah," Jonathan nodded. "The game's adjusting for there being more of the good guys. I guess it makes sense, the guy's a nobleman, used to be this rich slave trader dude, he'd have had the armor back then, so he could have kept it. He's still gonna get creamed."

Warren studied the still image on the paused screen. "Is Willow in Stoneskin?"

"Sure is. Minor Globe of Invulnerability too. They're buffed up with Chaotic Commands pretty much all round, Protection From Evil, all the standards. It's not gonna be much of a fight, even so, but the game's doing its best."

"I was thinking they were gonna lose out on experience 'cause of splitting up to do some of the quests, but if it's upgrading to match, maybe not. Unpause, man."

Jonathan complied. The confrontation with Ployer began, with the vengeance-crazed noble trying to force Jaheira to beg for her life, and then erupted into inevitable violence. Swirling circles appeared on screen as the wizards gated in at their employer's summons.

Five circles.

"Five?" Warren's eyebrows climbed. "I thought there were three. Ah, I get it."

"It's adapting, sure enough," Jonathan confirmed. "They've brought a couple of little friends. And not the Ogre Berserker that Terrece summons in the basic encounter either. It's pushing the weight limits to the max but I guess it's worth it for the combat power."

The three wizards in green and black materialized in Baron Ployer's barren room accompanied by two monstrous servants. Stone golems.

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

The single room of Ployer's derelict house was large, and uncluttered by furniture, but with so many occupants it was still cramped. The combat was a straight slugging match, blows dealt and returned with brutal simplicity, with little scope for maneuver or tactics.

Spike had no weapon. He had sold his sword, and almost everything else he possessed, to go towards the Armor of Deep Night. Even with that, and with every penny of his share of the spoils from the adventures so far, he would still have come well short of the price had Sorkatani not given him most of her own share; freely, ungrudgingly, and asking nothing in return. In so doing she had gained Spike's undying loyalty.

Baron Ployer parried Jaheira's feeble attack with insolent ease and kicked her away. Spike growled deep in his throat and hurled himself on the Baron. Ployer's triumphant sneer turned to alarm as the vampire seized his sword arm and wrenched with inhuman strength. The sword turned to point harmlessly at the floor. Spike swung up his knee to Ployer's stomach, achieving little against the plate armor, but then he changed tactics and rammed the Baron backward into the wall. The whole building shuddered with the impact and a section of plaster collapsed. Spike swung the Baron around again and slammed him against the wall once more. Ployer staggered, sagged in Spike's iron grasp, and the sword clattered to the floor.

Viconia wielded two weapons, scorning a shield, as was fairly common among the drow. In her left she bore the Mauler's Arm, a mace enchanted to bestow strength upon the wielder; in her right was the Flail of Ages, a mighty heirloom of the De'Arnise family, taken as her share of the wealth acquired in the liberation of Nalia's keep. She struck at a golem, and struck again. Its return stroke knocked her from her feet. Minsc stepped in to shield her as she scrambled to regain her footing, striking powerfully, but his sword was ineffective against the stone. Tara helped Viconia to rise and the two girls moved forward together to resume the attack. Minsc stepped aside, leaving the golem to the blunt weapons of the clerics, and made for one of the wizards.

Buffy slashed at the other golem with the Blade of Roses. It glanced harmlessly from the stone figure. The Slayer pouted, dodged a granite fist, and switched over to her war hammer. She launched a frenzied attack, landing blow after blow, and cracks began to appear in the stone.

Terrece cast a spell of Confusion. It fizzled out, the spell thwarted by the countermeasures that the party had taken against such magics, and the treacherous wizard grimaced in frustration. Before he could rethink his combat strategy survival became his most pressing priority as Xander lashed out at him with the Sword of Chaos.

Terrece had protections of his own. His skin turned grey and hard as a Stoneskin spell, prepared in advance to be triggered by a physical effect, kicked in. The sword blade bounced off. Terrece grinned. "You cannot harm me, fool," he declared.

"Oh, yeah?" Willow pointed a finger and spoke a mystic phrase. "You might want to rethink that, creep."

Terrece's skin turned pink once more as his magical protections were stripped away. His grin turned to open-mouthed terror as Xander's sword swept down. Frantically Terrece raised his staff to parry the blow, gasped in relief as he was successful, and he backed away to gain space and time to cast another spell. He found himself up against the wall. There was nowhere to run, nowhere to hide, and Xander's relentless attack gave him no chance to open up a portal.

Terrece had one more pre-programmed spell up his sleeve. Tenser's Transformation. He lamented the overconfidence that had led him to choose that rather than a teleportation spell that would have sent him safely home, yet it was still comforting to feel the rush of physical power as his muscles bulged under the influence of the spell that transformed him into a mighty warrior. He had a Cloak of Protection, Bracers of Defense, and a magical quarterstaff; he would still be able to give a good account of himself against this brash young knight.

Sword clashed against quarterstaff. Quarterstaff clanged against armor. Stalemate. And then Terrece felt something brushing against his legs. A rope. He flicked brief glances downwards in the intervals between Xander's sword strikes. Two girls, one blonde and one with long chestnut tresses, were crawling on the floor. They had surrounded his legs with rope. Each had one end of the coil and they were pulling on it, drawing it tighter, trapping him.

"No!" Terrece cried. He glanced around. Both golems were cracked, crumbling, breaking apart under a rain of blows from blunt weapons. His colleague Gracien was also pinned up against a wall, reeling under Minsc's assault, his Stoneskin gone and blood pouring from a deep wound. Malacazar, the third wizard, was also wounded and was being driven back across the room by Sorkatani. Yoshimo had slipped behind him; Malacazar's full attention was on the Perfect Warrior's blades and he was oblivious to the katana at his back. As for the wizards' employer, Baron Ployer, he was a helpless captive of Spike, and Giles now had a knife against the Baron's throat.

The battle was lost. Terrece cast aside his staff and brought his arms round in the circle that would open a magical portal for escape. Xander's blade intercepted the gesture. Terrece cried out in shock and horror as the sword cleaved through bone. He fell to his knees, blood gushing from the dreadful wound, and then Xander's sword descended with remorseless finality.

The point of Yoshimo's blade emerged from the centre of Malacazar's chest. Minsc slew Gracien. The golems were mere rubble on the floor.

"And now, my dear Baron," Giles said pointedly, "perhaps you would care to discuss the removal of the curse."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

"A lock of my hair," Jaheira said. "This was cut from me during my captivity. Where did you get it, Ployer?"

"I purchased it from Jon Irenicus," Ployer revealed. "He it was who crafted the curse. I hired those dead idiots to carry it out according to his instructions."

"Then our escape was indeed anticipated," Sorkatani said. "Irenicus planned it all."

"He probably expected to get arrested by the Cowled Wizards, too," Willow commented. "Hey, all you've got to do to get a license to use magic is to come up with five thousand danter. We picked up nearly that much on our way out of his place so it's not like he didn't have the money. So, if he didn't pay for the license, it has to mean that he _wanted_ to get arrested."

"And to take Imoen with him," Sorkatani said. "There is much to ponder. I think that I am right not to rush headlong in pursuit. I dance to his tune, it seems, and I must tread carefully." She glared at Ployer. "And Irenicus sought to use this vengeful fool to rob me of Jaheira. It shall not be. Remove the curse."

"I told you," Ployer said, "the curse is tied to my life. It cannot be broken while I yet live."

"That's easy sorted," Spike said. "Okay if I eat him? Seems a shame to waste all that blood."

"Don't you dare!" Buffy ordered. Her glare at Spike was as hostile as were the looks that Jaheira was giving to Baron Ployer.

"Hold, Spike," Sorkatani said, her tone firm but friendly. "Merely slaying Ployer may not be enough in itself to break the spell."

"So the wizard implied," Giles said, glancing across at Terrece's headless body. "What else must be done, Baron?"

"You must burn the lock of hair," Ployer revealed. "If I am dead that will break the curse."

"He's lying," Tara said. "I, uh, did a spell. I can tell if he's telling the truth."

"The rivvil lies," Viconia declared simultaneously.

Ployer snarled in baffled frustration.

"I suspect that would have sealed the curse unbreakably," Sorkatani said.

"Looks like we'll have to persuade him the hard way," Spike said. He took hold of one of Ployer's fingers and wrenched it back. "This little piggy went to market…"

"Stop it!" Buffy commanded. "You can't just torture someone."

"The necessity sits ill with me too," Sorkatani said. "I cannot let Jaheira perish, but I would seek another way if any can be found."

"Got to kill him anyway," Spike pointed out. "His choice whether he goes slow and painful or fast and easy."

"I concur," Giles said. "It is the only way to save Jaheira's life, it appears."

"Hey, I remember you dishing out the torture one time, Buff," Xander reminded her. "When those vamps had Will, and Giles, and Cordy, and Ms Calendar. You were all gung-ho with the sticking crosses in the vamp's mouth and stuff."

"That was to a vampire," Buffy said. "This guy might be scum, but he's human scum."

"Point," Xander conceded.

Buffy met Sorkatani's eyes and flushed. "I don't care what you say, vampires aren't the same as humans," she defended her stance. "Evil. Unredeemable. Yeah, even Spike, although, okay, he has changed some, and torturing him would be wrong, but…" Buffy's voice trailed away.

"His vengeance technique was pretty good," Anya piped up, her tone that of a manager doing a performance appraisal on an employee. "Trying to set it up so that we'd make things worse not better was clever. But he isn't getting revenge for being betrayed himself, or anything like that; he's getting his own back on a witness who gave evidence against him. I say we hurt him until he talks. Hurt him a lot."

"I'm good with that," said Dawn.

"Stay out of this, Dawnie," Buffy said absently. "We don't torture him. That's flat. Willow, can you work out how to break the curse?"

"Eventually, yeah," Willow said. "I just can't say how long it will take. Maybe too long."

"I can get divine guidance," Tara volunteered. "I don't know how clear it will be, though, and it will take time too."

"That is the case for me also," Viconia said, "and Shar may not be forthcoming with clear answers when the reason is to save a worshipper of Silvanus. There will be ambiguities that might lead us astray."

"Tell us the answer, evil one," Minsc boomed at Ployer. "Feel the burning stare of my hamster and talk!"

"Why should I?" Baron Ployer sneered. "You have to kill me anyway. If I take Jaheira with me at least I'll die happy."

"The death need not be permanent," Sorkatani offered.

"What? You would have this vermin Raised?" Jaheira's face contorted in astonishment and then in pain as another stage of the curse's effects struck her.

"You are becoming soft, jabbress," Viconia said. "And yet, if it is the only way to save the mongrel from her well-deserved fate, I shall perform the ritual."

"Or, I could do it," Tara volunteered.

Baron Ployer curled his lip in a disdainful sneer. "Spare me your loathsome charity. To live at your whim would choke me. Kill me, as you must. The curse will be broken. The despicable druid will recover if she rests for a full day and night with the lock of hair on her person."

"That's the truth," Tara said, a smile coming to her lips.

"He speaks true," Viconia confirmed. "We can slay this miserable rivvil now. The mongrel needs only to sleep in her own bed, alone for once, and she shall live. I am not yet free of her annoying presence."

"I would have returned from the grave to haunt you, drow harlot," Jaheira croaked out.

"How touching," Ployer said disdainfully. He turned his eyes to meet Sorkatani's stare. "Now, send me from this world, goddess. I would rather die by my own choice than live by your mercy. You will not survive me long."

"What do you mean?" Sorkatani demanded. "Do you know aught of Irenicus' plans?"

"Goddess?" Buffy's eyebrows readied their crampons and ice axes.

"I'll tell you later," Willow murmured. "As long as it's okay with Tani."

"A small amount, perhaps," Ployer said. "I shall not tell you. Gloating over your impending doom will console me somewhat in the Underworld. Unless you would stoop to torture? No, I thought not. Now kill me."

"Very well," Sorkatani said. Her hand went to the hilt of her katana.

"Let me do it, jabbress," Spike offered. "Know you're not keen on that stuff, and it doesn't bother me."

"It is my right," Jaheira spoke up.

"You are too weak with the curse, Jaheira," Sorkatani said. "You could not make it quick and clean." She met Spike's eyes. "I thank you, abbil. Yet I am loath to ask another to perform a task from which I shrink myself."

"Doesn't bother me, honest, Tani," Spike said.

"Don't you dare bite him!" Buffy repeated.

"Oh, please one of you just kill me," Ployer drawled. "Am I to die of boredom while I listen to you bicker? Just do it."

"Okay," Anya said. She put her crossbow just below Ployer's ear and pulled the trigger.


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter Thirteen**

Buffy turned wide eyes on Willow. "Don't you want to go home?"

Willow's mouth twisted. "I don't know," she said. "I mean, yeah, I don't want to stay without you, and Xander, and Dawn, and Giles, but, well, I've got friends here too now."

"I'd noticed," Buffy said. "You're all kinda tight with Sorkatani's crew. You and Spike, that is, which wigs me out anyway. You've got this whole private language thing going on between you. 'Braless' and 'appeal' and 'ribbit' and all that stuff."

"That's 'jabbress', which is 'Mistress' – uh, that's the Boss kind, not the having an affair kind – and 'abbil', which means 'trusted friend', Buffy," Willow explained. "And hey, I'd have thought you'd have worked out 'rivvin', 'cause Viconia says it often enough. 'Rivvil', 'a human', and 'rivvin', 'humans' in the plural."

"Whatever," Buffy said. "I just don't get how you're all so friendly. Viconia is just a total bitch. I mean, she could give Cordelia lessons."

"That's not true, Buffy," Willow objected. "She's kinda snarky but that's all. I like her."

"Like her, or want to boink her?" Buffy challenged. "Hey, when you were saying you wouldn't want to stay without us, you didn't mention Tara!"

"Uh, I don't know if I'll ever get back together with Tara," Willow said. "I did a bad thing, Buffy, and it didn't really hit me how bad it was until I got to this place and started learning more about magic and stuff. Even if she does forgive me I don't think that things will ever be the same between us."

"So you're moving on to that Viconia?"

"I don't know. I mean, yeah, I kinda like Viconia that way, but it's just like a, well, crush. It's not like I think she'd be the long haul kind of girl. And hey, she's maybe bi, and maybe straight and just teasing. But she's not why I'd kinda like to stay. Maybe a piece of the reason, that's all."

"So what's the rest? Sorkatani? Minsc? Yoshimo?"

"Well, yeah," Willow said. "I like them all. A lot. Not more than you guys, no, but, it's kinda the same way. And hey, you've got to admit we'd been sorta growing apart lately. Xander was all with the spending time with Anya, which is right, 'cause hey, engaged, but it meant I wasn't seeing as much of them. Giles, well, he's going back to England and he's not coming back, unless he's changed his mind since we got here, but if so he hasn't said anything. So that means pretty much just you and Dawnie, and you, well, you haven't been yourself lately. And okay, we know why that is now, and it's kinda my fault, and you were all with the pretending that you were all happy and stuff, and then it all came out, and, uh, I was wondering if you'd even want to be my friend any more."

"But of course I do!"

"The way I'd been behaving I'm kinda wondering why," Willow said. "What I did to you – I was just so stupid. I'm so sorry, Buffy. I left you to dig yourself out of your grave. And then I expected you to be happy about being back and hey, even if you hadn't been in Heaven, that, well, it must have been, uh, well, oh, Buffy, I'm so sorry."

"It's okay, Will, it really is. Yeah, it was bad. It was my worst nightmare come true. But I'm pretty much over it. And I know you didn't mean to do it."

"I meant well," Willow said. "Yeah, like that isn't written on one of the steps leading down to Hell. I screwed up. All 'cause I thought I knew best. I'd kinda hate me if I was you, Buffy."

"I don't hate you, Willow," Buffy assured her. "You're still my best friend."

"And you're still mine, Buffy, but I've been a bad friend to you. Like, stupid and selfish have been my middle names."

"You've been pretty much on the ball lately, Will, it seems to me," Buffy told her.

"Maybe," Willow agreed. "I've got my act together more since I've been here, at least since we got out of Irenicus' place anyway. I guess I'm learning to play by the rules, you know, and to think things all the way through. I'm, well, I guess I like myself more now. And yeah, maybe I'm happier here. 'Cause hey, it's not like I made any real friends at college. I've made more friends here in, what, ten days than I have in the past two years back in Sunnydale. I don't want to go back, Buffy."

She looked Buffy straight in the eye. "Buffy, are you sure the same doesn't apply to you? You've done some bitching about this place, yeah, but most of it has been about kinda trivial stuff like them not having hot showers. The rest of the time, well, you seem more, uh, _alive_ than you did back home. At least than you have since, well, not just since I brought you back. Since way before then."

"It hasn't been all bad," Buffy conceded. "It's kinda nice to not have to hide anything. But there's still a whole lot of badness about this place. I mean, it's like human life doesn't mean all that much here."

"There are a lot of places on Earth where it doesn't mean that much either, Buffy," Willow pointed out.

"Well, yeah, but I don't want to go there," Buffy said. "I want to go home to Sunnydale, not to, like, the Sudan or wherever."

"Well, I don't," Willow said. "I'd kinda like to stay here."

"I have to go," Buffy said. "What about Dawn's education? College?"

The corners of Willow's mouth turned down. "Oh. Yeah. That's kinda unanswerable. Although, hey, they must have colleges here, 'cause Sorkatani was training as a librarian, and you don't get to be a wizard without studying, and there's sculptors, and artists and things, and architects."

"And suppose Dawn wants to be a doctor? Or a lawyer? Or, hey, a website designer?"

"Okay, okay, I give in," Willow said. "Kinda hitting below the belt there, but, yeah, you win. We go. If it works, that is." She stood up. "I'd better get going. I've got a funeral to attend."

"Oh, yeah. See you later, Will – hey, hang on a minute! You were going to explain something to me. Why did that Baron Ployer guy call Sorkatani a goddess?"

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

"Thank you all for coming." Nalia gave a wan smile.

"I am glad that I can be of support to you," Sorkatani said.

Spike bowed fractionally. "Least we could do."

Viconia flared her nostrils. "It is not of my choice, jalil. It is the will of Sorkatani that we come, or I would not have stirred from my bed."

"It is the duty of heroes to mark the fall of others who have fallen in battle," Minsc declared.

"Uh, no problem," Willow said. "Is there, uh, anything you want us to do?"

"Well, actually, yes," Nalia revealed. "Lady Sorkatani, I want you to take over the De'Arnise keep and holdings."

Sorkatani's eyes widened. "Lady Nalia, I wear armor, and often breeches, but under them I assure you that I am a girl just as much as you are. If you can not hold title to the keep, then neither can I."

"By the barbaric laws of this primitive and unenlightened land," Viconia muttered.

"You said it, sister," Willow agreed.

"If you're going to suggest me, well, forget it," Spike said. "Me being dead rules me right out."

Nalia ignored him. "That turns out not to be true," she told Sorkatani. "I've found an ancient legal clause that covers the situation and has never been revoked. If the sole heir to a manor is female and over the age of majority, and she has no betrothed, then she may sign over the manor to a hero who has done great deeds in defense of the lands. I've read that ruling and there is nothing in it that specifies that the hero has to be a man."

Sorkatani's brows descended in an expression similar to that of Angel at his broodiest. "I wish no such responsibility. In this land I have no renown as a hero. I doubt that I would be acceptable."

"If the Perfect Warrior isn't a renowned enough hero, then who is?" Nalia said.

"That name was bestowed upon me by Sarevok in mockery," Sorkatani said. "It was taken up by bards against my will."

"It seems perfectly apt to me," Nalia said. "The hero of Nashkell, rescuer of the Duke of Baldur's Gate, and liberator of the De'Arnise hold. I don't see how anyone can object. Just give me half of the revenue after expenses. You'll be a much better lord of the manor than Isaea Roenal. I know you will take good care of it and treat the commoners as more than just a resource to be exploited."

"Very well," Sorkatani agreed, her reluctance evident, "but only if I can pass it back on to you if you find a husband who is your own choice."

"Of course. Thank you, Sorkatani. Now, come and meet the other guests at the funeral."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

"Willow doesn't want to go home," Buffy said, her brows lowered in a frown. "She's only going to come so that she doesn't get left here without the rest of us. She'd rather we all stayed. I just don't get it."

"I must confess that if my plan doesn't work I won't be devastated," Giles said. "This place may be primitive in many ways, and some of its customs are rather brutal, but there are compensations."

"Jaheira? Yeah, I guess it'll kinda suck for you, leaving her here. I'm sorry, Giles."

"It will indeed 'suck', as you put it," Giles agreed. "However, we do not belong here, and I will try to get us home nonetheless. Does anyone else desire to stay here?"

"No way," Dawn said emphatically. "There are, like, zero cute boys here. In fact I've seen pretty well nobody my own age, girls or boys. Some of you guys have made friends here, yeah, but not me."

"Ah, yes," Giles said. "The young ladies of the nobility at your age will be kept somewhat secluded, I believe, and the sons will be training for knighthood. Among the poor they will be already be working. I believe one or two of the staff here are your age or younger, in fact, Dawn."

"That sucks," Dawn said. "I want to go back to school, which is something that I never thought I'd say, but hey, I so have such a lot to tell Janice."

"I want to go back," Tara said. She didn't elaborate.

"And of course Xander and I want to go back," Anya said. Xander frowned briefly but didn't contradict her.

"So, that's unanimous," Buffy said. "Apart from Willow being a bit wobbly, but she'll come."

"And Spike?" Giles asked.

"I didn't ask," Buffy said. "He doesn't get a vote. He comes with us. I'm not going to risk him starting to snack on people once I'm not here to restrain him."

"I think you're probably doing him a disservice," Giles said. "And not giving sufficient credit to Sorkatani either. However it's probably a moot point. I don't think I'll be able to pick and choose. It will either work, and we will all be transported home, or not work."

"You're going to sing us home?" Xander pursed his lips. "Hey, when that guy – what was his name? – Jon-Tom, yeah, tried it in the 'Spellsinger' books, it kinda didn't work. Until he got to that sorta gate between the worlds, that is, in that mine or cave or whatever."

"We are not in the 'Spellsinger' world," Giles pointed out. "There are no talking animals here, for a start. There are certain parallels, yes, but it's not the same. I'm not giving any guarantees, of course, but I believe that it is worth making the attempt."

"Are you going to tell Jaheira?" Tara asked. "I'm thinking, just going without telling her would be, well, cowardly."

"Yes, I will tell her," Giles said. He bit his lip. "That is not an interview to which I look forward, but to desert her without a word would be cruel in the extreme. I'm not going to make the attempt until she has fully recovered from the curse."

Dawn had been looking happy, even excited, but now her face fell. "It's not such a big deal, going back to school," she said. "I mean, I'll make friends here eventually, and I've got you guys, and Spike, if Buffy lets me see him that is, and I'll get by. There's no need to give up on your girl just for me."

"You have to get back to school," Buffy said in a determined tone. "That's not negotiable."

"Yeah, but if it's taking away a chance for Giles to be happy, well, I'm not sure I want that," Dawn said.

"I thank you, Dawn," Giles said. "However it is not purely for your sake that I have resolved to attempt to return us to Earth. Buffy, Tara, Xander, and Anya all wish to go home."

"This place isn't all that bad," Tara said. "I could get used to it."

"It's not a hell dimension," Xander admitted. "I say go for it, Giles, but hey, if it doesn't work it's not the end of the world."

"I think that we are all agreed on that, then," Giles said. "Very well. Tomorrow night."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

"They've got a plan," Jonathan reported. "They're gonna try Spellsinging their way back to Earth."

"It'll never work," Warren said. He pursed his lips. "Uh, it won't work, will it? They can't get out. Can they? Guide me on this, dude, you're the expert on this magic stuff."

"I don't know," Jonathan said. "I don't see how it can work, but hey, Giles and Willow are way more up on the magic than me. It's a million to one shot, but it just might work."

"Shit," Warren moaned. "Million to one chances crop up nine times out of ten when magic's involved. Only, if they do get out, what happens? Is it, like, goodbye to Randy and Joan and Umad and Alex and the others, hello again to Spike, Buffy, Dawn, Xander and company?"

"I guess so," Jonathan said. "They don't have any other real bodies to go to. It's that or else they just kinda, well, fizzle."

Warren stuck out his lower jaw and scraped his upper lip with his teeth. "I could maybe make robot bodies for them, I guess. Only it would take me two, maybe three months, and cost a whole lot. Hell, getting some of the parts at all is going to be tough since I dropped out. Eight of them – shit, we're looking at maybe quarter of a million dollars. No way, man."

"I don't think they can get out," Jonathan said, "but, if they do, it's not that big a deal. As long as they don't find out about what we did and take it out of our hide, that is."

"Yeah." Warren shook his head. "I must be going nuts. For a minute there I was feeling really bad for Jaheira."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

"The bloke's a right twat," Spike commented. The funeral was over. Sorkatani's party were walking through the cemetery, familiarizing themselves with the environment in case Sorkatani decided to take up the mysterious invitation to a meeting there, so that they could be prepared in the event of the meeting being a trap.

"The arrogance of that jaluk disgusts me," Viconia agreed. "He should be whipped until he learns respect."

"Another distraction from our quest," Sorkatani sighed. "Yet now that I have met the man I do not regret acceding to Nalia's request."

"So, are we going to go back out to the De'Arnise place?" Willow asked.

"We will have to, I fear," Sorkatani said. "Perhaps we can call in on the way to Imnesvale."

"Yes, for the villagers have called for our aid," Minsc said. "The fame of Sorkatani, and Minsc, and Boo, and Spike, Willow, Yoshimo, and Viconia, has reached their ears and they have cried out unto us."

"I think they're just asking anybody they can," Sorkatani said.

"Reminds me of the Mexican villagers looking for the Magnificent Seven," Spike said to Willow. "There are even seven of us, counting Boo."

Willow giggled. "Minsc would be Chris, 'cause hey, bald," she said. "Only, that's about as far as the analogy stretches."

"Hush, abbin!" Viconia said sharply. "I hear something strange."

The party halted. Hands moved to the hilts of weapons. Spike cocked his head to one side and listened. "That way," he said, and pointed. He slipped off the path in ghostlike silence. Yoshimo and Minsc followed him, moving almost as stealthily despite Minsc's bulk, and made their way to a recent grave.

"Bloody hell!" Spike exclaimed. "Come on over here!"

"Quickly, my lady," Yoshimo called.

The girls rushed to join them. The men were staring at the freshly-turned earth. "Either there's some fledgling vampire who's got his time of day well and truly screwed up," Spike said, "or there's someone buried alive in there." He scanned the area for a spade.

"We have to get them out!" Willow gasped.

"Nau!" Viconia wailed. "Save her!" She hurled herself onto the grave and began to claw at the soil with her hands.

"I see a shovel," Yoshimo pointed. Spike raced to it at full vampire speed, tossed it to Minsc, and the big man began to dig.

"Stop, Viconia. You will injure yourself, and you are hampering Minsc," Sorkatani ordered. Viconia took no notice. Sorkatani picked her up bodily and pulled her away.

Viconia struggled for a moment but then stood still, staring at the grave as Minsc shoveled out the dirt. The whites of her wide-open eyes stood out in sharp relief against the darkness of her skin. "Oloth," she muttered. "I swim in memories. Most unpleasant memories."

Willow took her hand. She could feel the drow girl trembling. She squeezed gently, reassuringly, and Viconia's trembling eased slightly.

The shape of a coffin appeared in the hole. The lid shook under the impact of frantic blows from inside. A muffled voice screamed for help. The three men wrenched at the coffin lid with the spade and the blades of knives. The wood cracked, splintered, and came off. Inside was a living man.

Viconia retched, clawed her scarf away from her face, and doubled up. Willow and Sorkatani held back her hair as Viconia vomited. Eventually Viconia regained control of herself. Sorkatani gave her a skin of water and Viconia rinsed out her mouth. She stood, shaking, while Willow attempted to comfort her.

"Bloke's a merchant called Tildir," Spike reported back to Sorkatani a minute later. "Wealthy bloke. Got kidnapped. Managed to pull his blindfold off, saw the kidnappers, and then they knocked him out. Reckon they decided that they couldn't let him go once he'd seen them."

"This can not be borne," Viconia said in a remote and icy voice. "We find them. We kill them."

"Sounds good to me," Spike said.

"And to me," Sorkatani said. "We must see to this man first. Yoshimo, report this to the authorities. The law must be on our side for this hunt."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

"You are leaving, then?" Jaheira was still pale and weak. There were dark shadows under her eyes as she stared at Giles. Her lower lip drooped and her eyes seemed to hold a great sadness.

"I am going to attempt to return to my own world, yes," Giles told her. "It's not that I want to leave you. It's just, well, this isn't our world. It's not where we belong. It's not fair on Dawn, or on Buffy."

"And this is fair on me?" Jaheira turned her face away from Giles. "Leave me. I would rather be alone than with someone who does not want me. When Sorkatani returns ask her to call upon me."

"Jaheira, I –"

"Leave me!"

Giles stood up. "Very well, Jaheira." He left the room.

Jaheira buried her face in her pillow and cried.

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

It took five hours to track down the kidnappers and two minutes to kill them. Two more hours to escort another rescued victim to her home, to take the dead kidnappers to the magistrate to be identified by Tildir, to collect the reward, and to return to the Copper Coronet. During that whole time Viconia spoke only in clipped sentences directly relevant to their mission.

Word had spread that Giles was not going to be performing that night and the tavern was not excessively crowded when they entered. Even so Viconia curled her lip in disdain. "The stink of the collected rivvin and of the flesh that they consume turns my stomach," she said.

"I see sourpuss is in her usual cheerful mood," Buffy commented. "Hey, Will, coming over?"

"Not now, Buffy," Willow said sharply. "You're out of line." She turned to Viconia. "You should eat something anyway, abbil. You haven't eaten since you, uh, were ill. Uh, maybe a little soup?"

Buffy exchanged glances with Xander and Anya. "Hey, what's got into her? Kinda catching the bad Viconia vibes? PMS?"

"Shut it, Slayer," Spike growled.

Buffy raised her eyebrows but restrained herself from further comment.

Giles moved to intercept the group. "Ah, Sorkatani, Jaheira would like you to, ah, pay a call upon her. You were away considerably longer than we expected."

"I shall do so at once," Sorkatani said.

"She may be somewhat, ah, unhappy," Giles confessed.

"And you left her alone?" Spike glared at Giles. "Tosser. Thought you were better than that."

"She would have it no other way," Giles protested.

Spike ignored his words. "I'll get some soup organized," he volunteered.

"I will not eat before the stares of the rivvin," Viconia said. "They strip me with their eyes."

"No problem," Willow said. "We'll get Bernard to open up one of the back rooms. Or, hey, get it sent up to our bedroom." She gestured to Spike, who scurried off towards the manager. Sorkatani squeezed Viconia's shoulder gently and then departed at a fast walk to see Jaheira. Willow and Minsc escorted Viconia more slowly up the tavern stairs.

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

"Willow's acting really strange these days," Buffy complained.

Xander nodded. "I get what you mean. She's all with spending time with her new friends and it's like she doesn't have time for her real friends any more. And she's all friendly with Spike, which is just wrong."

"No it isn't," Dawn said. "I think it's great. You guys should totally be friendly with Spike too."

Buffy opened her mouth but Xander spoke first. Buffy closed her mouth and whatever she would have said was lost.

"He's a vampire, Dawn," Xander said. "Vampires equal badness. That's all there is to it. With the chip working he can be tolerable sometimes but that's all. Without the chip he just can't be trusted. Being friends with him is just stupid."

Dawn gave a classic eye-roll and pout combination. "You were okay with letting Spike look after me all summer whenever you wanted to do something else," she reminded Xander.

"He had the chip," Xander said. "Anyway, enough about Spike. We were talking about Willow. She's acting kinda weird, you're right, Buff. Once we're back home, though, she's gonna come to her senses, I bet. She'll be back to being the old Willow right away once she's away from those guys."

"You think that's a good thing?" Tara spoke up. "Willow was losing it, Xander. She was so full of her own importance that she was getting to be a menace. She was, Xander," she insisted, as she saw him gathering himself to make an angry retort. "Okay, she hasn't been spending much time with us lately, but from what I've seen she's really pulled her act together. She's much more like the Willow that I fell in love with. Those guys have been good for her. Really. And that includes Spike."

"And Viconia?" Buffy asked. "Are you saying that you're happy about the way those two are getting so close?"

"I'd rather Willow found happiness with someone else than that she made me and her both miserable by acting the way she'd been acting," Tara said.

Xander scratched his nose and frowned at Tara for a moment. "Well, anyway, if Giles can get us home, everything will sort itself out," he said, relaxing into a smile. "Willow's gotten over being a little power-trippy and she'll be back with us and away from those other guys. You two can get back together, we can send Spike back to his crypt, and everything will be back to the way that it used to be."

"And that's a good thing?" Anya put in her two cents. "In case you've forgotten, Xander, the last thing that Buffy said before we got transported to this place was that she felt as if she was dying all the time. Things weren't all sunshine and puppies. I was even wondering sometimes if you had doubts about our wedding."

"Don't be silly, Ahn," Xander said. "You know I'm really looking forward to being married to you. Maybe not to some things about the wedding, but hey, what guy doesn't want to get out of wedding planning? And hey, Buffy's certainly acting much more like herself. She's bitching some of the time but it's, like, normal bitching. You're feeling a lot better, Buff, am I right there?"

"You are," Buffy admitted. "I've been so busy dealing with this world that I think I've kinda dealt with the whole 'back from Heaven' thing along the way without even noticing."

"So everything's of the good," Xander beamed. "As long as Giles' plan works out then maybe everything will be all sunshine and puppies after all. Hey, where did Giles go? He was here a minute ago."

"He went to try to talk to Jaheira again," Buffy told him. "Hey, I see him now. He's on his way back and, going by the look on his face, I'm kinda figuring that she didn't want to see him." She grimaced. "Telling someone you're leaving them is so not the way to win friends and influence people. Looks like Giles is learning that lesson."

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**WARNING; the following section, taken directly from the dialogue of the 'Viconia Romance' section of the game but paraphrased and expanded, includes adult material of a potentially distressing nature. If you think that you are likely to be offended or upset please stop reading this chapter here and pick it up again at the start of the next chapter.**

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"You pity me," Viconia said. "This demeans me. You know not what happened to me and still you pity me."

"I know something bad happened," Willow said. "I want to help. That's all. I, well, I don't know about pity. I just thought maybe talking about it might help. Okay, if you want to keep it to yourself, well, not gonna push you. If you want to talk, I'll listen."

"I also," Sorkatani said.

"And I," Jaheira said, her voice far softer than the tone that she habitually used when speaking to the drow girl.

"You are yet weak," Viconia said. "I would not cause you distress, abbil. I mean elg'caress. A slip of the tongue."

"I am bored of lying abed," Jaheira said. "I know that you have some deep pain. If talk would ease your mind, then talk, my friend. I mean vile harlot. A slip of the tongue."

"I guess you'll want us blokes to bugger off," Spike said.

"I said not so," Viconia replied. "We are all abbin, after all. You may listen. Yet it may be hard for me to feel my eyes upon you as I tell my tale."

Spike moved to sit where he was not in her direct line of sight. Minsc and Yoshimo did the same.

Viconia directed her gaze towards Sorkatani and began to speak. "After we parted in Baldur's Gate I returned to Beregost. I wore headscarf and gloves always, and if any questioned me of my origins I said that I was from Rashemen, for Dynaheir was dark of skin although browner of shade than was I. I have no doubt that some saw through my deception, but none made an issue of it. It was known that I had been of your Company, and thus the Flaming Fist bothered me not, for our campaign against the bandits had gained their favor.

"I purchased a small homestead near the town. I was no farmer, of course, but I did not wish to live in the town among the rivvin, and I thought that on a little farm I could live in peace. I grew fruit, that I could harvest without grubbing in the dirt, and for a little time I was content.

"I had a neighbor, one Ronan Midfallow. He was a burly man of ruddy countenance, a widower, who seemed cheerful and friendly in the crude manner of the rivvin. We spoke sometimes. There was labor on the farm that was too heavy for me, and I paid him in gold for assistance, and he smiled and was willing. I relaxed in his presence, and was careless with my scarf, and it seemed that he took no notice. One warm day I took off the headscarf altogether, and openly revealed myself as drow, and he did but smile. I saw in his eyes that he thought me comely and I thought little of it.

"His oldest son Jiscanan, he told me, was making a small feast and he invited me to attend. I walked with him to his farmhouse. We spoke briefly to his younger son, a surly youth named Funnard, and went on to the door. As I entered something smote me on the head and all went black.

"I awoke to pain. I was tied by my wrists and ankles, tied to a bed, and Ronan grunted and heaved above me. There was cloth crammed into my mouth. I could not scream, could cast no spells, and could only endure. He finished, and then Jiscanan took his turn, and then Funnard, while I struggled and prayed, and tried to plead, but I could make no sound."

Willow sat in horrified silence. She could think of nothing to say that would not be pitifully inadequate for the situation. All that she could do was to take hold of Viconia's hand and hold it, trying to impart some measure of comfort through her touch, and she noticed that Jaheira was doing the same thing. Sorkatani had put her arm around Viconia's shoulders.

"And they laughed, and gloated, rejoicing that I had been such an easy catch. I had trusted, forgetting the saying of my people 'Trust is for the foolish', and now I was suffering for it.

"At last they were spent and that part of my ordeal was over. Then Ronan knelt upon my arms. 'With her gone we can gain a second farm for a song', he said, and he closed his strong hands around my throat and squeezed.

"When I awoke again all was blackness. I was in a box. A crate, I think. I hammered at it with my hands and made no impression. Fear filled me. Yet I kept my head, for to be in darkness holds no terrors for the drow, and I spat the cloth from my mouth and cast a spell. 'Warp Wood'. The box twisted and broke, and soil spilled down upon me, and I realized that I was buried beneath the earth. I clawed, and pushed, and dug with my hands, and at last I was free and lay gasping upon the ground."

She ceased her tale for a moment, disengaged her hands from Jaheira and from Willow, and reached towards a goblet that held water. Sorkatani passed it to Viconia, who took a sip and then passed it back, and then Sorkatani embraced Viconia once again.

Spike spoke in a deceptively casual tone. "Where is this place Beregost, then?" Willow tore her gaze away from Viconia and saw that Spike was in game face.

"I read your intent, abbil," Viconia said. "Know that you are too late." She put her hand back at her side and Willow took hold of it once more.

"I had no weapon," Viconia continued, "and the only spells that I had were those of healing, or those that could be used to ease menial tasks, yet I was far from helpless. I watched the house of the men who had violated me. It grew dark. We were no longer in the realm of the sun-loving rivvin but in the dark realm of the drow. I had been their prey, but now they would be mine. I would have my revenge.

"They ate, and drank, and laughed, and after a time Jiscanan emerged to use the outhouse. I wedged the door shut with a stake and then jammed a balk of wood against the door, trapping him inside, and then I set the building ablaze. His screams were sweet in my ears as I slipped aside to lurk in the shadows.

"The others ran from the house. Ronan shouted to Funnard to draw water from the well. He pulled free the wooden beam and tugged at the door, but it was still wedged, and he achieved nothing but to burn his hands. As he drew back, baffled, I came up behind him and slipped a garrote of wire around his throat. He struggled mightily, but his hands were burned, and I had my knee in his back, and he could not escape. I did not make the mistake that he had made. I pulled until there could be no doubt that he was dead.

"When Funnard returned with buckets it was to find his father dead and the outhouse collapsing in fiery ruin upon the corpse of his brother. He knelt sobbing by his father's body and thus presented me with a height advantage. I had found a mallet, such as was used for fencing, and it was the perfect weapon with which to cave in his skull.

"I pushed the bodies as close against the outhouse as I could without burning myself, and then laid more wood beside and upon the bodies, and laid burning brands upon them too. The next day I left Beregost for ever and traveled south. The rest you know."

Willow tried to think of something to say, and failed. All she could do was to hold Viconia's hand. It seemed that the others were equally at a loss.

It was Minsc who broke the silence. "You suffered greatly, my comrade, but endured and struck back like the hero that you are. I do not know what to say to ease your pain, but would it help if you had Boo to hold? Stroking his soft fur is calming to the troubled mind."

Viconia gave a short and shrill laugh. "Is your answer to all problems found in that scuttling rodent? Foolish one, I am not a child to be so soothed. I – I – thank you. It was well meant."

"Uh, you look kinda like you need to go to sleep," Willow said. "If you, uh, I could," she began, her intention being to offer herself as the equivalent of a living teddy bear, but then she thought that Viconia might misinterpret her offer as a sexual advance rather than as an attempt to give comfort, and the total inappropriateness of that possible interpretation brought her to a halt and caused her to flush pink. "If you, like, need anything, I'd be here," she rephrased her offer.

"I also, abbil," Sorkatani said.

"And I," Jaheira added.

"Think we'd better be going," Spike said. "This is no place for us blokes." He shook himself and managed to return his face to its human guise.

"Indeed," Yoshimo agreed. "Come, Minsc."

The menfolk departed and left the women alone in the room. Viconia allowed herself to relax into Sorkatani's embrace and returned the squeezes that Willow and Jaheira were giving to her hands.

"If he had but asked," Viconia said, in a hollow voice. "If he had been freshly bathed, and had he smiled, and had he but asked – I would have said 'yes'." She slumped against Sorkatani and wept.


	14. Chapter 14

**Chapter Fourteen**

The Copper Coronet was full to beyond capacity. There was barely space enough for the serving wenches, bearing trays laden with goblets of beer or with plates of roast pork, to squeeze through the crowds. Nobles in robes trimmed with Winter Wolf fur rubbed shoulders with peasants in sackcloth. Tattooed barbarians stood alongside plump merchants. Street urchins mingled with halflings and with ladies in brocade velvet gowns. Surly the bare-knuckle boxer, who operated a booth in the tavern and had expected that it would become a veritable goldmine with the demise of the gladiatorial slave combats, glowered at the stranger who had taken his place as top attraction. The booth was closed and its space was crammed full of extra tables and chairs.

Bernard sent Giles to a platform at the top of the stairs, where in Lehtinan's day an armed guard had stood overlooking the patrons, and the Scoobies sat on the stairs below him. All except Willow, that is. She sat between Viconia and Minsc at a table close to the foot of the stairs, clinging tightly to their arms, her face set in an expression of deep misery.

Spike sat on the lowest flight of stairs and puffed on a cigar. He was unarmored, as he had promised that once he had departed Yoshimo could have the Armor of Deep Night, and he had taken it off and left it in their room. The others had made similar promises and were also unarmored and largely unarmed. The exception was Buffy, who was fiercely determined to take the Blade of Roses back to Sunnydale with her, and who wore the richly decorated sword strapped at her side.

Giles started off his performance with songs that had no relevance to his planned magical departure. Had the evening's entertainment consisted of a few chords, a few words, and then 'Elvis has left the building', a riot would have been inevitable. That wasn't something that Giles would want on his conscience and also, to be honest, he was quietly reveling in the audience reaction he was receiving in this world and wanted to make the most of what might be his final show.

He began with 'Honky Tonk Women', kept the tempo going with 'Sharp Dressed Man', and then slowed it right down with 'Behind Blue Eyes'. Dire Straits' 'Romeo and Juliet' reduced most of the women in the audience to misty-eyed silence. Dwarfs and elves who had never heard of Dead-heads or Cadillacs swayed to 'The Boys of Summer'.

Giles followed that one with a version of Big Country's 'Chance', slightly more up-tempo than their original recording, the way that they had often played it live. Spike, who had been in Moscow with Drusilla at the time of Big Country's concerts there, was reminded of the way that the crowd at the 'Palace of Wings' had sang along with the chorus despite few of them even speaking English. It had the same effect here; dwarfs, halflings, nobles and barbarians were all on their feet singing '_Oh, Lord, where did the feeling go? Two, three, four; Oh, Lord, I've never felt so low_…'

After that Giles performed a rendition of Chris Rea's 'Let's Dance' that had even Viconia on her feet and swaying her hips. Buffy tapped her feet along with the rest, but the pout on her face as she looked up at Giles revealed that she was growing impatient. He performed one more neutral song, Led Zeppelin's 'Over the hills and far away', and then he struck up the opening chords of a song that he hoped would settle the doubts that were churning in his mind over the wisdom of his plan.

Before he could open his mouth to begin the vocals Spike had shot up the stairs and confronted him. "Hey, Watcher, not going to sit here and listen to you murder that one," the vampire said. "Stick to your soft rock crap. Leave The Clash alone."

Giles raised an eyebrow. "I suppose you think that you could do better?"

"Damn right," Spike said confidently.

"Very well, let's see you do it," Giles challenged. "Okay, everyone," he called to the crowd. "For this number there's a special guest vocalist. Performing 'Should I Stay or Should I Go?' I give you, William the Bloody!"

Spike swaggered to the front of the balcony, tilted his head to one side and ran his tongue over his teeth, and launched himself into the song. By the end most of the tavern patrons were chanting 'Stay! Stay! Stay'.

Surly the boxer scowled up at the balcony. "Go! Go! Go!" he called.

"Ye're a scum-sucking louse, Surly," growled Korgan the dwarf. "Ah'm tellin' ye to shut yer gob, or ah'll shut it with ma axe." Surly turned to utter a rude retort, saw the massive breadth of the dwarf's shoulders, the scars on his grim face, and the way in which he was fondling his axe, and changed his mind.

"Quite impressive, Spike," Giles praised. "Another number, perhaps? 'Rebel Yell'?"

"Giles!" Buffy complained, giving him an eye-roll that would have picked up a 5.8 from any impartial judge. "That's not what we're here for. Get on with it."

"Oh, very well, my dear," Giles agreed. "Another time, Spike. At the Espresso Pump, if all goes well."

"Not really my scene, wouldn't have thought that either me or Billy Idol was their scene, but, okay, Watcher," Spike said. He bowed to the audience, grinned, and descended the stairs once more. He noticed the eyes of several women in the audience following him. One in particular, a lithe swordswoman in black leather, blew him a kiss and gave him a look that promised much in the way of carnal delights. He might have been tempted, if the attempt to return everyone to Sunnydale failed, but he was already feeling torn between Buffy and Viconia and there was no point in bringing a third factor into the equation. He gave her a brief shake of his head, sat down, and lit another cigar.

Giles breathed in deeply. The way in which he could perform magic with some songs, while at other times they were simply innocuous music, was still something of a mystery to him. It came to him as if by instinct with little conscious control. He concentrated hard until he was sure that he had got into the magical groove, and then began to sing.

"_I'm sitting in a railway station_

_Got a ticket for my destination…_"

Nothing happened, or at least nothing magical. As he sang '_Home, where my love lies waiting_' Jaheira rose to her feet, snatched a carving knife from a serving wench, and drew back her arm to throw it at Giles. Sorkatani caught her arm and wrestled briefly with her friend to disarm her. Apart from that incident 'Homeward Bound' had no effect whatsoever and the Scoobies remained firmly in the Copper Coronet, in Athkatla, in the Forgotten Realms of Faerûn, far away from Sunnydale.

Giles frowned. It was a powerful song, and he had felt the tingle of magic as he played, but it had been a complete failure. He tried again.

"_Run for home, run as fast as I can,_

_Oh-oh I'm a running man,_

_Running for home…_"

Nothing.

"_I'm leaving on a jet plane, don't know when I'll be back again,_

_Oh babe, I hate to go…_"

No effect.

Runrig's 'I'll Keep Coming Home' reduced the audience to such absolute silence that the Scoobies could hear the sound of fat spurting from the roasting pigs in the gaps between lines. The conclusion of the song was greeted with a storm of applause, very pleasant for Giles to hear, but it achieved absolutely nothing in the way of transporting the Scoobies home.

Giles gritted his teeth and slammed his fingers across the guitar strings in a fast rhythm. He stamped out a drumbeat with his foot and yelled out raucously instead of in his normal melodious voice.

"_Come up to you one night,_

_Noticed the look in your eye._

_I saw you was on your own._

_And it was all right…_"

He pounded his way through Slade's 'Take Me Bak 'Ome', somewhat to the consternation of the Sunnydale crew who had never dreamed of hearing anything like that from Giles' lips, but he did get Spike thumping his boots down to the beat. Giles reached the final chorus and roared out the words.

"_Oh won't you take me back home my baby  
Ah won't you take me back home oh yeah  
I said take me, take me, take me, take me back home  
Take me take me take me home!_"

There was a flash of light, a shower of glittering silver flakes fell from the ceiling, and Giles vanished.

"Giles!" Buffy cried.

"Oh shit!" Xander exclaimed.

"Bummer! Worst case scenario," Dawn wailed. "Giles is gone and we're stuck here."

The reactions of the audience were mixed. Some applauded, thinking it a magical effect that was part of the act. Some cried out in alarm. Jaheira sank her head into her hands. Willow was torn between conflicting emotions.

And then the door behind the balcony opened and Giles stepped through.

"Giles! What happened?" Buffy asked.

"I found myself in my bedroom," Giles told her. "It seems that the spell regards this place as my home."

"Yay!" said Dawn. "You can stay here and send the rest of us back."

"Ah, that might indeed be feasible," Giles said. "I will have to be somewhat more specific in my choice of song. I do have several more numbers prepared." He frowned in concentration, waited until the applause died down, and began another song.

'California Dreaming' had no effect. Led Zeppelin's 'Going to California' was equally ineffective. A version of James Taylor's 'Carolina in my Mind', with a slight change to the State mentioned in the lyrics, achieved nothing.

"I'm running out of ideas," Giles confessed. "There are only two possibilities remaining, and they wouldn't get us back to Sunnydale without such substantial changes to the lyrics that the whole force of the songs would be lost. Still, we could travel by conventional means once back on Earth. I have my credit cards with me, and even my passport."

"Yeah, 'cause you were going to run out on us," Dawn said accusingly.

"I have reconsidered that decision," Giles told her. "I won't leave unless I'm certain that you will all be able to manage satisfactorily in my absence." Buffy grabbed him in a hug.

"Uh, Giles, what about 'Hotel California'?" Xander suggested.

"I considered it," Giles said, "but rejected it because of the line 'You can check out any time you like, but you can never leave'. I think it would be an unwise choice."

Xander reflected on some of the other lyrics of the song. "Uh, yeah, good thinking, Giles."

The pause in proceedings was beginning to cause the audience to grow impatient. Giles brought his guitar to the ready again and began to play.

"_Take us home, country roads,_

_To the place where we belong,_

_West Virginia, mountain momma,_

_Take us home, country roads._"

Yet another song concluded without achieving any of the desired effects.

"None of us belong in West Virginia," Buffy pointed out. "Maybe that's why it didn't work."

"Or perhaps the whole concept is flawed," Giles said gloomily. "Still, the very fact that I was transported to the bedroom proves that I'm on the right lines. Tara, my dear, would you assist me on this one? It may transport you alone, but that would not be an entirely unsatisfactory result, would it?"

"I guess not," she said. "Maybe the rest of you could follow on later." She climbed the stairs to join Giles at the top. "Uh, what do you want me to sing?"

"Ah, 'Sweet Home Alabama'," he told her. "I'll take the lead, if you could just join in on the choruses. They go –"

"Giles," Tara interrupted him, shaking her head, "do you really think you need to tell me? I'll take the lead. Just play me in."

"This will be our final song for tonight," Giles told the audience. "With Tara Maclay on vocals, this is 'Sweet Home Alabama'." He played the opening chords and Tara's voice rang out clearly.

"_Big wheels keep on turning,_

_Carry me home to see my kin,_"

Her mouth twisted fractionally at that line, but she kept right on singing.

"_Singing songs about the Southlands,_

_I miss Alabamy once again, it's a sin, yeah…_"

Willow stared up at Tara in amazement as she sang. Willow herself was terrified of performing in public, would never sing if she thought that anyone else would be able to hear, and if it had been her standing up there on the balcony she knew that she'd never have been able to open her mouth and utter any coherent sounds. She'd always regarded Tara as shyer than herself by a considerable margin. And yet there she was, standing up proudly, swinging her hips so that her long skirt swayed from side to side, and belting out the song with confidence and passion. There were eyes trained on her with admiration and with lust, Willow noticed as she glanced around the room, from men and a few women too, and Willow could well understand why.

"_Lord, I'm coming home to you,_" Tara finished. She was still standing on the balcony at the Copper Coronet. She lowered her eyes, blushed, and stepped back as the crowd clapped and cheered and called for more.

"That's all for tonight," Giles called. "I'm sorry, but I'm just too tired to play another note. And really, how could I follow that? Thank you, and goodnight."

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"It didn't work," Buffy lamented. "A total bust. Gee, thanks for raising my hopes, Giles."

"I really thought that it had a chance," Giles said. "Perhaps I simply don't have enough power to achieve what we desire. Perhaps at some time in the future, when I have gained additional power and skills, I might be able to pull it off."

"Uh, I could feel the power you were putting out," Tara said. "A lot. I don't think that just upping the amperage is going to make any difference."

"Perhaps you were being blocked," Anya suggested.

"Blocked?" Giles turned and frowned at her over the rim of his glasses. "What do you mean, Anya?"

"I mean, some wizard might have been actively working against you," she said. "Maybe that Irenicus character, although if he's locked up in jail I suppose it can't be him, or the Cowled Wizards. Or Willow."

"Willow?" Xander's mouth dropped open. "What do you mean, Ahn?"

"Well, she doesn't want to go home," Anya said. "She wouldn't even sit with us. I thought it was so that she'd have a chance of avoiding the effects and not getting carried away along with us, but maybe it was so that she could be doing a counter-spell without us seeing."

"Willow wouldn't do that!" Xander said. "She wouldn't go behind our backs."

"Oh? Like she was honest and upfront with Dawn, and Giles, and Spike about bringing Buffy back?"

"That was different," Xander said. "The rest of us were all on board with that."

"So what you mean is that she wouldn't go behind _your_ back?" Anya arched an eyebrow. "She kept things from Giles because she thought he might stop her, that's all. Do you really think that she'd let you know about something that _you_ would try to stop?"

"Willow's not like that," Xander insisted, but his voice lacked its previous ring of conviction.

"Guys, guys," Buffy said, "Willow wouldn't have done anything. Really. She had a long talk with me, and apologized for a whole lot of things, and she was totally up front about not wanting to go back to Sunnydale, and she accepted the majority decision, and okay, she was maybe resentful and sulky, but she, uh, acted exactly like she was going to pretend to go along with it and then do her own thing."

"It's Spike's fault," Xander said. "Willow would never have turned against us if it hadn't been for Spike."

"Huh?" Tara stared at him. "Where does that logic come in? A minute ago you were saying that Willow would never have gone behind our backs and now you're just taking it for granted and blaming it on Spike. Well, I don't believe for one minute that either of them had anything to do with Giles' spell not working."

"I don't know about Willow, but Spike had nothing to do with it," Dawn put in.

"I didn't say he had," Xander said. "Just that he's a bad influence on Willow. And so is that Viconia creature."

"Please, everyone, can we leave this discussion for another time?" Giles suggested. "We are all tired, all disappointed that my plan was an ignominious failure, and we may be saying things that we will regret later. I for one see no reason to suspect Willow in the slightest and, as I have said before, Spike has been acting entirely properly since our arrival here and any effect that he is having on Willow's behavior is likely to be beneficial rather than the reverse."

"I think you're right," Tara said.

"That's ridiculous!" Xander snapped. "He could only bring her down."

"Xander, Willow isn't perfect," Anya said, with an edge of irritation evident in her voice. "Will you stop defending her every single time anybody criticizes her?"

"Please, please, everyone," Giles repeated. "It's late, I'm tired, and I'm starting to get a headache. If we have to have this pointless argument, can it be tomorrow?"

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"So that million to one chance didn't come off this time," Jonathan said. "Everything's okay. I guess it's pretty much impossible to do it that way."

"Yeah," Warren said. "Good thing too. Hey, for an old guy Giles can pretty much rock, right, dude?"

Andrew had a slightly misty look in his eyes. "Spike rocks too, dude."

"Yeah, whatever. Okay, things are safe, we can go out bowling with Alex without worrying that he's gonna suddenly turn into a whole different guy who hardly knows us."

"Xander was in my class," Jonathan pointed out.

"He wasn't exactly your best buddy, though, was he? Forget it, anyway. It's not gonna happen. I guess whatever powers their magic in the PC can't reach out to the real world. Which reminds me, don't go online while the game's running, dude."

"I don't," Jonathan said. "Like I'd risk the whole Internet developing a mind of its own?"

"It could be kinda fun," Warren mused. "On the other hand it could suck big time, and we wouldn't know which until it happened, by which time it would be too late. There's all kinds of potential badness there, I guess, Skynet and big robot guys with guns going, like, 'Varren Mears? You vill be terminated! Bang!' and shit, so best leave it alone. Okay, let's go bowling. Power down, dude."

"I think I'll just leave it running," Jonathan said. "They can manage pretty much by themselves. That way they'll get through the whole thing as fast as possible, and then we can get the mod finished and up on the boards."

"And then we'll be famous," Warren gloated. "Yeah, right. Okay, guys, to the Batmobile and away."

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"I told you, I didn't do anything," Willow insisted. "I wanted to, yeah, I admit it. I was thinking of casting some, like, protection spells on myself so that I'd maybe not get caught by the spell and would stay here. Only then I thought maybe it would mess things up for you guys. Buffy said it was kinda all or nothing, so I left it alone."

"I'd like to believe you, Will," Buffy said.

"So believe me, okay? I didn't do anything wrong. I didn't do anything that would spoil things for you. That's the truth, Buffy." She looked Buffy straight in her eyes. "Get Tara to do one of those Detect Lie spells if you don't believe me."

"See, I told you that Willow didn't do anything," said Xander.

"No, you said that Willow did and that she'd been led into it by Spike," Tara reminded him. "I believe you, Willow. You're, uh, doing good these days. Would you, maybe, like to meet up with me for a cup of coffee sometime?"

Willow's face lit up. "Well, they don't seem to have coffee in these parts, but we could make it tea. Yeah, I'd like that."

"Okay, I believe you," Buffy said.

"Yeah, right." Willow gave Buffy a smile that lacked her usual warmth. "I've got to be going, Buff. We're going to check out the shops, see if the hats that I designed for Viconia are ready, that sort of thing. See you around."

"You're going shopping? Hey, I could come with."

Willow's smile became distinctly tepid. "No, I don't think so, Buffy. The whole bunch of us are going and hey, you don't get on with Viconia, and you've been mean and snarky with Spike all the time since we got here, and, well, I think it would be more fun without you. Maybe another time."

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"I have a job offer for you, if you would just hear me out," Lord Jierdan Firkraag said to Sorkatani, for the fifth time.

"I have no time now," Sorkatani brushed him off, as she had done four times before. "Another time, perhaps." She led her group past him to rendezvous with Buffy's party.

"Hey, what took you so long?" Buffy asked. "I thought you were just doing some hat shopping. And hey, you're looking a little frazzled. Has shopping turned into a combat sport in these parts?"

"We encountered a band of ruffians committing an assault," Sorkatani explained. "Their victim had been poisoned and insisted that only his friends could cure him. We went far out of our way to deliver him there. Then other matters arose."

"You should have ignored Xzar," Jaheira grumbled. "I warned you that no good could come of his request."

"He stood with Imoen and me against the wolves when I was but a frightened girl of fifteen," Sorkatani replied. "He and Montaron. Evil he may have been, true, but I owed him a debt, and I am filled with sorrow that my repayment of that debt brought him to his death."

"Sounds like you had the kind of morning that's all full of joy, not," Buffy said. "So, are you up for taking out the Slavers now, or do you need, like, some rest and recuperation?"

Sorkatani shot a glance over her shoulder to where Lord Firkraag had been, worried in case he was someone who might tip off the Slavers about the planned assault, but he had already walked out of the room. "Our fights were hardly more than skirmishes," she said. "We are ready to face the Slavers. I remember that I was to take the path through the sewers and you wished to storm the front door. Is that still your desire?"

"If that's okay by you, yeah," Buffy confirmed. "Will, can you still do that thing where you can talk to our minds?"

"Uh, if there's nothing in the way, no problem at all," Willow said. "But from the sewers up to you out in the street, well, that might be tough. I think I'll have to give a 'no' to that."

Buffy frowned. "Okay, we'll have to do it the old-fashioned way. Set a time and go for it then, ready or not."

"I would never have believed that timepieces could be so small," Sorkatani remarked, gazing at the watches on Buffy and Willow's wrists. "There must be ingenious artisans indeed in the land from which you come."

"And to which they are so eager to return," Jaheira said with a bitter edge in her tone.

"Jaheira," Giles said, "if I could just try to explain? It is not that I wanted to leave you."

"Yet you still tried." Jaheira turned her back on him. "Let us delay no longer, Sorkatani. There may be creatures in the sewers that must be fought before we reach our destination."

"True," Sorkatani agreed. "Shall we say, then, at the start of the second hour after noon?"

"Two o'clock is good with me," Buffy agreed.

Sorkatani's party readied their weapons and headed for the Copper Coronet's cellars where there was an entrance to the sewers. Willow lingered for one brief moment. "I'll try to talk her round, Giles," she said, and then scurried off.

"It looks like things aren't doing so good for you on the girlfriend front right now, Giles," Xander commiserated. "That's tough."

"She is a proud woman," Giles said. "She sees my attempt to leave as a betrayal, and, well, I'm not sure that I blame her."

"Hey, Willow's gonna put a word in for you, so, there's still hope," Xander said.

"You're already making progress, Giles," Anya put in.

Giles frowned. "What makes you think that?"

"Well," Anya pointed out, "she was in your company for a whole two minutes there and she didn't try to kill you even once."

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Disclaimer: extracts from the lyrics of 'Chance' by Big Country, 'Homeward Bound' by Simon and Garfunkel, 'Run for Home' by Lindisfarne, 'Leaving on a Jet Plane' by Peter Paul and Mary, 'Take Me Bak 'Ome' by Slade, 'Take Me Home, Country Roads' by John Denver, and 'Sweet Home Alabama' by Lynrd Skynyrd are used without permission and with no intent to claim ownership or profit from their use.


	15. Chapter 15

**Chapter Fifteen**

Buffy looked down at the body of a fallen Slaver mage and glared at Spike. "Did you bite him?"

"Well, yeah," Spike admitted. "Sword got stuck in that other bloke, I've got a mouth full of perfectly good weapons, seemed bloody stupid not to use them."

"Did you drink?" Buffy demanded.

Spike cocked his head to one side and ran his tongue over his teeth. "Bit of a personal question that, innit? 'Do you spit or swallow?' Want to answer the same question, Slayer?"

Buffy's glare reached an intensity that seemed to require a vocal accompaniment of 'No, Mister Bond, I expect you to die'. "That's something you're never going to find out, Spike." She blushed deep pink as she heard a ripple of laughter from Willow, Tara, Anya, and Viconia, a suppressed snort from Giles, and a horrified squawk from Xander.

"What are you talking about, Buffy?" Dawn asked, assuming the most innocent voice that she could summon up. "Is it something about kissing?"

Buffy didn't see the malicious gleam in Dawn's eyes and her blush deepened to crimson. "Dawnie! Cover your ears!" she squeaked. "Spike, I am so going to kick your ass!"

"I too am confused," Sorkatani said.

Spike lowered his head. "A vulgar joke, jabbress. It was inappropriate for the company. I am sorry."

"I shall explain later, abbil," Viconia offered.

"Such an explanation would be better from me," Jaheira said.

"And could you explain it to me?" Dawn asked sweetly and innocently.

"Don't you dare!" Buffy snapped.

"Not for your ears, Nibblet," Spike said. "Shouldn't have said it. Sorry." His body language conveyed the distinct impression that he too would be blushing if his vampire physiology hadn't made that reaction impossible.

Dawn decided that she'd taken her game of winding Buffy up about as far as was safe without risking triggering conflict between Buffy and Spike. "Like I'd be interested," she drawled, and rolled her eyes. "Stupid vampire stuff."

Buffy relaxed and she returned to her original point. "Well? Did you drink from him?"

"Yes I did, Slayer," Spike said. "Not bloody ashamed of it either."

"Spike killed him in defense of himself and his comrades," Sorkatani said. "The man was evil beyond question, a trafficker in human misery, and you yourself spoke out urging that we mount this attack. What does it matter that he used fangs rather than a sword?"

"He's a vampire," Buffy said. "I can't let him feed from people. Hey, I bet he let his sword get stuck so that he'd have an excuse."

"Oh, yeah, that'd be sodding brilliant of me," Spike said. "I'm in a cloud of poison gas fighting five blokes at once. Okay, yeah, they're choking on it and I'm not, but nobody else can come in to help me. Your lot are at one exit, Tani's at the other, so they can't make a run for it, and they're trying to take me down with them. Just the time when I'm going to toss away my weapon so I can carry out my evil plan."

"I wouldn't put it past you, Spike," Buffy said.

"I do think that Spike deserves the benefit of the doubt in this case, Buffy," Giles said.

"Okay. Fine." Buffy put her hands on her hips and glared at everyone indiscriminately. "I'll shut up. But if he goes on a rampage, and starts eating innocent people, don't anyone dare blame me."

"If such a thing happened the blame would be mine," Sorkatani said. "Spike is in my party, not yours. But it will not happen. I trust Spike."

"Then you're an idiot," Xander put in.

"Hey!" Willow snapped. "You keep out of this, Xander. And don't you insult Sorkatani."

"Vith'os!" Viconia growled, the venom in her voice leaving no doubt that the drow words were no compliment. "You are not worthy to touch the hem of Sorkatani's robe, rivvil."

Xander ignored the drow and stared at Willow. "You're siding with them against your friends?"

"I'm siding with the friends who are being rational against the friends who are acting like assholes," Willow said. "And hey, that's just you and Buffy."

"Xander, you're not helping," Buffy said. "Look, maybe I was out of line. You're right, Sorkatani, it's not my business. Maybe we should all kinda calm down. We worked together pretty good on this thing and it would make all kinds of sense to keep working together. Not going to happen if we can't get together without fighting. If Sorkatani trusts Spike, well, that's her business. I won't interfere with her again."

Spike opened his mouth, saw Sorkatani give him a hard stare, and shut it again with his intended retort unsaid.

"Thank you, Buffy," Sorkatani said. "In that case we shall have no quarrel, you and I, and can work together. Sisters in arms. You will, then, come with me to the De'Arnise holding and then on to the Umar Hills?"

"Yeah, sure," Buffy said. "No reason not to, now that the Slavers are finished."

Anya had been occupying herself rummaging through papers on a desk. She held one aloft. "I don't want to rain on your parade, Buffy, but they're not," she announced. "This is just an outpost. Their HQ is somewhere else."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

The two combined parties would have resembled a small army if they had traveled through the Temple District as a single group, and no doubt would have attracted a great deal of attention, and therefore they made their separate ways to the Slaver headquarters and assembled outside. Their numerical strength was further disguised by four of them being invisible.

"Everybody sure this is the right place?" Buffy asked. The building was a large and opulent mansion that could easily have passed for the premises of one of the major churches. "If we're wrong we are going to be in just so much trouble."

"Absolutely positive," Anya said confidently. Her voice came from an apparently empty space.

"There really can't be any doubt, Buffy," Giles confirmed.

"Okay, let's do this." Buffy looked at the door. "It feels kinda silly just knocking, but hey, what else can we do?" She thumped the door with the pommel of her sword. "Wilderness Girls," she called. They waited for several minutes but no-one answered. "Think they're out?" Buffy wondered.

Spike tried the handle. "Door's open." He wondered if this would count as a private house, and if he would hit an invisible barrier if he tried to enter, which would be bloody frustrating. He extended his hand and found that it passed the threshold without encountering any obstacle. The invite rule was not barring his entry on this occasion.

"I don't think they'd mind if we wait inside," Giles said, for the benefit of the few passers-by. No-one paid any attention and the whole body filed into the building.

The main hall of the building was floored with marble and laid with intricately patterned rugs. Tables and chairs decorated with intricate carving furnished the room and twin staircases rose from the other side of the hall.

The room wasn't unoccupied after all. A slim man in the robes of a wizard stood beside one of the tables, and a woman clad in breeches and leather armor stood at his side. "I say, riffraff," the man drawled, "did the fact that no-one answered the door not indicate to your slow minds that we did not wish to be disturbed?"

"We're selling Wilderness Girl cookies," Buffy said. "Special ten per cent discount to people involved in the slave trade. I hear you qualify."

"Ridiculous," the man sneered. "Cease this unwarranted invasion and depart before I take action to punish you for your insolence."

"Perhaps an Ice Storm trap on the door next time, Sion?" the woman suggested.

"Less talk, more swords!" Minsc boomed out. "Evil Slavers, prepare to have your butts kicked most mightily!"

The man laughed. "Your idea has merit, Ketta, but I think that my existing precautions should suffice. You wish to kick butts, loud one? I shall provide you with some." He waved his arm. Two arrows and the throwing axe Azuredge hurtled towards him only to pass harmlessly through empty space as the two figures vanished.

"I hate it when they do that," Xander muttered. He caught Azuredge as it returned to his hand.

"Okay, people, slow advance," Buffy ordered. "Check out every inch for traps. I don't know what an Ice Storm is, but it doesn't sound nice."

The air in front of the party shimmered. A circle of fire formed and a mob of monstrous creatures spilled out into the room.

And began fighting amongst themselves.

"Hold your fire," Buffy ordered.

"Let no-one loose shaft," Sorkatani commanded her group. "Let these creatures destroy each other."

"That Sion bloke must be a couple of sandwiches short of a picnic," Spike commented. "Unless he expects us to laugh ourselves to death."

The adventurers stood patiently while the group of monsters raged in internecine conflict. Eventually only two remained, a genie and a winged and horned demon.

"Kinda like a balrog," Buffy remarked, "only with four arms."

"A glabrezu," Sorkatani identified it, "I think. I have seen only pictures before. A denizen of the Lower Planes. Perhaps not as powerful as Aec'Letec, who we fought at Ulgoth's Beard, but still very dangerous."

"More dangerous than the genie?" Buffy asked.

The glabrezu answered that question for her quite emphatically by tearing the genie's head from its shoulders. The victorious demon turned towards the adventurers and was immediately hit by a shower of missiles.

Buffy and Sorkatani leapt forward to engage the creature. Sorkatani's blade glanced from its hide; Buffy rammed the Blade of Roses deep into its heart and it collapsed.

"I still lack a weapon with sufficient enchantment to slay such fell beasts," Sorkatani muttered, looking at her katana with dissatisfaction evident in her expression.

"Well, maybe next time Willow takes you shopping, you should call in somewhere that sells swords instead of hats," Buffy suggested.

Sorkatani was oblivious to the barb hidden in Buffy's words. "I lacked funds for such a blade," she said. "Yet there is surely treasure enough here, if we prevail. Let us press on."

The party explored the ground floor and found no more occupants either human or demonic. They approached the staircases cautiously. Buffy's group took the right hand stair, Sorkatani's took the left, and they ascended.

Five figures awaited them in the upper main hall; the mage who had spoken to them downstairs, an armored man wielding a mace; an Oriental warrior who held two katanas; and two massive creatures in magnificent suits of armor that reminded Giles of the examples of Henry VIII's armor on display at the Tower of London. One was a minotaur, who was swinging a mighty axe with nonchalant ease, and the other was an unfamiliar species of humanoid wielding an equally formidable two-handed sword.

"Showtime!" Buffy called.

"Traps!" Dawn, Anya, and Yoshimo yelled simultaneously.

"I see them," Spike said. He leaped over a pressure pad, ducked under a chest-high tripwire, and sidestepped past a magical sigil. He charged at the mage but the minotaur strode to intercept him and blocked his progress with a swing of its axe.

Spells of Confusion were chanted and fizzled out as the countermeasures on each side neutralized them. Arrows and sling bullets hissed through the air. Viconia tossed a fragment of bone to the ground. "Valsharess zhah ulu z'hin doed lil!" she cried. The bone transformed into an animated skeleton, wielding a halberd, and she sent it forward to clear a path through the traps.

"_I can see clearly now the rain has gone_," Giles sang. "_I can see all obstacles in my way_." He saw the traps come into view, glowing red lines marking where a careless footstep would trigger dire consequences, and he saw where Dawn and Anya were working to deactivate them under the cover of Invisibility spells. He also saw someone else; the woman from downstairs, Ketta, was in their midst and had a short sword poised at Buffy's back. "Buffy, behind you!" he yelled.

The Slayer spun around. The sword thrust sliced a shallow gash across her side instead of piercing a kidney. Ketta became visible as her attack broke an Invisibility spell and Buffy lashed out at her with the Blade of Roses. Xander caught Azuredge, as it returned to his hand after an unsuccessful throw at the mage, and hit Ketta across the back of the neck. The collar of her enchanted leather armor absorbed the blow and Ketta was only dazed instead of killed. Her combat reflexes were so finely honed that she was still able to bring up her short sword to block Buffy's slash. Buffy kicked her over the balustrade and sent her tumbling down the stairs.

Willow's Invisibility ended as she launched an offensive spell that sent a cloud of poisonous vapor billowing over the area of the room in which Spike was fighting. The armored man spoke a word of command and dispelled it before Spike could take advantage. Sion the mage retaliated with a similar cloud centered upon Willow. Jaheira summoned a breeze of sweet-smelling fresh air and the cloud dispersed.

Tara cast a spell of Doom upon the enemy priest, filling him with feelings of dread and of doubt in his own abilities. He retreated a few steps and cast down fragments of bone and dried skin. A pair of zombies rose up to serve as his protectors.

Spike was holding his own against the minotaur, using his superior speed and agility to offset its advantages in armor and sheer mass, but the Slavers' samurai warrior joined the fight. The man from Kara-Tur raised a shining katana, its hilt richly decorated with red lacquer and gold, and brought it down in a deadly strike. Spike swung up his sword to block the blow. As the blades clashed the katana crackled with energy. An electrical shock ran through Spike's sword and into his hand. He yelped and dropped the sword. The samurai grinned and brought his second katana around in a horizontal cut. Spike jumped back and almost ran into the minotaur's swinging axe. The two fighters had him trapped between them and Spike was in a perilous position.

Xander hefted Azuredge and looked at Spike. The axe carried powerful enchantments against the Undead. Even a glancing blow could kill, return them to the dust that was their rightful form, and a solid hit would definitely do so. It would be so easy for a throw to go slightly astray. A friendly fire incident that no-one could ever suspect had been deliberate. He drew back his arm and threw with all the power his arm could muster and with his entire mind focused on the need for accuracy.

Ketta clambered to her feet at the bottom of the stairs, gulped down a potion of healing, and then swallowed another potion of Invisibility. She crept back up the stairs and was confronted by Giles. He could see her plainly, and he struck out at her with his quarterstaff, keeping her at bay.

Sion conjured up a pair of giant spiders. They advanced toward the invisible Anya and Dawn. Willow opened a bag and a swarm of knives rose into the air and hurtled towards the spiders. One of the giant arachnids was cut to pieces by the storm of blades and rolled onto its back in death; the other was injured but limped onwards. Anya drew a blade to defend herself and flickered into visibility as she struck out.

Viconia's skeleton servant set off a trap and a shower of sticky liquid poured down upon it from the ceiling. In seconds the liquid set solid and froze the skeleton in its tracks. A few feet away Yoshimo snipped through a tripwire. "All clear, jabbress," he announced.

At the same time Dawn deactivated the last of the traps at Buffy's side of the room. "Safe now, Buffy," Dawn shouted.

The minotaur bellowed in agony as Azuredge bit deep into the back of its head, exactly where Xander had aimed it.

"Charge!" Sorkatani ordered.

"Go, go, go!" Buffy yelled.

"Go for the eyes, Boo! Go for the eyes!" Minsc roared. He dropped his bow, pulled a two-handed sword from the scabbard on his back, and charged forward to the aid of Spike. The wounded minotaur quaffed a healing potion and moved to meet his rush.

Sorkatani rushed at Sion the mage. The mighty armored humanoid jumped to intercept her and whirled its two-handed sword like a baseball bat. Buffy charged in to attack the monster from the flank.

Viconia, Jaheira, and Yoshimo made for the enemy priest. The zombies lurched to his defense. The two girls dealt with them while Yoshimo slipped past and attacked the cleric. His katana glanced harmlessly from the armor and Yoshimo popped into visibility. The cleric struck back with his mace but the doubts from the Doom spell distracted him and his blow went wide as he allowed for a non-existent dodge.

Tara descended the stairs and joined Giles in battling Ketta. Dawn and Anya killed the remaining giant spider. Willow and Sion exchanged Magic Missiles and each cried out in pain as the bolts struck.

Spike caught hold of the samurai's right wrist and immobilized the arm wielding the superior katana. A second later he repeated the move and pinioned the other arm. The samurai drove his head forward in a butt aimed at Spike's face. Spike ducked down and took the blow on his forehead. The samurai came off worst and reeled. Spike went into game face, lunged, and his fangs sank home into the Oriental warrior's throat.

Xander drew the Sword of Chaos and joined Minsc in fighting the minotaur.

The mighty creature fighting Buffy and Sorkatani was strong, fast, and skillful. Against the Slayer and the Perfect Warrior, however, it was overmatched. Sorkatani dropped low and thrust up with her katana at the monstrous being's groin. Buffy jumped high into the air and brought the Blade of Roses down on its head. It staggered under their blows and they hit it again.

Tara stunned Ketta and Giles struck a finishing blow. The female assassin fell, rolled down the stairs, and lay with her eyes staring sightlessly up at the ceiling.

Dawn and Anya opened fire with their crossbows at Sion.

Jaheira and Viconia finished off the zombies and joined Yoshimo in his attack upon the Slaver priest.

Minsc and Xander slew the minotaur.

Willow fired off the last offensive spell in her repertoire and stripped Sion of all his magical protections. Two crossbow bolts hit him in the chest and he fell to his knees.

Buffy swept the legs out from under the mighty humanoid and brought it crashing to the floor. Its helm fell from its head and rolled away. It scrambled up to its hands and knees. Sorkatani brought down her katana in a two-handed executioner's strike. The creature's head came off and rolled after the helmet.

The priest was brought down by a blow from the Flail of Ages. Yoshimo cut his throat.

Spike tossed the limp body of the samurai aside and resumed his human face. He scooped up the beautiful katana and pulled its elaborately decorated scabbard from the samurai's belt.

"Wow," Xander grinned. "We won."

"Looks like," Dawn grinned back. "Yay us!"

Spike strode to where Sorkatani and Buffy were cleaning their blades. He knelt before Sorkatani and held up the katana. "A blade worthy of you, jabbress."

Buffy stared open-mouthed. She felt a sudden flare of jealousy. It should be her that Spike was presenting with that trophy, not some wannabe Slayer who they'd only known for a couple of weeks. And hey, what was with Spike being all noble and unselfish anyway?

"I thank you, abbil, but you won the blade in fair fight," Sorkatani said. "You have first claim upon it."

"Thanks, but I owe you one already, Tani," Spike said, shaking his head. "I've got this, thanks to you." He took one of his hands away from the katana and tapped the Armor of Deep Night. "Anyway, this is part of your cultural heritage, innit?"

Sorkatani bowed to him and accepted the weapon. She held the scabbard up in front of her eyes and read the ideographs written there in letters of gold. "Celestial Fury", she read. "I have heard of this blade. Once carried by the personal bodyguard of the Emperor. I hope I am worthy of such a weapon."

"'Course you are, Tani," Spike grinned. "Take it, and, like Minsc would say, give the butts of Evil a good kicking."

"Hey, Evil Dead," Xander said. "What do I get for saving your life back there?"

Spike stood up and looked at Xander. "Tell you what, Whelp," he said. "When we're back at the Copper Coronet I'll buy you a pint."

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Disclaimer: the extract from the lyrics of 'I Can See Clearly Now' by Johnny Nash is used without permission and with no intent to profit from the use.


	16. Chapter 16

Disclaimer: the extract from the lyrics of 'Redemption Songs' by Bob Marley is used without permission and with no intent to profit from the use.

Author's Note: Willow uses an expression in this chapter which is deeply offensive in Britain; perhaps the worst thing you can say, in fact, short of a couple of racist terms and the vilest of obscenities. It is, however, canon that she uses the term (in six different episodes), obviously oblivious to its British meaning, and so I have included it despite my own misgivings.

**Chapter Sixteen**

Buffy bit her lip and hesitated. This probably wasn't the best time. Spike was sitting with Minsc, Dawn, and Tara and all four were engaged in a lively and animated discussion. They were smiling, laughing even, and Boo was scampering around on the table. No, she wouldn't interrupt them.

Then Boo ran up Minsc's arm and sat on his shoulder. The tall warrior drained his goblet and stood up. Dawn stood too, and the pair said goodbye to Spike and Tara and walked off together.

Buffy frowned. Dawn and _Minsc_? Should she be concerned? Yeah, Boo was bound to be the attraction rather than Minsc himself, but then perverts did use cute puppies and things as lures to ensnare children. However, the idea of 'pervert' applying to the heroic and amiable, if perhaps not terribly bright, ranger was ridiculous and Buffy dismissed her concerns. The way was clear now and she stepped forward.

"Spike, could I have a word?"

Spike half-turned and looked at Buffy over his shoulder. "Yeah, sure, Slayer." He waved a hand vaguely in the direction of the chair vacated by Dawn and turned his gaze back towards Tara.

"Uh, I kinda meant in private," Buffy said.

Spike turned back towards her and raised an eyebrow. "Something to say that you don't want Tara to hear? Can it be? Oh, be still my unbeating heart!"

"Shut up, Spike," Buffy snapped. "Look, I was kinda going to apologize to you for some things but, if you don't want to hear it, that's fine by me."

Spike's expression turned serious. "Sorry, Slayer."

"Uh, I'll just, uh, go and see to my flowers," Tara said, and stood up. "Maybe put them in some water."

Buffy's brow creased. "Flowers?"

"Tara's got admirers," Spike said. "Stage door Johnnies. Was just telling us about the flowers she got from somebody who saw her singing."

"Uh, yeah," Tara said. She blushed and dipped her head so that her hair swung in front of her face. "I'll, uh, see you."

Once Tara had departed Buffy sat down at the table. "Uh, well," she said. "Yeah. I, like I said, I'm kinda sorry about some things. I don't get why you're not being all rampaging monster-y, 'cause hello, vampire, but you're not and I should give you credit for that."

"Thanks." Spike looked straight into her eyes. "Tell you, Slayer, it bloody hurt when you started up with the 'let's stake Spike' thing. I'd thought we were past that."

"I'm sorry," Buffy said again. "Yeah, we were past that. You were, well, kinda good to me after I, you know, came back. It's just, well, it's always been kinda on my mind that when the chip stopped working you'd turn on me again." She held up a hand to cut off Spike's protest. "I know, I know, kinda dumb of me, but hey, you've done plenty of things to make me not trust you. You were our enemy a lot longer than you've been a kinda friend."

"A 'kind of' friend?" Spike grimaced and raised his eyebrows.

"Okay, a friend," Buffy said. "But, hey, I really, really, did think that, even if you didn't turn on me, you'd go back to eating other people. I mean, you've always kept on saying that you're evil. So if we didn't trust you it's kinda not surprising. But, well, I think these days you've earned some trust." She lowered her eyes towards the table and then jerked her head up again. "Only absolutely no eating people unless it's in a fight that we're all part of and it's a sensible combat move. That's flat."

"I can live with that," Spike said. "That's the way Tani wants it anyway."

Buffy bit her lip. "What is it with you and Sock-it-to-me anyway? You treat her like she's some kinda princess and you're her, like, faithful knight. You haven't, uh, gone off me and fallen for her, have you?"

"You jealous, Slayer?" Spike's eyebrow raise and head tilt conveyed cool amusement and Buffy's cheeks acquired a tinge of color.

She shook her head emphatically. "No way! It's just kinda surprising."

"Don't worry, pet, I'm not going to chain you both up and offer to kill you for Tani," Spike said. "Sorry. Bad joke. Which reminds me, sorry about the 'spit or swallow' thing. I wasn't thinking about Dawn being there."

"Yeah, forgiven, just be more careful in future," Buffy said. "Uh, so you have gone off me?" She frowned. She wasn't sure how she felt about that.

"Didn't say that," Spike said. "Haven't fallen for Tani, Slayer, that's for sure. It's just, she treats me like a man."

"You said that before," Buffy said.

"Well, she does. Look, I don't give a toss about right or wrong, not gonna claim different. Just want to take care of the people I like and the rest can go hang. Like a good fight, don't much care who it's against, know what I mean? But I'm not gonna let Tani down. I'll save the sodding Mexican villagers from the bandidos 'cos it's what Tani would want."

"Mexican villagers? Uh, did I miss an episode somewhere?"

"Oh, right, that conversation was with Red. Anyway, point stands. She's fighting the good fight and I'll fight right along with her. For puppies and whatever they have in this place instead of Christmas. And I'm not going to eat anybody who isn't trying to kill us. That's a promise, Slayer."

"I believe you," Buffy said. "Uh, you seem to be pretty happy here."

"Bloody right! This place is a sodding paradise as far as I'm concerned. I can walk in the sun! Bloody brilliant, that is. Tell you, it's a damn sight easier to act like a man when I can step out of the bloody shadows. There's times that I almost forget that I'm a vampire. Got friends here, decent digs, and I'm getting to be rich and famous! You should just relax and enjoy it, Slayer."

Buffy bit her lip again. "We're getting rich by killing people and taking their stuff. I don't care if they are evil people, it's still wrong."

Spike frowned. "All legal. Tani and Yoshi and Anya are at the magistrate's office right now making a report about what we did to the Slavers. Got all the documentation and stuff. Probably get a reward, on top of what we picked up, seeing as how the Council can probably glom onto the house."

"Legal isn't the same as honest," Buffy said. "Oh, you just don't get it, do you?"

"No," Spike admitted. "Look, it was you who were all gung-ho on the 'kick the Slavers' arses' thing. Tani would have left them till another time otherwise."

"I was worried 'cause of what those guys in the sewers said about getting a good price for Dawn," Buffy explained. "And hey, freeing the slaves is a good thing. But it still bugs me. I mean, nobody died and made me Judge Dredd. We're not the law, Spike, and we shouldn't be acting like we are. Especially not when we're making money out of it."

Spike shrugged. "No use debating it with me, Slayer. Take it up with Tani when she gets back."

"I might," Buffy said. "Anyway, I guess we've set a few things straight. I think I'll go take a look at Tara's flowers."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

"Another bunch, Lady Tara," the maid told her. "The, um, lady who sent them is still around. She said she'd like a word with you if you have time."

Tara raised her eyebrows. She had thought that the flowers had come from a male admirer. "Do you know who she is?" she asked.

"Belit the Swordswoman," the maid replied. "Lovely lass, she is. All flashing eyes and dark hair."

Tara hid her face with her hair again. She thought she knew who the maid meant; the leather-clad girl who'd been giving Spike the eye the other night after his song, and who Tara had noticed giving her not dissimilar looks at the end of 'Sweet Home Alabama'. She was indeed a pretty woman in a rough trade sort of way. It wouldn't do any harm to just have a word with her, would it? Yes, she'd agreed to meet up with Willow for coffee, or tea, but that wasn't the same as them dating again, and there was no harm in just meeting someone else and maybe flirting a little.

"I, uh, might have a word," Tara agreed. "Where is she?"

The maid pointed out the room where Belit was waiting and went off about her duties. Tara found a looking-glass and stared into it. She would pass muster, she decided, and set off down the corridor.

The door opened immediately in response to her tentative knock. "Oh, hello, do come in," the dark-haired swordswoman invited.

"Uh, thanks." Tara stepped into the room. "Thanks for the, uh, flowers."

"Don't mention it, anthropoid," Belit said in a cold and remote voice. Her face was expressionless.

"Huh?" Tara frowned at the girl. There was something odd about her and the hairs on the back of Tara's neck began to prickle. The room door suddenly slammed shut. Tara turned and saw no-one at the door. "What's going on?"

A voice spoke from an unoccupied corner of the room, a brief phrase in an archaic language, and suddenly a cloaked woman brandishing a staff materialized out of nothing. Tara opened her mouth and repeated her question. No sound came forth.

A Silence spell. Tara spun and headed for the door. A fist met her and halted her rush. Another figure appeared, this time a man in leather. Tara was shocked, scared, and confused, but she struck back instinctively. There was little force to her punch, however; Tara lacked both muscle and combat technique and without a mace to give weight to her blows she could achieve little.

She tried to cast a spell of her own but the Silence spell negated her attempt. Another fist slammed into her head and she saw stars. She had a Ring of Protection on her finger, and it took just enough of the force out of the blow for her to remain conscious, but she was dazed. Frantically she tried to get past the man and make it to the door and safety. One shout for help and Spike, Buffy, Minsc, and others would be racing to her assistance. Whoever these people were they would be no match for the force that would come to her aid. Except that she had no way of summoning her comrades.

Belit brought down a cudgel across the back of Tara's neck and the world went black.

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

Giles strummed his guitar. His audience was small; Hendak; one of the bouncers who had been a slave gladiator; an off-duty maid; Minsc; and Dawn. Spike wandered up and joined them.

"_Old pirates yes they rob I_," Giles sang.

"_Sold I to the merchant ships._

_Minutes after they took I,_

_From the bottomless pit…_"

Spike sat down and lit a cigar. Hendak listened, entranced, as did Minsc. The pretty maid gazed adoringly at Giles, who was completely oblivious to the effect that he was having. He was also oblivious to Jaheira's appearance on the upstairs balcony overlooking the room. Jaheira stood still and silent and stared down at Giles. Spike noticed her and tried to read the enigmatic expression on the half-elf's face, but Jaheira's expression gave nothing away.

"_Won't you help to sing  
These songs of freedom?  
'Cause all I ever had,  
Redemption songs.  
All I ever had,  
Redemption songs.  
These songs of freedom,  
Songs of freedom._"

Giles brought the song to an end and lowered the guitar. Jaheira slipped quietly away.

"Magnificent," Hendak praised. "I will miss you while you are away, and not just because we will not draw in such crowds. I hope you are not away too long."

"We'll try not to be," Giles told him. "I must say that I enjoy playing here. And it's nice to have a safe haven in which to base ourselves."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

Buffy adjusted the flowers in a vase and then turned as the door opened. "Hey," she said as Tara walked in. "I put these in water. Seems a shame to just let them die. Where'd you go?"

"I was just chatting to the girl who sent them," Tara said.

"Girl, huh?" Buffy grinned. "Any sparkage?"

Tara's brow creased. "Huh? Oh, no. Nice flowers, but that's it. I'm going to get some rest now, okay?"

"Yeah, you do that. Gonna be a long day tomorrow, I guess. Where's Dawn?"

"I don't know, Buffy," Tara said. "Around."

"Oh, yeah, with Minsc still. I'll go drag her away." Buffy wandered out of the room.

Tara examined the room and checked the clothes beside each bed. She lay down on her own bed and stared up at the ceiling. Her eyes remained open and watchful.

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

A body lay on the bed of the river near the supports of the bridge that gave its name to the Bridge District. It was wrapped in chains to keep it from rising to the surface. Crabs scuttled over the corpse, wielding their pincers busily, and fish darted in to bite off tiny fragments of flesh. The long black hair was beginning to come loose from the scalp. The dark flashing eyes were sightless and opaque.

It had been under water for a day now, and the skin had become wrinkled and pale, but the marks of powerful fingers were still visible as livid marks on Belit's throat.

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

Buffy's mouth twisted as she looked up at the horse. "I don't ride," she admitted. "Never learned."

"Me neither," Xander said. "I did ride the mechanical bull at the – nope, no power on earth is going to get me to tell that story."

"I can ride," Sorkatani said, "but I lack practice."

"Ah, you should practice that skill, my lady," Yoshimo said. "The art of fighting on horseback is regarded as essential among the noble warriors of Kara-Tur."

"Perhaps you could tutor me?" Sorkatani suggested.

"And when did I ever say that I was noble?" Yoshimo grinned. "I can stay on top of the beast, more or less. Most of the time."

"To bounce atop such an animal bruises my buttocks," Minsc said. "And it makes Boo seasick."

Viconia's expression was obscured by her hat and veil but the set of her shoulders revealed that she was nervous. "I have never ridden any animal like these," she admitted.

"I ride, and well," Jaheira said. "Stay close to me, drow harlot, and do what I do."

Viconia sniffed. "So acting like an idiot is how one stays on a horse?"

"Well, I can ride," Anya said.

"I also," Giles said. "Rather well, in fact, although I have had few opportunities in recent years."

"Me too," Spike joined in. "Back when I was alive a gentleman couldn't get by without knowing how to ride. Rode to hounds a time or two. Hated it."

Buffy's eyebrows performed an impression of a condor soaring above the Andes. "A gentleman?"

"Oh, bugger." Spike shut his mouth tightly.

Willow shuffled her feet. "I'm kinda nervous," she said. "I've never done anything like this and you know I'm kinda a spaz. I'll fall off."

"Me too," Tara said. "I can't ride."

Willow stared at her. A deep crease formed between her eyebrows. "But you can. You told me that back home you used to ride all the time."

"Well, uh, that was a long time ago," Tara said. "I was, uh, just trying to make you feel like I was in the same situation as you."

"Shame I did dance class instead of riding," Dawn said. "I always wanted a pony."

"It seems that we must look for gentle and sedate horses and not for mighty steeds of war," Sorkatani said. "Well, so be it. It shall still be preferable to walking."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

"Hi, Warren." Jonathan's greeting was cursory. He walked past Warren with hardly a glance in his direction and headed straight for his PC.

"Hi," Warren grunted, barely looking up. His attention was concentrated on his bowl of cereal and a graphic novel.

Jonathan sat down at the computer and looked to see how Buffy and her friends were getting on in the City of Athkatla. The game had been running all night, since before the Trio had gone out bowling, and he wondered what he'd missed. "Hey, Sorkatani's got Celestial Fury," he remarked almost straight away. "We missed the Guarded Compound fight. Bummer."

"Yeah, bummer," Warren agreed absently, and sipped at his coffee.

"That's odd," Jonathan went on. "I don't see the icon for Tara." He searched the screen. "I see her avatar, but she's got a blue circle. Like, she's left the party."

"That's, like, strange," Warren said. "I guess she must have had another fight with Willow or something. Or maybe with Buffy." He turned a page of his book and ate another spoonful of cereal.

"Wow!" Jonathan said. "They're getting horses. Horses, dude!"

"What?" Warren sat up straight. He laid the spoon down in the bowl, set aside his graphic novel, and pushed back his chair.

"Actual horses. Animated and everything."

Warren rushed over to look for himself. "Oh, man. That is awesome." He peered closely at the screen. "The tails even twitch. This is the best ever, dude. It's just doing all the work for us."

Eventually they exhausted the topic of horses and Warren remembered what Jonathan had said about Tara. "So Tara's left the party? Weird. I mean, she's still tagging along with them. With them, but not of them. That doesn't make sense. Can you select her?"

Jonathan clicked on Tara's figure. Nothing happened. He selected Yoshimo, the only one of the characters that he still had any control over, and then clicked on the Tara avatar as it stood beside one of the party's newly purchased horses. "What the…?" His eyes widened and his jaw dropped.

"Oh, shit," Warren breathed. "That is not good, man. Not good at all." He stared, horrified, at the text that had appeared along the bottom of the screen.

"YOU CAN NOT INITIATE CONVERSATION. DOPPELGANGER APPEARS BUSY."


	17. Chapter 17

**Chapter Seventeen**

Tara rose from her bed and took a step towards where Willow lay sound asleep. Tara's lips curled back from her teeth in a mirthless grin. She opened her hands and reached out towards Willow's throat.

Jaheira stirred in her sleep. "Khalid," she muttered. "I am sorry."

Two beds away the Perfect Warrior shot bolt upright. She had Celestial Fury's scabbard in her left hand, her thumb poised against the katana's crossguard ready to push it forwards, and her right hand blurred across her body and took hold of the hilt.

Tara recoiled, hastily lowered her arms, and opened her mouth and eyes wide in an expression of shocked surprise. She sidestepped quickly away from Willow's bed.

"Who goes there?" Sorkatani snapped, eyes still blurry with sleep, and then her vision cleared. "Tara? Did I alarm you? I am sorry. I sleep lightly and I seemed to sense danger." She took her right hand away from the hilt of Celestial Fury.

"Uh, yeah, you did alarm me," Tara said. "I was uh, just going to use the privy."

"Of course," Sorkatani said. She slid the katana back under her bedclothes. "You are learning our speech at last, Tara."

Tara's eyes opened wider. "Huh?"

"Privy rather than bathroom. No confusion," Sorkatani said.

"Oh, yeah."

"Hey, keep it down," Buffy grunted from under her blankets. "Trying to sleep here."

"Uh, sorry," Tara said. "Sorry I troubled you." She walked quietly away towards the garderobe, where a privy projected out over the castle's moat. There, out of sight, she allowed her face to return to its real almost featureless form and punched the wall in frustration.

Her knuckles left dents in the stone.

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

"You what?" Warren glared at Jonathan. "How could you be so dumb?"

"Hey, dude, it's not my fault," Jonathan defended himself, although he was uncomfortably aware that he had indeed been careless. "You kept going on about wanting the material for the mod as soon as possible. You need saves to get it. So I saved. I thought they were all okay. They were talking about getting horses. How was I to know she wasn't there? There are too many of them to see all the pictures at once."

"Shit. Shit shit shit. Shit." Warren gritted his teeth. "Couldn't you have renamed it? Then we'd still have the original. She might be dead, man. They can't raise her without the body."

"It's not my fault," Jonathan repeated.

"Hey, what about the Autosave?" Warren suggested. His worried expression faded slightly.

"No good, man," Jonathan said. "The last Autosave was when they left the Copper Coronet. Whatever happened, it happened before that. Maybe when they were split up some time, maybe while they were sleeping."

"What's happening, dudes?" Andrew wandered in and joined them at the computer. "Why the long faces?"

"Tara's been replaced by a doppelganger," Warren explained, "and shit-for-brains here saved over the last good save. She's gone and we can't get her back."

"There's a save in Shared Docs," Andrew reminded him. "Chill out, dude, all you've lost is what they did while we were bowling."

"And overnight," Jonathan said. "I left it running."

"So? It's not like we saw what happened." Andrew shrugged. "Hey, dudes, I've managed to get a rough draft of the story done. Want to check it out?"

Warren's mouth was still turned down. He stared at his feet. "I kinda used up the networked save," he admitted. "I ripped the code out of it and then I deleted it."

"Oh." Jonathan frowned and then turned a glare on Warren. "So you deleted it. Who's shit-for-brains now, Warren?"

"Cool it, dudes," Andrew said. "What about the last Quick-Save?"

"Hey, yeah." Warren smiled for the first time since they had seen the message about the doppelganger. "We're okay. Nothing lost but time. When was the last Quick-Save?"

Jonathan bit his lip. "Way, way, back. I haven't been doing them much. You need full saves for editing so that's what I've been doing, mostly. Uh, the last Quick-Save will be back about the time that, well, it was when we were watching the girls in the bath."

"Bummer." Warren frowned and stroked his chin. "Oh, well, at least we can watch them all over again. Hey, tell you what, short stuff. Load the Quick-Save, save it under a new name, and we'll keep it as a back-up, and then carry on from here. Maybe they can get Tara back and everything will be okay, but if they can't we'll reload the other one and go through it all again. It means longer before they set off for Spellhold, and until they can give me the stuff I need for super-detailing the ships, but I can live with that. Make it so."

"Sure thing," Jonathan said cheerfully. He quit the current game, making use of the 'Save before quitting' option as he did so, and went to load the Quicksave.

"Okay, problem solved," Warren said, and rubbed his hands together. "So, let's take a look at your pirate storyline." He went with Andrew back to the table, where the soggy remnants of his cereal formed a sad muddy mess at the bottom of his plate, and sat down.

"Uh-oh." Jonathan stared in dismay at his screen. "Oh, shit!"

"What is it now?" Warren stood up again.

"I fucked up. Oh, shit, man, I'm sorry." Jonathan had gone pale and seemed to be on the verge of crying.

"What is it?" Warren repeated. He rushed back over to the PC. "What dumbass thing have you done now?"

"I guess I was panicking too much to think straight," Jonathan said. "I got kinda muddled. I'm sorry, okay?"

"Okay, you're sorry, I get that. But what have you done, man? Just tell me!"

"When I quit the game I saved, right, pretty much by reflex. But I guess I was thinking too much about the Quick-Save. I overwrote it."

"You total klutz!" Warren groaned. "How could you do that?"

"I got confused." Jonathan hunched his shoulders and retracted his head between them like a turtle retreating into its shell. "Come on, man, everybody makes mistakes."

Warren heaved a deep sigh. "Okay, okay, dude, I'm not going to eat you. You fucked up. It happens." He shook his head slowly from side to side. "Man, I hope Tara's okay."

Andrew had found Warren's graphic novel and had started to read it. "What's the big deal? She's just, like, a character in a game. The real Tara's out thataway." He waved his hand in what he believed was the direction of UC Sunnydale, although in fact his sense of direction was somewhat confused, and he was out by forty-five degrees. "Okay, so now she can't get her memory back, but I don't think she wants it anyway. They're all kinda, well, settled the way they are."

Warren speeded up his head-shaking. "It doesn't seem that way, dude. The guys in the game, well, they're real. It's like they're different people to the ones who have, well, bodies. But they're still people. Hell, even the game characters are pretty much people now. If Tara's dead in the game it feels like," he stopped shaking his head and clenched his teeth tightly, "man, it really is like she's dead. And if we could have saved her if we hadn't fucked up, it's like we're responsible."

"Chill, man," Andrew said. "You didn't do anything. It was the game, not you. And hey, dude, you've pretty much lost control of the characters anyway. I don't know if reloading a save would even help. It might just happen exactly the same way all over again."

"He's right," Jonathan said, seeing a way to lessen his guilt. "They're on their own in there now, pretty much, and we can't do a whole lot to help them out when it gets tough."

Warren walked away from the computer and picked up his cup of coffee. He took a drink and grimaced as he realized that it was tepid. "When I came up with the plan to stick them in there," he said, "it was pretty much just to mess with Buffy. Run them through the game for a while and then stick them back in their own bodies. Keep them out of the way while we did a few things, get Buffy really confused, you know? I never figured on getting this caught up in it. Or on getting to know the, uh, the versions who've got actual bodies."

"Yeah. I, well, I like them better than the originals," Jonathan agreed. "Although Joan's pretty weird. But nice."

"Randy the Vampyr with a Soul isn't as cool as Spike," Andrew commented, with a tinge of dissatisfaction in his tone.

"Hey, Randy not being as scary as Spike is a good thing," Warren said. "I was thinking of asking him to do some of the voice acting for the pirate game. I'd never have dared ask Spike."

Andrew's face lit up. "Oh, yeah. That would be so cool. He's got, like, two voices, you know, the 'wotcher guv' one and the 'I say, my good chap' one. That would be just so right for the hero and the, like, Royal Navy guy."

"Is there a Governor of Jamaica in the game?" Jonathan asked. "Hey, Rupert would totally be great for that."

"Yeah. We'd still have to pay them something but not, like, the same as we'd have to pay professionals. A hundred bucks each, maybe?"

"We can ask, anyway," Jonathan agreed. "Hey, I know who else we could ask. Holden Webster. I saw him around over Thanksgiving and he'll be back for the Holidays soon."

"Who?"

"He did the lighting at the school play," Andrew said. "He's good with voices. Only, he might still be mad with me if he knows it was me that messed everything up with the flying monkeys."

"Nobody knows it was you, dude," Jonathan said. "Everyone thinks that it was Tucker."

"Yeah." Andrew pouted. "Hey, I could do some of the voices myself, dudes."

"Well, yeah," Warren said, "the more we do ourselves, the less cash we have to shell out to other guys. But stick to the minor guys like the pirate crew, dude. No messing up the important roles with dumb voices."

Andrew pouted again. "I can do it."

"You can be, like, third guy with cutlass, the parrot, that kind of shit. No way are you going to be the Governor's daughter."

"Okay, if you say so," Andrew moaned. "Are you going to take a look at the story?"

"Yeah, sure," Warren said, with a slight shrug of his shoulders. "I might as well. There's nothing that we can do about Tara, I guess, so we'll just have to leave it up to Buffy and Sorkatani. They're bound to spot that there's something wrong soon. Hey, didn't Spike say that he could smell doppelgangers? Back when they were in Irenicus' dungeon?"

"I think she's been staying away from him," Jonathan said. "Maybe I can use Yoshimo to steer him close to her. I think I can still get him to respond to the controls. Let's see where they are now. Uh-oh. Oh shit."

"I'm getting kinda sick of hearing you say 'oh shit' every time you look at the damn screen, Short Round," Warren complained. "What's gone wrong now?"

"Jaheira's gone off on her Harper's Hold thing," Jonathan said. "Pretty much on schedule. Only, the doppelganger's gone with her. And Jaheira thinks it's Tara."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

"It seems that this place shall be a drain on my purse rather than a source of income," Sorkatani moaned. "I am out of pocket by a thousand danter."

"I have no sympathy for you, abbil," Viconia said. "You chose to buy up the debts of the pathetic unwashed rivvin. You should have let the merchant evict them from their miserable hovels."

"I promised Nalia that I would care for the people of this holding," Sorkatani said, "and I shall do so. Money is nothing set against my word."

Viconia rolled her eyes. "You have listened over much to the treehugger."

"Jaheira's words are full of wisdom, if a trifle overly cynical at times," Sorkatani said, and smiled at Viconia. "You know this."

"Hey, I think it was a real good thing that you did," Buffy put in. "If the money's a problem, hey, I don't mind chipping in with some to help you out."

"Me neither," Spike added quickly. He gave Buffy a dirty look, and it was fairly obvious that he resented her making the suggestion ahead of him.

"My funds are yours, of course, my lady," Yoshimo offered.

"A mere eighty danter from each of us would suffice to cover it," Giles pointed out. "I doubt if anyone would mind making a contribution."

"Seventy-six danter, ninety-two fandar," Anya corrected him. "So, it's closer to seventy-five than to eighty."

Giles raised his eyes heavenwards. "Yes, quite, Anya. You are, as always, precisely correct."

"There is no need," Sorkatani assured them. "Thank you for the kind offers, but I give a tithe of my wealth to the poor anyway. I shall merely count this as my tithing for a little while."

"Foolish one," Viconia grumbled. "I shall keep all my money for myself. After all, hats do not grow on trees."

"Uh, maybe they do," Willow pointed out, "'cause hello, flowers. And feathers, which you get from birds, and they nest in trees, you know? And, I'll just shut up now, 'kay?"

"The morning is lost to us now," Sorkatani said. "Let us eat our midday meal and then ride for Imnesvale."

"My head says 'good plan'," Buffy agreed. "My butt, not so much."

"You will get used to it," Sorkatani said. "I shall have us served with food." She summoned the butler, Metigo, and gave him orders.

"There will not be thirteen, Lady Sorkatani," Metigo told her. "Your, ah, comrade, the Lady Jaheira, has departed."

"What?" Sorkatani frowned. "Jaheira gone? When?"

"A messenger came seeking her in the early morn," the butler explained. "He took her aside as you were speaking to the Major-Domo, your Ladyship, and she departed not long afterwards. She left this note with me to pass on to you."

"And you just give it to me now?" Sorkatani glared at him.

"My apologies, Lady Sorkatani," Metigo said, "but she was most insistent that I delay as long as possible before I passed on the note."

"Uh, your Ladyship," a maid piped up, and raised her hand. "May I speak, your Ladyship?"

"Of course you may," Sorkatani said. "There is no need to ask permission, girl. I do not stand on ceremony."

"Sorkatani stands only on the shattered skulls of Evil," Minsc proclaimed.

Sorkatani winced. "Speak up anyway, girl. Tell me your name first."

"I am Talia," the maid said. "I have a message too, your Ladyship, from the Lady Tara. She said to tell you that she'd gone with the Lady Jaheira and not to worry about her."

"What? Tara wouldn't go without telling me!" Willow's forehead creased. "Uh, she wouldn't, would she?" She turned to Sorkatani. "So, what does the note say?"

"Wait, please, give me time to read it." Sorkatani's brow furrowed as she read. "Jaheira has been summoned to attend a meeting at the Harper Hold. She bids me continue without her and says that, with luck, she will be free by the time that we have rescued the villagers from their oppressors and we can then meet her there. The meeting itself is only for Harpers, and we would be excluded, therefore there is no point in us going with her."

"Harpers?" Giles asked. "Who are they?"

"A society of those who work for the Balance," Sorkatani explained. "They strive for justice, but not so much that there is tyranny, and freedom, but not so much that all dissolves into chaos. A worthy cause, I deem. Jaheira is a Harper, as was Khalid. It is not a secret society as such, but not public either, and those who are members do not lightly discuss their doings. Although, the head of the Harper Hold in Athkatla is more ostentatious than is their custom."

"So what's Tara doing going too?" Willow asked. "That kinda doesn't make sense."

"She said there was somebody in the city she wanted to see, your Ladyship," Talia the maid said. "Someone who had sent her flowers."

"And she told me there was no sparkage!" Buffy exclaimed. "Huh. I thought Tara was kinda more up-front about things than that. Well, at least since she thought she was a demon and did that spell to lie to us, anyway."

"Tara wouldn't do that," Willow said again. Her lips quivered. "She wouldn't."

"How long have they been gone?" Sorkatani asked Metigo.

"An hour and, perhaps, half of an hour, your Ladyship," he replied.

Sorkatani's lips tightened. "With that start we could not catch them before they reached Athkatla. Not unless I, or Spike or Giles, rode out alone."

"I guess Tara's got a right to do what she wants," Willow said miserably. "We're on a break anyway. It just doesn't seem like her. Unless, well, I guess she wanted to see Jaheira back to town safely. And maybe, uh, I guess I can see what she might have been doing. Only, I think it's kinda dumb of her."

"So, do we go after them?"

"I would say not," Sorkatani said. "Buffy may say otherwise, but I shall go on to the Umar Hills and seek out Jaheira and Tara on our return."

"I'd go along with that," Buffy said. "Only, are you sure Tara will be all right?"

"Jaheira is a druid, truly at home in the wilderness," Sorkatani assured her. "Tara shall come to no harm in her company."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

The weather was not as sunny and pleasant as it had been the previous day. A light drizzle was falling and a strong breeze blew it into the faces of the riders.

"Your company is not welcome, Tara," Jaheira said, not for the first time. "Go back. Rejoin your friends. If you desire to join the Harpers then you can do so another time. And at another Hold, I would say, for I have no liking for Galvarey who is in charge in Athkatla."

"I don't care," Tara said. "I wish to be away from Willow and I shall return to Athkatla whether you will have it so or not."

"As you wish, then," Jaheira said. She fell silent and rode onwards. Tara guided her horse gradually closer to the druid as they rode.

Jaheira cocked her head to one side. "Horses," she commented. She turned in the saddle and stared behind her. "Riders, following us. Perhaps your comrades are not as willing to let you leave as you would have had me believe."

Tara glanced behind her, kicked her feet from her stirrups, and launched herself from her horse in a dive at Jaheira. She caught the druid across the body and knocked her from her horse. Jaheira barely managed to free her own feet from the stirrups as she fell.

The two women landed on the ground and rolled. Jaheira freed herself from the other girl and rolled further away to gain some space before coming to a halt and standing up. "What are you doing, fool?" she demanded. Her hand went to her scimitar.

Tara stood up too. Or rather another Jaheira stood up. "Your time has come, anthropoid," she hissed.

"Doppelganger!" Jaheira exclaimed. "What have you done with the real Tara?" She drew her scimitar. Before it was all the way out of the scabbard the doppelganger charged forward and kicked out. The scimitar flew from Jaheira's hand.

"You are helpless, simian," the doppelganger taunted as Jaheira backed away hastily.

"Hardly," Jaheira said. She gestured with her hand, drawing a line downwards through the air, and spoke commandingly. "Russe tuulo' moriloomir!"

Nothing seemed to happen. "Your spell has failed, druid," the doppelganger sneered mockingly. "Now you die."

"No," Jaheira said. "Now you die." A bolt of lightning seared down from the sky and struck the doppelganger. It screamed and writhed in agony. A potion bottle in a belt pouch exploded. The doppelganger fell to the ground and lay twitching.

Jaheira ran to her fallen scimitar and scooped it from the ground. "Now, vile creature, tell me what you have done to Tara," she demanded. She lowered the point of the scimitar to the doppelganger's throat.

The doppelganger sucked in a deep and labored breath. "Ask Bodhi," it croaked out. "Perhaps she can tell you, if it amuses her."

"Bodhi?" Jaheira frowned. "Who is she? Tell me!"

"To betray my master would cost me more pain than you could give, anthropoid," the doppelganger said. "I shall tell you no more." It lunged forward without warning and impaled its own throat upon the blade. Jaheira was expecting quite a different move and did not react in time. The doppelganger spasmed in death and slumped to the damp earth.

Jaheira cursed. She kicked the body in frustration and then began stripping it of the Mail of the Dead that belonged to the real Tara. With that grim task finished she caught the horses, loaded Tara's with the chain mail and other personal possessions, and then mounted up and turned her horse back towards the De'Arnise hold.

The pair of approaching riders, a man and a woman, intercepted her before she had gone a mile. "Hold, Jaheira," the man addressed her. "You were summoned to the Harper Hold. Galvarey has commanded your presence. You go the wrong way. Turn around."

"I have no time for this, Kail," Jaheira snapped. "A friend is in deadly peril. I shall attend the Harpers when she is safe. Tell Galvarey that."

"You fail to understand, Jaheira," Kail said. He leveled a crossbow at the druid. "Attendance is not merely required, it is mandatory. Turn around or I shall place you under arrest."

Jaheira turned an accusing gaze on the other Harper. "What say you, Meronia? Do you back Kail in his blind and stupid obedience to orders?"

"Galvarey has given us specific instructions," Meronia said. There was no enthusiasm in her voice and she avoided meeting Jaheira's eyes. "You have to come or you will be expelled from the Harpers and posted as outlaw. I'm sure he will send someone to aid your friend once he knows the situation."

"He had better," Jaheira growled. "Very well, it seems that I have no choice. But I warn you that if Tara is dead it will go hard upon you, I shall see to that."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

Tara opened her eyes. Her mouth tasted foul, her vision was blurred, and her bladder was full to the point of pain. "Where am I?" she groaned.

"Ah, you are awake," a voice boomed out. It was loud, so loud that it almost hurt her ears, and held a distinct mocking tone. "You are a captive. I grew tired of waiting for the Bhaalspawn to deign to notice me and decided to force her hand. Fear not, I won't eat you. Probably. Or at least not in the immediate future."

Tara sat up. She turned her head towards the source of the voice. Her mouth dropped open. She tilted her head up. And up, and up. She looked into the speaker's cold yellow eyes and her mouth gaped even wider.

She was looking at a colossal red dragon.


	18. Chapter 18

**Chapter Eighteen**

Riding from Athkatla to the De'Arnise hold, on a bright sunny day, had been pleasant. The journey on to Imnesvale was less so. Rain fell, not heavily but in a fine mist that penetrated everywhere, and there was a chilly breeze. There had even been a crack of thunder in the distance not long after they set off, although just the one, and the threatened storm had never materialized. A small mercy for which to be thankful.

To Sorkatani, Minsc, and Yoshimo the rain was only a minor annoyance, hardly worthy of notice, and it didn't bother Spike or Giles all that much either. The Californians, however, resented it and complained vocally. Viconia expressed her dissatisfaction, but then she complained incessantly about the sunshine anyway, and so it made little difference.

"Can't you, like, do something about the weather?" Buffy asked Giles. "Sing us up a sunny day?"

Giles peered at her over his rain-fogged glasses. "It might be an achievable aim, I suppose, but it's far too trivial a purpose. Magic always has consequences. Suppose I caused a drought?"

"There's a song about, like, sunshine on a rainy day, isn't there? Uh, yeah, I remember, that's by Emma out of the Spice Girls, so you won't know it, I guess."

"The worst of all circumstances, rivvil," Viconia objected. "Sunshine and rain. Why is there no roof to this stupid world?"

"Without sun and rain there would be no crops, no grass, no trees," Sorkatani pointed out. "And no water to seep down to the Underdark either."

"I'm perfectly familiar with 'Sunshine on a Rainy Day' by _Zoë_," Giles said, "but I still feel that it would be decidedly unwise to tamper with the weather merely for your comfort. In a life or death situation, perhaps, but this is hardly that. Anyway, I can't strum my guitar as I ride. I'm not Roy Rogers."

"Who? Hey, you could sing a cappella," Buffy wheedled. "We could all sing along. Not to change the weather, right, but to, like, lift us up."

"I don't really have the voice for that song," Giles mused. "If Tara was here, perhaps, but she isn't. Feel free to sing it yourself."

"Tell you who has got the voice for it," Spike put in unexpectedly. "Vicky here. Sorry, I mean Viconia."

"You may refer to me by that diminutive if you have to, abbil," Viconia said in a tone of weary resignation. "I will tolerate it. Your request is denied. I will not sing songs about sunshine."

"You have a point there, Spike," Giles agreed. "Viconia's voice does indeed have something of the character of Zoë Pollock's. I will concede that it is hardly an appropriate song for our drow companion, however."

"Ever hear Zoë's last record?" Spike asked. "Called 'Hammer'? Bet Vicky would sing that one." He cleared his throat and sang. "_If I had a hammer, I'd hit you on the head. I wouldn't stop the poundin' 'til I knew that you were dead_." He stopped singing and shook his head. "Bet that sounded bloody awful."

Viconia guided her horse closer to his. "Now that song I liked. Teach me, abbil, and I shall sing."

Xander put up his hand. "Uh, look guys, why can't we just do what they did in 'Congo' and sing 'California Dreaming'?"

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

The village was small and crowded. Refugees had poured in from the surrounding hamlets and farmsteads. There was no room at the inn.

"I guess we sleep in the stable, huh?" said Xander.

"Too late," Sorkatani said. "The locals have already thought of that."

"The miserable rivvin peasants should make way for their betters," Viconia said. "Know they not that we are here to fight their foes? If they do not give us the rooms we should drive them out with sword and mace."

"That is not my way," Sorkatani said. "If needs be we shall camp in the open."

"We don't have tents," Buffy pointed out. "We'd get all wet."

"Tents can be a death trap if enemies attack," Sorkatani pointed out. "I am accustomed to sleeping on the ground with a waterproof skin over me. Yet, with a group this large, we can post a full guard and so perhaps we might risk tents. Let us see what we can find, and what we can learn of the situation in this place."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

The village headman bore the impressive title of Chief Minister but he had no lesser ministers under him. He could say little to clarify the situation. People were being attacked, killed, and then their bodies were vanishing. The ranger who lived near the village and acted as its protector was one of the missing. Another party of adventurers, recruited to clear up the mystery and defeat the evil forces, had vanished without trace.

It seemed that every inhabitant of the village had their own theory as to who or what was responsible; a pack of savage wolves, a band of ogres who had deserted from an army and taken up residence in the vicinity, or the resurrected spirit of the long-dead witch Umar after whom the nearby hills were named.

"Witches? Wolves? Ogres? Which is it? I am confused," Minsc said. "Point me at Evil, and I will kick its butt. Do not ask me to think about whose butt is the butt of Evil."

"Yeah, my head's kinda spinning too," Buffy sympathized. "But hey, the ogres are pretty close by, they say. We can go check them out easy enough."

"And the ranger's cabin, where there may be clues," Sorkatani said.

"Isn't this the place where that runaway murderer is supposed to be hiding out?" Anya asked. "We could take a look while we're here."

"Indeed so," Yoshimo agreed.

"One thing at a time, people," Buffy said. "If we're gonna be chasing wolves or fighting ogres we don't need to have a prisoner with us. We'll look for that guy – what was his name, Valley Girl or something, right? – once we've got the main bad guys beat. Hey, there's so many of us we're pretty much of an army. It shouldn't take too long."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

"Ha!" Warren snorted. "She is so going to regret saying that."

"I don't know, dude. Maybe they won't find it too hard with such a big group. As long as they don't risk taking on the Shadow Dragon, that is," Jonathan said. "Well, I guess we just have to leave them to it. At least we know Tara's alive."

"For now," Warren said. "Just what the hell happened back there anyway? Firkraag isn't supposed to do anything like that. Just hang around the Copper Coronet in his human form until they take notice. I guess he must have gotten impatient, but, hey, how come he could do anything about it? The game's really coming to life."

"It's getting kinda, well, creepy," Jonathan said. "You think maybe we should pull them out of it?"

"I want to see what happens," Warren said. "Although, yeah, maybe I would go for pulling them out if things in the game get any scarier. Only what would happen to the other halves? They're getting to be, like, pretty much different people. One set of bodies. If we put the memories back then one set of personalities is going to lose out."

"Yeah. It's pretty confusing. Uh, maybe we could, you know, ask them?"

"What? Ask Alex and Joan and Randy and the guys if they want their memories back? Are you kidding? If they find out what we did they are going to be so pissed. Even if they don't beat the crap out of us we can say goodbye to being friends with them. No way, dude. We did this thing and now we're stuck with it. And, just maybe, it's going to make us a million bucks."

"As long as the pirate game doesn't start thinking for itself too much," Jonathan said.

"You have to be joking. Infinitely variable AI for the bad guys? That's, like, the Holy Grail of gaming, man. Play it a hundred times and every time is different. Just totally awesome."

"Not if the bad guys get too damn clever and the PC gets killed every time," Jonathan pointed out. "How's the mod playing?"

"Well, Firkraag hasn't come up with any sneaky plans yet, and all the characters still do what I tell them," Warren said. "So far, so good. But I've been concentrating on the pirates for a while. Give me an up-to-date save on this, I'll take out the code, and update the mod. Then I'll check it out." He scratched his head and stared at the screen. "I hope Firkraag doesn't get too impatient. It looks like it'll take the rest of the guys a while to find out what he's done with Tara."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

The refugees had not occupied the ranger's cabin. This surprised some of the party until they opened her bedroom door. There were dark stains of old dried blood on the walls, the floor, and even the ceiling. The bedding was deeply stained; blood must have saturated it and then dried out. The wooden bars at the window were shattered.

A search of the place turned up the ranger's journal. She suspected that wolves were to blame for the killings but that some dark force was controlling them. The final entry in the journal recorded her intention to investigate the den of the local wolf pack 'in the morn'.

"She got hit that night," Buffy deduced. "It's a starting point for us, anyway."

It was apparent that they were not the first to read the journal. A note was folded into its pages. Mazzy Fentan, leader of the band of adventurers who had preceded Buffy and Sorkatani's groups on this mission, had left a record for any who came after her. She planned to follow up on Merella the ranger's uncompleted investigation of the wolf pack den, and had left a sketch map of its location.

"So we leave another note, and in a couple of weeks someone else stands here reading it," Buffy muttered.

"Sod that for a game of soldiers," Spike said. "We'll just have to win."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

They slept in the cabin but took turns on guard during the night. Nothing untoward happened, although they did hear the howling of wolves in the distance. In the morning they rode to check out the ogre encampment.

The ogres turned out to be peaceable. They too were refugees, they too had suffered attacks from some unknown predators who picked off stragglers and stole the bodies, and they sought only to be left alone. The wolf pack remained as prime suspects.

Sorkatani insisted that they leave their horses behind. They were not trained war horses and would be of little use in combat against wolves, especially in the forested region depicted on the map, and so the party arranged for them to be kept in a paddock in the village. The adventurers set out on foot and climbed up into the hills towards a region of thick forest and tangled undergrowth.

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

"It shouldn't be this dark," Anya complained. "It's still early in the evening. How can I spot any traps in our path in this gloom?"

"Yeah, this sucks," Dawn agreed. "Torches?"

"Right, light up torches everybody," Buffy agreed. Tinder boxes and cigarette lighters were put to work and torches were lit. Their flames seemed to be swallowed up by the surrounding blackness.

"The light does not penetrate the darkness," Yoshimo observed. "I sense sinister magics at work here. Who knows what mousetraps we may stumble upon in the dark?"

"I fear that you are right," Sorkatani said. "I like this not. Viconia, it seems that you are our eyes. Guide us, abbil."

"Usstan dosst," Viconia assented, with a bow of her head. "I see the path."

Spike went into game face. "I'm okay too," he told them. "Bloody dark, though. Hang on a minute. What the sodding hell is that?"

"A creature," Viconia said, "and it approaches fast. Make ready. More than one."

"I can't see a thing," Buffy said, peering into the darkness. "What sort of creature?"

"Bloody loads of the buggers," Spike growled. "Wolves. Look out!" His sword whistled through the air at some opponent unseen by the human members of the party.

A dark shape leapt at Buffy seemingly out of nowhere. She acted by pure reflex and the Blade of Roses slashed it in half in mid leap. Sorkatani drew and struck with Celestial Fury all in one move. Dawn, slower to react, was bowled over by a snarling wolf and went down with fangs snapping at her throat. Spike tore the creature away and broke its neck.

It picked itself up and returned to the attack.

"Vith'os!" Viconia snarled. "They are undead." She lashed out with the Flail of Ages.

"I don't see them!" Xander cried. He swung Azuredge in front of him in a defensive pattern.

"Xander!" Anya screamed as a wolf pounced on her. He dashed to her aid.

"Go for the eyes, Boo!" Minsc roared, and swung his mighty sword. He connected only with empty air and a wolf pounced upon his back.

Yoshimo swung his katana at random and connected with a wolf by sheer luck. He grinned widely for a moment but then another wolf took his legs out from under him and he went down.

"I can't see them!" Buffy wailed in frustration. The wolves were black shadows within black shadow, virtually invisible, and were closing in to within feet before they could be made out. The party was in dire danger of being overrun.

Giles struck a chord on his guitar. "_We see you in the darkness, we see you in the light_," he sang. "_We see your eyes shining in through the night..._"

Red lights appeared, twinkling in the shadows in pairs, on every side. "Way to go, Giles," Xander said as he withdrew Azuredge from the body of a slain wolf and helped Anya to her feet. He drew back his arm and sent the axe hurtling towards one of the pairs of gleaming eyes.

Sorkatani slew the wolf who had felled Yoshimo. Buffy went to Minsc's assistance. The party began to recover its cohesion.

Willow had attempted a spell to bring light to the darkness but it had resulted in only a feeble glow that hardly even outshone the torches. Now she unleashed a barrage of magic missiles at the wolf-shapes in the undergrowth.

Swords flashed and clove undead flesh. Azuredge slew whatever it struck. Anya fired her crossbow but then found that she was too weak to reload. The wolves fell back, turned, and disappeared into the forest.

The party took stock of their situation. Dawn, Anya, Yoshimo, and Minsc were all suffering from a strange weakness. Minsc could not even support the weight of his armor and weaponry without aid.

"Their touch saps our strength," Sorkatani deduced.

"Spike picked one up, and he's okay," Dawn said. "Thanks, Spike."

"Promised to protect you, Bit," Spike said. "Don't mention it."

"Maybe he's immune on account of being him undead too," Buffy suggested. "And, hey, thanks for looking out for Dawn from me too, Spike."

"No problem, Slayer," Spike said. He sniffed the air, frowned, and began to scour the area.

"Shadows," Xander said, dredging up old memories of Dungeons and Dragons. "The weakness will wear off. Can't remember how long it takes. If they drain away all your strength, well, that's bad. They can turn you into one of them. Only, I thought that only people could get turned into Shadows."

"Wolves too, it seems," Sorkatani said. "Is this, then, the fate that befell our predecessors?"

"Maybe," Spike said. "I've found a body."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

It was indeed a fallen member of the other party. There was a journal on the corpse and they read it in a search for clues to the opposition and to the fate of the other members of the missing group.

"A ruined temple," Sorkatani said. "The centre of the dark force, or so they deemed."

"So we get to make like Indiana Jones," Buffy remarked. "Uh, sorry. That's a guy in our world. But getting there is going to be a bitch."

"I can drive back undead creatures for a time," Viconia said. "I thought that these were but wolves and did not think to try. I have the wrong spells memorized for the situation, too, and I cannot restore our comrades' strength. I was at fault. I shall select spells more carefully after we next rest."

"You could not have known, abbil," Sorkatani said. "Your eyes gave us at least some warning and may have saved us all. You too, Spike." She turned her gaze to Giles. "And your song."

"It was fairly fresh in my mind. 'Sunshine on a rainy day'," Giles said. "I had hoped it would cast a little more light than it did, but at least it enabled us to see the creatures."

Viconia gave him a brief and tight smile. "It was well done. I shall sing that song for the rivvin, if you teach it to me, and if they will give me gold."

"I'm sure that they will," Giles assured her.

"So, this ruined temple," Buffy brought them back on topic. "Over to the east, if the dead guy is still where he was when he wrote this. With some kinda light reflect-y thing that can drive back these Shadow wolf things."

Sorkatani rested her hand on the hilt of Celestial Fury. "Once our comrades have regained their strength we shall go."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

The werewolf stood at bay, trapped in her cave by the overwhelming numbers of the party. "You shall not steal my vengeance," she snarled.

Buffy frowned. "Vengeance? Hey, what did the people around here ever do to you?" Memories of Oz held her back from launching an immediate attack. "I'm kinda thinking you're taking vengeance way too far."

"People? It is against the Shade Lord that I seek vengeance," the werewolf girl declared.

"I think this is another innocent victim," Sorkatani said softly. She sheathed Celestial Fury. "Let us talk."

"Let not your remembrance of Durlyle blind you, jabbress," Viconia cautioned. "Remain alert."

"Durlyle?" Willow asked.

"Later," Sorkatani said. "Put down your weapons."

The party complied. A single werewolf really didn't seem to be such a big threat that they needed to face her with drawn swords and bows. She returned to her human form and sat down.

"The temple to the east was dedicated to Amaunator," Anath, the werewolf girl, related. "Long abandoned, and no longer holy ground, but not a place of foulness until some weeks ago. The ground shook, and a darkness fell, and I gathered the pack to calm them for I thought that it was an eclipse. It was not. The Shade Lord arose, and he walked among my pack, and he slew them with but a glance. I leapt upon him but my teeth bit nothing. He but laughed. His darkness reached out and my brethren arose from the dead as Shade Wolves. Now they follow the Shade Lord and strike out from the temple at all who pass. Those who fall to them, wolf or human, arise as creatures of Shadow."

"And for that you seek your vengeance," Sorkatani said.

"I do. I have hidden, and watched, and done what I can, but I cannot prevail. I grow weak with hunger for the animals have fled. A ten-day ago adventurers came, and I sought to guide them towards the temple, but they loosed arrows at me and drove me away." Anath sighed. "I meant them no harm. Thank you for hearing me out."

"I believe that they found the temple anyway," Sorkatani said. "What can you tell us of what we must face?"

Anath shrugged. "Little that will be of help, I fear. The Shade Wolves that were my pack. Humans that now are Shadows. Skeletons that walk as men. There is some great beast in the temple but I have seen it not. It smells sharp somehow, like unto the scent of angry ants. That is all. I regret that it is not more."

"It is enough," Sorkatani said. "I thank you."

"Shall we go, then?" Anath stood and resumed her werewolf form. Willow shivered.

"Guide us there and then depart," Sorkatani advised. "Your teeth cannot harm them, and there is no need for you to fall in this fight."

"I shall fight," Anath insisted. "The vengeance is mine." She strode towards the cave exit. "Follow quickly."

"Wait," Sorkatani pleaded, but Anath took no notice. Hastily the adventurers stood and followed the werewolf.

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

"We met Durlyle upon Balduran's Isle," Viconia explained to Willow as the party walked through the forest behind Anath. "The island was divided into two opposing camps. One side was made up of rivvin villagers, as we thought, and the other was the realm of savage ravening beasts. The rivvin asked us to free them of the beasts, and we did, and returned to claim our promised reward. There was none. It was a trap, for the villagers themselves were beasts. Werewolves. They sought to slay us or to make us creatures like themselves. Durlyle cared for Sorkatani, even though he was a werewolf, and she for him. He turned against his people to save us."

"My boyfriend was a werewolf too," Willow said. "Uh, I'm kinda guessing it didn't end happily."

"He died," Viconia said. "Sorkatani could not save him. A piece of her heart died with him, I think, for I have seen her look at no other man in that way since." Her brow furrowed. "Except perhaps Yoshimo. Sometimes I think I see the same look in her eyes when she talks with him."

"Yeah, me too," Willow agreed. "I hope it works out. Everybody needs somebody."

"Perhaps," Viconia said. "You have no-one, it seems, now your Tara has abandoned you."

"She hasn't abandoned me," Willow said. "Okay, maybe she's interested in someone else, and we're on a break, and she's gone off without us, but …" She sniffled and her voice trailed off.

"There is, then, no reason for us not to find gratification together," Viconia said. "When we have slain this Shade Lord the rivvin rabble should move out of the inn. There will be a room in which we two can seek pleasure in each other's bodies."

"Uh, eep, I, uh," Willow stammered. "We shouldn't."

"Why should we not? You desire me, that is plain, and I have a certain affection for you also. Your body is not unpleasing to me and we could entertain each other well, I am sure, even in the absence of certain devices of my people that are unknown to these primitive savages. Fingers and tongues will suffice."

"D-devices?"

"In truth I would rather be pleasured by Spike," Viconia went on, "but he has thus far ignored my advances. You would be an acceptable substitute."

"Gee, thanks. Uh, you do realize that Spike can probably hear every word that we are saying? Hello, vampire hearing?" Willow glanced around, fervently hoping that none of the others had heard any of the conversation, and she blushed.

"I care not," Viconia said. "He knows that my legs would part for him readily. As they would for you, abbil."

Willow had turned a bright shade of crimson. "I, uh, I think I'll take up position ready for when we fight those things again," she said. "You'd better do the same." She swallowed. "I'm not saying a definite 'no'," she managed to say. "Make it a 'maybe'. But not yet. When I find out what Tara's been up to."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

The creature stood over seven feet tall and was massively built. Its skin was grey and its lower canines protruded over its upper lip. They had fought a similar monster in the Slaver headquarters, and slain it without too much difficulty, but now Tara was alone and she was helpless in this one's grasp. She screamed and struggled but it, or rather he as the huge humanoid was obviously a male, simply ignored her resistance.

"A tasty piece," he assessed Tara. "Nice ass."

"Human meat is good," another mighty creature, apparently of a different species as it had greenish skin and a jutting muzzle instead of a human jaw, grunted in agreement. "That one looks tender, yes."

"I mean for a tumble not for eating, Dig-Dag, you fool," the first monstrous humanoid sneered. He caught hold of her blouse and ripped it away to reveal her bra. "Huh? A strange garment. Pretty, but I'd rather see her tits."

"Stop it, Tazok," said a leather-clad man, who had been one of those who kidnapped Tara in Athkatla.

"You cannot give me orders, Rascar," Tazok sneered. "If I want her I will take her."

"You'd split her wide open," Rascar said. "She'd be no good to any of the rest of us then. Anyway, Lord Firkraag said she was not to be raped. She's worth too much as a virgin." He glared at Tara. "That's if we can find anywhere to sell you with the way your bunch have screwed up the Slaver set-up. Maybe we should just take you now. Only I go first."

"She is virgin?" Tazok's eyebrows ascended from his jutting brow ridges. "A pretty filly like this?"

"The word is she likes girls," Rascar said. "We baited our trap with a girl, and she fell into it, so I guess it's true. There's only one way to find out. Unless you've got a unicorn handy?"

"You could just ask," Tara said.

"The wench has spirit," Tazok said. "So, girl, have you lain with a man?"

"No," Tara told him. "I'm a virgin." She was quaking with fear but still thinking clearly. Telling the truth, or at least the truth according to what their definition of virginity appeared to be, seemed to be the best way of avoiding being ravished. For the time being, at least, and in this situation all she could do was to get through each moment as it came, until she was rescued, or until she could find some way to escape.

"Then you've got a real treat coming, lass," Rascar said.

"Not from you, Rascar," Tazok growled. "This one is mine."

"Both of you stop it and leave her alone," a lean and elegant elf wizard spoke up. "Lord Firkraag wants her kept in good condition, at least for the time being. She's the bait in our trap. Once Sorkatani has turned up you can sell her, rape her, kill her and eat her, whatever you like, but for now you obey orders."

"Sorkatani will kill you," Tara said. "Or Buffy will, or Willow."

"Sorkatani has killed me before," Tazok told her. "I know well what she can do. But I came back from being dead. She can't. We're ready for her this time and we have the toughest red dragon in all of Faerûn on our side. She will die and turn to dust. The rest of your friends die too. Then Lord Firkraag won't have any further use for you and we can get better acquainted." He held up his free hand with the palm open and turned his eyes toward Rascar. "I'll pay what the Slavers would have paid. I like this one and I will take her cherry." He turned his gaze back on Tara. "I might even keep you, if you please me and you survive." He grinned mirthlessly. "And if you die – then Dig-Dag can eat you."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

Disclaimer: lyrics from 'Sunshine on a Rainy Day' and 'Hammer' by Zoë are used without permission and with no intention to profit from their use.


	19. Chapter 19

**Chapter Nineteen**

The crystal reflector cast a circle of charmed light that kept the Shadows at bay. They staggered into the lit area and collapsed. Buffy swung Sorkatani down from her shoulders and lowered her to the stone flagstones.

"Sorkatani!" Viconia wailed. "Jabbress, please do not die! Without you I would be lost. Sorkatani!"

"Peace, Viconia, the mighty Sorkatani will not die so easily," Minsc assured her. "She will be up and kicking the butt of Evil very soon, yes indeed."

"She saved me," Anath said in a shaky voice. Yoshimo was supporting her with an arm around her waist. "She took blows that were meant for me. Why?"

"She is a true hero," Yoshimo said. "It is not for me to explain her actions, merely to follow her and try in my humble way to emulate her."

"This is totally humiliating," Xander complained as Giles lowered him to the ground. "Not that I'm not grateful, Spellsinger, but hey, being as helpless as a turtle on its back totally sucks. How did you manage it, Giles? I mean, in this tin suit I must be way, way, over two hundred pounds."

"_I'm strong, strong enough to carry him_," Giles sang, continuing the song that he had begun as several of the party members had been felled by the onslaught of the Shade Wolves. "_He ain't heavy, he's my brother…_"

"That was bloody close," Spike said, and wiped his brow. "You okay, Nibblet?"

"I'm okay," Dawn confirmed. "Wow, there must have been, like, a hundred of those things."

"More than there were in my pack," Anath said. "Other beasts there were, too, as well as wolves. Panthers, giant lynx, and I think a bear."

"Yeah, there was a bear," Buffy confirmed. "I killed it. We made it through, people. Everybody did good. Nice timing, Viconia. You bought us just enough space."

Viconia was crouched beside Sorkatani, fussing over her, ignoring the needs of anyone else. She looked up at Buffy through tear-clouded eyes. "Thank you, rivvil j'nesst." She drew in a breath. "Abbil."

"I'm okay," Sorkatani gasped out. "Just weak." Her mouth twitched into a pain-wracked smile. "I really must get some lighter armor."

Viconia's face lit up with a smile of sheer joy. "Jabbress," she gasped. "I was so scared for you."

"Guys!" Anya called. "I think we got trouble. There's something up in the air above us. Something big."

"It is the great beast that I sensed," Anath said. "I can smell that same sharpness."

Spike peered up into the dark sky. "Oh, vith! It's a sodding dragon!"

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

"That was a lot tougher for them than I expected," Jonathan observed. "I thought they'd just waltz through the Shade Wolves."

"They had problems with the darkness," Warren noted. "Only Spike and Viconia could see them coming. What happened to the Helm of Infravision? Did they sell it?"

"Tara had it," Jonathan informed him. "It went off with the doppelganger. Right when they could have used it. And Jaheira wasn't there either." He leaned back in his chair and stretched. "Man, they sure got hit big time. It was like Zulu Dawn, dude."

"Yeah. Frigging hordes of them. Shade Panthers, Shade Bears, all the animals in the damn forest. Wonder if there's a Shade Moose?"

"I think I saw a Shade Squirrel, but Minsc stepped on it before I could be sure," Jonathan said. "The Shade Lord threw pretty much everything he had at them."

"The bad guys are getting smarter," Warren commented, "and the good guys dumber. I mean, like, the werewolf girl's supposed to die holding back the Shade Wolves long enough for the party to get the reflector going. They're not supposed to save her."

"That's not dumb," Jonathan said. "That's being a hero, dude. Sorkatani doesn't give up on anybody. She's like Buffy."

"She's like Buffy 'cause you made her to be like Buffy. Yeah, I get, she's a hero. She'd be a dead hero if Buffy hadn't saved her ass." Warren chewed on his bottom lip briefly. "I wonder what will happen if the Bhaalspawn dies in this game? She's not, like, the center of everything any more. Maybe it won't force a reload and it'll continue on without her."

Jonathan frowned. "That would mean no final conflict, no Throne of Bhaal. I mean, Irenicus can't even pull off his evil plan without the Bhaalspawn. Imoen's not enough."

"Maybe he'd grab Ilasera or Sendai or somebody and start over," Warren mused. "It might be interesting to find out." He saw the look of distress on Jonathan's face. "Okay, okay, interesting but sad and we don't want it to happen." He sought for an alternative topic with which to distract his friend. "Hey, what were those songs that Spike reckoned would be right for Viconia? They sounded kinda interesting. Think it's worth me looking for mp3s?"

"Well, Baby Spice recording one of them doesn't sound promising, but I guess they could be okay if the original voice sounded like Viconia. What were they? Oh, yeah. 'Hammer' and 'Sunshine on a Rainy Day' by – holy shit!"

"I don't think she was called Holy Shit," Warren said. "Although, that'd be a cool name for a band trying to out-gross Slipknot."

"No, I mean, look at that!" Jonathan went on. "The Shadow Dragon. It's out and flying."

"Wow!" Warren stared at the screen. "That is just – wow. But hey, it's kinda hard to see. Dark on dark. Like a Stealth Fighter."

"And it's diving like a frigging Stuka," Jonathan gasped. "It looks like the guys are toast."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

The temple entrance was too narrow for the dragon to pursue them. It sent one final jet of acid spray down the steps after them but they had made it out of range. The monstrous black creature roared out its frustration and tore at the stonework. Blocks came loose from the walls and ceiling and fell, bouncing and rolling down the stairs. The dragon rose into the air once more and departed.

"Think it's gone?" Dawn said hopefully.

"Dunno," Spike grunted. He was fully occupied in trying to restrain Minsc, who was whimpering in fear and trying to flee off into the unknown recesses of the catacombs. "Buggering hell, Minsc, what's bloody wrong with you? You're a sodding hero! Act like one."

Xander, still weak and helpless in his heavy armor, was quivering and sobbing as Giles set him down on the floor. "I've never seen Xander scared before, no matter what he faced," Giles commented.

"Dragon fear," Viconia explained. "It is magical. But I have the cure." She laid her hand upon Minsc's brawny armored shoulder. "Streeaka!" she commanded. Minsc's contorted face cleared.

"Oh my!" he said. "I was running away like a coward. Boo will be ashamed of me."

"Cure Xander! Cure Xander!" Anya demanded.

Viconia shook her head. "I cannot," she said regretfully. "I have little power left. One spell of healing, and a spell to raise a fallen comrade from the dead that I keep as the last resort, and that is all. I chose Minsc because your Xander cannot run away and harm himself."

"We sure could have done with Tara," Buffy grumbled. "Why she had to go off like that beats me."

"Jaheira would have been of great use too," Sorkatani said, "but in her case she had little choice."

"Yeah, I -"

Buffy's reply was interrupted by a heavy impact at the tunnel entrance. A tree trunk slammed into the gap, roots shearing off against the stone walls as it was forced into the passage, and wedged there firmly. There were still gaps through which air could circulate but no creature larger than a rabbit would be able to escape.

"It's blocked us in," Dawn gasped. "We're trapped."

"Like the Fellowship in Moria," Giles commented.

"So the only way to go is onwards," Buffy said. "Okay, as soon as everybody's back on their feet, we move on. We're okay here for a while. The dragon definitely can't get in now. And hey, at least there's a little light down here. I was worried that it would be, like, pitch black." Her lips twitched into a half smile. "Hey, no Vin Diesel, but we've got Minsc, right?"

They stayed tense and poised for action for a few minutes but there was no further sign of activity from the dragon.

"We should sleep," Viconia suggested. "I can recover spells while our comrades regain their strength."

"Sleep? Down here?" Buffy looked nervous.

"We would post guards," Sorkatani said. "Alas, I can be of little help."

"I'll take the first watch, Tani, Slayer," Spike volunteered.

"I also," Minsc said. "I am ashamed. I was afraid. I must regain my honor."

"To fall victim to the dragon fear is no cause for shame, abbil," Viconia assured him. "You are still our mighty Minsc."

Buffy raised her eyebrows slightly. Viconia's tone was completely at odds with her usual waspish persona. For the first time she began to understand why Willow liked the prickly and sarcastic drow girl so much. "I'm good with that," she said. "Maybe me second watch, with Sorkatani or maybe Xander, if they're okay by then?"

Xander tried to crawl away across the floor.

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

Spike raised the alarm after they'd been resting for a couple of hours. A fresh wave of Shade Wolves was approaching along the corridor, accompanied by a pair of eight-foot animated skeletons in plate armor. The party scrambled to their feet and took up battle positions.

"Leave them to me," Willow said. "I was fighting with one hand tied behind my back up there. Undead, so no use making with the poison gas, and I wasn't too keen on tossing around fireballs in a forest 'cause, hey, forest fires are no fun. But there's nothing around us now that can burn, so…" She raised her hands and sent a jet of searing flame shooting along the corridor. Shade Wolves in its path shriveled up and lay still. The legs were blasted out from under one of the skeletons and it toppled to the ground, where it broke apart. "…They're playing on my turf," Willow finished.

The other skeleton warrior continued to advance, only slightly scorched, and brandished a huge two-handed sword. Xander, now recovered from both his physical weakness and his dragon-induced panic, threw Azuredge hard and accurately. The skeleton fell to pieces.

"My strength has returned, but it would be as well to get some more rest before we press on," Sorkatani advised. She had not even had a chance to draw Celestial Fury.

"You're just going to go back to sleep?" Buffy asked incredulously.

"Sleep is precious when battle is imminent," Sorkatani said. "I have learned that one must snatch it when one can."

"She's right, Buff," Xander said. "It's like they say in 'Starship Troopers' – that's the book, not the crapola movie – you can never get too much sack time. I remember it from when I was soldier guy, too."

"I guess you're right," Buffy said. "I don't know if I could sleep right now, though. I'll take over on watch." She looked at Spike and Minsc. Minsc was once more his usual cheerful and staunch self, and he looked capable of going on for hours, but Spike's shoulders were slumped and he was uncharacteristically quiet. "Spike, want to swap?"

"Wouldn't say no, Slayer," Spike admitted. He lay down to rest and Buffy took his place on guard.

There were no further interruptions to their rest save for rotations of the guard duty. Perhaps, Buffy thought, the Shade Lord was running out of dark forces; or perhaps he was just holding back to ambush them deeper within the complex.

Or perhaps there was no other exit and they were sealed in to slowly starve to death.

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

They kept Tara in an iron cage. It was only temporary accommodation; another, stronger, cage was being prepared, one designed specifically to resist Sorkatani's strength. Rumor had reached Firkraag's men that Buffy was even stronger than Sorkatani and the cage was being reinforced still further. The lock was a massive contrivance, subtlety being scorned in favor of being built to withstand the blows of a war hammer wielded by an immensely powerful warrior, and Conster the mage cast numerous spells upon it to shield it from the lock-picking skills of Yoshimo, Dawn, and Anya.

Once Tara was in that cage she would stay there until someone with the key let her out.

She had demanded privacy for toilet purposes and, rather to her surprise, Tazok had acceded to her demand. Curtains of cloth screened an area of her present cage and a similar arrangement was being rigged in the new cage. The screened area was too small for sleeping or bathing; a request for a bath had been granted with alacrity but the resultant hot tub was set up right out in the open, in front of a drooling Tazok, and she had shuddered and changed her mind. She had resorted to sponging herself under her clothes instead.

Her bed had no screen and she slept fully dressed under the gazes of Tazok, Rascar, or whoever else was on guard. Only Tazok and Rascar seemed interested in her in any sexual sense. She suspected that the Elf mage Conster was gay, although it might have been simply his wizardly asceticism and the mannerisms of a different culture which gave her that impression; he certainly saw her as nothing other than an object that had to be guarded because his master the dragon had so commanded. The priestess who had assisted in her capture, Plath Rededge, was definitely straight and seemed to lust unavailingly after Conster. To Dig-Dag the Orc Chieftain Tara was a prospective meal and nothing more.

During the time that Tara was being kept in the temporary cage she took pains to appear as unthreatening as possible. Apart from her insistence on a certain amount of privacy, and her flat refusal to bathe under the eyes of Tazok, she was quietly compliant and on the surface was almost submissive. Quietly, however, she was making a careful selection from her arsenal of available spells and was preparing to take advantage of any opportunity to escape that might arise, while all the time taking pains to appear harmless.

It seemed that her deception was successful in lulling the suspicions of her captors. When the reinforced cage was ready only Tazok, Rascar, and Plath Rededge were present to supervise her transfer, plus an orc minion who was there merely to fetch and carry. Chieftain Dig-Dag simply wasn't interested and Conster obviously thought such duties were beneath him.

The odds were still heavy, of course, but perhaps not entirely insuperable. She had selected spells to immobilize rather than kill, on the reasoning that a wounded man – or monster – would react violently, whereas someone who simply hadn't been immobilized would be much more amenable to reason. She decided that it was worth making an attempt.

She made one final trip to the curtained toilet area before the transfer and used the privacy to cast a couple of preparatory spells. 'Free Action', so that she could escape any magical attempts to restrain her, and 'Holy Power' to give her the strength of a strong man. Even with that boost Tazok's sheer brute power was far beyond anything that she could muster, possibly even exceeding that of Sorkatani or Spike, and she assessed him as the most formidable threat to her escape. Consequently she selected him as the principal target of her first offensive spell.

'Hold Person'. Even as she spoke the words of power she had a sudden moment of doubt; was Tazok human enough to be affected by the spell? Apparently he was. He stood still as a statue, rooted to the spot, only his eyes moving. The orc minion was right beside him and was caught by the spell too. Two down, two to go.

Rascar's first impulse was to laugh at Tazok's predicament. Plath reacted with alarm and retaliated with a 'Hold Person' spell of her own. Tara's 'Free Action' negated that spell and, before Plath could react to the failure of her move, Tara had snatched away the other girl's staff and hit her over the head with it.

At that point Rascar realized the seriousness of the situation and swallowed his laugher. He grabbed for Tara with one hand and fumbled at his belt for a cudgel with the other. Tara jabbed the point of the staff down onto his foot and rapped him across the knuckles with the section between her hands. It worked, rather to her surprise, as her technique was drawn from having seen Giles in action and from memories of Robin Hood movies. Rascar abandoned his attempt to seize her and hopped backwards. His face contorted with anger and he gave up on drawing his cudgel in favor of drawing his sword.

The blow had only momentarily dazed Plath. Tara struck again before the other cleric could recover her balance and this time knocked her to the ground. With that accomplished Tara turned her full attention on Rascar.

He might have been puny next to the massively muscled Tazok but he still posed a significant threat to Tara, especially as he was probably angry enough to use his sword to wound or even to kill, and she didn't feel confident about taking him on in a straight fight. She was racing against time, too, as Tazok would not remain Held for long, and her own boosted strength would wane within minutes. It was time for some more clerical magic.

This time she used a spell of 'Command'. A disciplined mind could withstand such a spell, and an experienced warrior such as Sorkatani would shrug it off almost without noticing, but she guessed that the thief was neither disciplined nor experienced enough to resist. It was common practice, she had learned, for priests to Command their victims to sleep, but she feared that falling to the cold flagstones would shock Rascar awake almost instantly, and therefore she chose a different option. One that she had heard Xander refer to during one of his rare civil conversations with Spike, sitting in the Copper Coronet, talking about a long-ago game of Dungeons and Dragons that their present situation had brought to Xander's mind, when neither had been aware that Tara was listening. A Command guaranteed to totally neutralize any susceptible opponent for at least a few vital moments.

"Masturbate!" Tara ordered.

Rascar's mouth opened wide with horror. He dropped the sword and his hands went to his groin. Tara did not hang around to watch but acted immediately.

Tazok was still helplessly immobile, although probably not for very much longer, and she briefly considered hitting him with the staff. She decided that, even with her currently enhanced strength, the huge warrior would probably withstand several such blows and it simply wasn't worth the cost in time. Instead she reached up with the staff, hooked one of the horns on his helmet, and dislodged it from his head. She caught it before it hit the floor and placed it upon her own head.

The cloak on Plath's back was probably a Cloak of Protection and so Tara snatched it up and wrapped it around her own shoulders. She ignored Rascar's sword, as she had learned that clerics shunned the use of bladed weapons with good reason and she would probably lose the use of her spells if she wielded it, and she contented herself with the priestess' staff. It wasn't much of an armory, but it was the best that she could do in the limited time available, and she had to be content with what she had. She turned and ran from the room.

One exit led to the lair of the dragon. She had no idea what lay beyond the other door, but it had to be a better alternative, and so she fled in that direction. Down a long curving flight of steps and into a maze of corridors.

The first turning that she took led her straight into deadly peril. She was confronted by a pack of beasts. Man-shaped but bestial; all hair, claws, and slavering jaws. Werewolves in their most primal and savage state. Unmistakably filled with a desire to rend her limb from limb and to devour her flesh. She spun on her heel and ran, back the way that she had come, with the werewolves in hot pursuit.

They gave up on the chase at the foot of the staircase. Tara made her way back upwards again with as much dignity as she could muster. She was halfway up when she met Tazok on his way down. He brandished his huge two-handed sword and glared at her. She met his eyes without flinching. Coolly she removed his helmet from her head and handed it back to him.

"By all the gods, I like your style, wench," he boomed out. "You have spirit indeed. It seems almost a shame that I have to return you to your cage." He returned his sword to the scabbard across his back and his scowl was replaced by a grin.

Tara walked up the stairs at his side. They entered the room in which the cages stood and found Plath sitting on the floor rubbing her head whilst Rascar was engaged in fastening up his breeches. The orc minion snarled at Tara but retreated into a corner when Tazok fixed it with a menacing glare and uttered a commanding grunt.

Plath cast a minor healing spell on herself and stood up. She looked at Tara with an expression on her face that was neutral rather than hostile. "My staff, please," she said, extending her hand. Tara handed it over without delay. She half expected the priestess to deliver a retaliatory blow but Plath made no such move. "And my cloak?"

Tara returned the cloak but took the opportunity to make a point. "I want some clothing to replace the top that Tazok tore," she said.

"I may have something," Plath agreed. "There is no great difference in our size."

"Don't bother," Rascar spat out venomously. "I'm going to kill the bitch."

"Don't you touch her, Rascar," Tazok growled. "She is a courageous lass. Hers was a brave deed, and well done, and she made a fool out of you. Hah, big joke, Rascar Wanker. Harm her and I will pull out your guts and strangle you with them."

"Lord Firkraag wants her in good condition," Plath reminded Rascar. "When he has finished with her then maybe you can kill her."

"When Firkraag has finished with her then I take her," Tazok insisted. "She will make me a fine wife and give me many brave sons with her brains and my brawn. "

Tara opened her eyes wide. It was probably an improvement over the prospect of being raped, killed, and eaten, but only marginally. She couldn't help feeling a slight sense of accomplishment in having impressed him so remarkably, and her being gay didn't mean that she never wanted to have children; but she would have preferred it had the children's prospective father not resembled the offspring of a WWE wrestler and a nineteen-seventies' East German lady shot-putter, or perhaps of the wrestler and a female walrus, or even a Mack truck.

She tried to raise an objection that was more tactful than coming out with a truthful 'I think that you're repulsive and I wouldn't boink you if you were the last humanoid on Faerûn' would be. "Uh, but suppose they have my brawn and your brain?"

Tazok grinned once more. "In that case we feed them to Dig-Dag and try again."


	20. Chapter 20

**Chapter Twenty**

"You shall not free the Master's consort, mortal!" the Shadow Jailor warned.

Buffy rolled her eyes. "Why is it that every lame-o bad guy with a half-assed Apocalypse plan has to call himself 'The Master'?"

"Yeah, and none of them will ever be as good as Roger Delgado," Spike commented.

Giles sniggered. The other Scoobies, Sorkatani's party, Anath, and even the Shadow Jailor, exchanged glances of baffled incomprehension.

"Huh? Is this some British thing?" Buffy sliced an oncoming Shade Wolf in two while raising her eyebrows at Spike and Giles.

"From 'Doctor Who'," Spike informed her. He seized the Shadow Jailor in an arm-lock and bent the creature forward. "Recurring villain. Had loads of style."

Sorkatani brought Celestial Fury down across the Shadow Jailor's neck. "You speak of something from your world?"

"Yeah. Don't take any notice of me, Tani, I just get like this sometimes." Spike released what was left of the Shadow Jailor and the withered body crumpled to the floor.

Sorkatani twirled Celestial Fury and returned it to the scabbard. She bent down and picked a metal object from the floor. "The creature has dropped a key," she said, "and when there is a key, there is a lock."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

The prisoner behind the locked door was Mazzy Fentan, the leader of the missing band of adventurers, and she was a halfling girl. Very different from those of that race that the party had encountered in Athkatla. In contrast to their plump build and round rosy cheeks she was slim and sharp of feature. Her eyebrows had been carefully plucked and shaped, she wore her hair in braids, and there was a diamond stud in her nose. Her voice lacked the bucolic accent typical of halflings and instead she spoke almost like an aristocrat; a Sloane Ranger accent, Spike would call it, the sort of voice that implied a girl that Prince William might date – at least if she had been a lot taller and didn't have such hairy feet.

"The Shade Lord has perverted an altar of Amaunator to his purposes," Mazzy explained. "We found a parchment that implies that he cannot be slain while the altar is intact and so destroying it was our priority. The altar lies beyond this temple. We thought that approaching it this way would be easier than on the surface, for the attacks of the Shade Wolves were wearing us down, and we sought to find passage through these tunnels. We failed. The final door remained locked to us, for we did not did not find the symbol that would remove the wards, and we learned that it led into the lair of the Shadow Dragon before reaching the altar. At that point we changed our plan, returned by the way that we had come, and struck out through the forest after all. The Shade Lord summoned the Shadow Dragon and we were overcome."

"It chased us in here and blocked up the tunnel behind us," Buffy told her. "I'm guessing the only way out is right through its lair. Not good."

"Not good indeed," Mazzy agreed. Her expression had lost all traces of her initial relief at being rescued from her cell. "It is a foe most deadly. Fear goes before it. Its breath is a fog of black acid. The buffets of its wings can fell the strongest man as easily as a ninepin. Its terrible jaws can bite through the toughest armor. We also found, to our horror, that it has the same dread power as wraiths and vampires. It can sap away the very skills of a warrior, or a mage, reducing a hardened veteran to a mere untried novice."

"Level drain, huh?" Xander asked.

Mazzy gave him a frown of blank incomprehension. "I beg your pardon?"

"Uh, just, I know what you mean," Xander said. "How come nobody in this D&D world speaks D&D?"

"Vampires, eh? Can I do that level drain thing?" Spike wondered.

"I think not," Sorkatani said, "or it would not be safe for us to touch you."

Mazzy turned horrified eyes on Spike. "You're a vampire?" Her hand went to the empty scabbard at her belt.

"A different kind of vampire. Spike is a true comrade," Sorkatani assured Mazzy.

Mazzy was not soothed. "You travel with a vampire? Have I been rescued from the frying pan only to fall into the fire?" She looked around the group of rescuers and her eyes widened even further. "A drow! Horrors!"

Spike raised one eyebrow. "She hasn't even spotted the werewolf yet."

"Spike, so not helping," Buffy scolded.

"Spike, do not tease her," Sorkatani said at the same time. "Lady, I swear to you that we have rescued you indeed. We seek only to destroy this Shade Lord and free the people of Imnesvale from this threat. Yoshimo, have you found her sword?"

"Sword, bow, and armor, jabbress," Yoshimo reported.

"Take them, Mazzy Fentan, and either seek your own way from this place, or follow us, as you choose."

"Then you did but jest with me?" Mazzy directed suspicion-filled frowns at Spike and at Viconia.

"Spike is truly a vampire, and Viconia is truly a drow," Sorkatani confirmed, "but they are also true and staunch friends and dear to me. They do not seek to harm you. You have no cause to fear them. We have but lately met Anath the werewolf, and I cannot vouch for her with such absolute assurance, yet she has given me no cause to doubt her goodwill and much cause to believe in it. I extend my trust to her too."

"You shall not regret it," Anath promised. "I shall serve you faithfully. I regret only that I can be of little help; for my fangs have no power against the undead, and in human form I have but small skill with a blade."

"You're a werewolf?" Mazzy stared at the slim, rather pretty, girl, who wore a plain blue robe and whom she had assumed to be a junior mage.

"The werewolf at whom you loosed shafts when I intended only to aid you," Anath confirmed. "I seek vengeance against the Shade Lord. Vengeance for my pack, taken from me, and turned into the Undead."

"Your intent was to aid?"

"I would have guided you to this temple, and shown you the secret of the reflector, as I did for Sorkatani," Anath told her.

"Why did you not come to us in human form?" Mazzy asked.

"And had I done so, and my true nature had been revealed, would you not have thought that I sought to deceive you and have attacked me then? I thought it better to hide nothing from the start."

"Oh." Mazzy bowed her head. "In that case, Anath, I crave your pardon."

Anath met Mazzy's eyes. "It is granted."

"So, we're all good now?" Buffy checked. "Okay, let's get ready to rumble."

Mazzy stared at her. "I beg your pardon?"

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

The passage through the temple was frustrating and repetitive to the point of tedium. There were riddles to solve, gems to prize from pillars, ancient texts to decipher, and bone golems and skeleton warriors to fight as well as the ubiquitous Shadows. Giles, Willow, and Dawn found some enjoyment in the puzzles but to everyone else the combats came as a welcome relief.

There was one brief moment of levity when a lettered floor grid had to be negotiated, stepping only on the letters that spelt out 'Amaunator', and Xander lightened the mood with an appropriate quote from 'Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade'. There was no Grail Chamber beyond the grid, however, only another fragment of text and a section of the symbol that would unlock the final door.

They made one vital discovery that had eluded Mazzy. The bones of the child prophetess of Amaunator, murdered by the Shade Lord centuries ago, were in the room in which Mazzy had been imprisoned. Returning them to their crypt, an act of simple decency on which Sorkatani insisted and which Buffy wholeheartedly supported, resulted in a visitation from a ghost who presented them with a wardstone. With that in their possession, the ghost told them, they could pass by the Shadow Dragon and it would ignore their presence.

Suddenly their quest seemed much more achievable.

At last they had assembled all of the necessary items with which to pass the temple's defenses and open the final door. They unlocked it and passed through with their hearts in their mouths. Beyond lay a huge vaulted chamber. The ceiling was disfigured by a huge gaping hole. Under the hole, in the middle of the chamber, loomed a huge and ominous dark figure.

Black as pitch, as large as a Tyrannosaurus Rex and many times as fearsome, there it lay.

Thaxll'ssyllia, the darkness incarnate, the Shadow Dragon.

Anya looked up at it with a calculating expression. "Hmm. There's enough hide there for at least seventy, maybe a hundred, pairs of dragonskin boots."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

There was a staircase at the far side of the chamber that led out to a clearing in the forest. Once it had been a building but now all that remained were the stone slabs of the floor, the stumps of pillars, and a few heaps of rubble from long-crumbled walls. Vegetation grew up between the stones and in one place a sapling reached to a height of fifteen feet.

In the centre they saw the altar. A black and sinister shape that seemed broodingly alive and filled with menace. Beyond it stood a slender, apparently female, figure of ebony black. They might have taken it for a drow but for its dark hair and a slightly hazy and insubstantial air to its appearance.

"Ah, my knight in miniature has escaped and returned with more souls for me to feed upon," it greeted them. Its voice was male, cracked and wheezing, completely at odds with its appearance.

"Merella!" Mazzy gasped. "The Shade Lord has taken your body."

"This body has served well but now it fails me," the Shade Lord continued. "I would have taken yours next, but you have brought me stronger ones that shall serve better. A night upon my altar…" It leered at Buffy and Sorkatani.

"So not on my 'to do' list," Buffy said. She drew the Blade of Roses. Celestial Fury leapt into Sorkatani's hand.

"To me, my Shades," the Shade Lord called. A second dark figure shambled forth from behind the altar.

"Patrick!" Mazzy groaned. "What has he done to you?"

Mazzy's former right-hand man waved a halberd. "Join me in darkness," he croaked. A shadowy creature emerged from the stone of the altar itself and headed for the party, followed within seconds by another.

Buffy gestured towards the altar. "Willow?"

"On it." Willow waved her hands and the altar was suddenly the centre of an inferno of flame. Even as the fireball dissipated Viconia was summoning down a Flame Strike to take its place.

The party loosed a volley of arrows and crossbow bolts at the Shade Lord. Buffy, Sorkatani, and Spike followed up with a charge. Patrick staggered out of the flames still brandishing his halberd. Xander raised Azuredge to throw at him but Minsc beat him to it and loosed an enchanted arrow that pierced the undead adventurer's throat and felled him. Xander threw Azuredge at the Shadow Altar instead. Minsc dropped his bow and drew his two-handed sword. Giles lowered his crossbow and began to take his guitar from his back. He didn't need to use it.

Azuredge struck the Shadow Altar with a clang just as Buffy and Sorkatani's blades simultaneously drove into the Shade Lord. The creature of darkness shrieked once and was silent. The stone altar shattered. In the sky above the clouds parted and a sunbeam broke through. The two girls found that their swords were piercing the body of a white girl of about Buffy's age, her face marred by the marks of fangs but still pretty, who smiled at them.

"Thank you," Merella said clearly. Then her eyes rolled up and she slid limply from the blades and collapsed onto the stone floor.

Spike dived for the cover of a tree as the area was lit up by bright sunshine. A moment later he shook himself and emerged into the open again. "Forgot," he muttered. "Still takes some getting used to." He rummaged in a pouch, produced a small cigar, and lit up.

Mazzy's eyes widened. "You're sure you're a vampire?" she asked.

"Expecting me to go up in flames, were you?" Spike grinned. "Seems this world's sun doesn't do that to me. Neat, innit?"

The halfling's mouth hung open. Wordlessly she held out her hand. Spike handed her a cigar and then gave her a light. Her eyes widened even more as she stared at the Zippo lighter. "An ingenious device," she commented. "Thank you." She turned away, exhaling a cloud of gray smoke, and went to the body of her fallen comrade Patrick.

"That was kinda an anticlimax," Buffy said, glancing around at the surrounding woodland that now seemed rather pleasant in the bright sunshine. "Just, like, one-two and it's all over. Too easy. I'm looking for the catch."

"It's not all over," Xander said. "There's still the dragon."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

The wardstone was still effective. Buffy stared dubiously at the huge creature and shook her head. "How are we going to even make an impression on it?" she wondered.

"Sodding huge bugger," Spike agreed. "Swords just aren't going to do it."

"Yeah, well, me and Anya have an idea," Xander said. "Ever see 'The Seventh Voyage of Sinbad'?"

"What, with the giant crossbow thing?" Buffy replied. "Yeah, but, how are we going to get one in here?"

"We build it," Xander said. "The dragon won't notice a thing as long as we keep the wardstone, right? We build the crossbow and shoot the dragon. Easy."

"And if we don't kill it right off? The ghost said that the wardstone stops working if we attack. It's gonna be seriously pissed."

"We should be able to finish it off," Sorkatani said. "We must take all possible precautions. Viconia, can you shield us against the dragon fear?"

The drow girl shook her head. "Not all of us, jabbress."

"I can handle that, I think," Giles said. "Shield me and I'll do the rest."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

It was more of a ballista than a crossbow that they constructed, powered by twisted rope, with a weighted spear serving as the bolt. Buffy and Sorkatani wound and loaded the weapon, Viconia and Willow dished out all the protective spells that they could summon up, and the party distributed themselves in attack positions surrounding the dragon. Giles stood in a corner of the chamber and poised his fingers over his guitar.

"Everybody ready?" Buffy asked. A chorus of assent greeted her. "Okay, Giles, hit it."

"_Well we won't back down_

_No we won't back down._

_You can stand us up at the gates of hell but we_

_Won't back down…_"

Buffy pulled the wardstone from her pocket. She threw it at the dragon's nose. It woke and reared up in surprise.

"What mortal fool dares to challenge Thaxll'ssyllia?" it boomed out.

Buffy sliced through the rope that held back the arms of the ballista. "This one," she announced. The spear whistled through the air and took the dragon in the belly. It pierced the thinner armor of the creature's underside and sank in for a full four feet.

The dragon didn't fall. It reared up higher, spread out its vast wings, and belched out a cloud of black spray. Buffy dived out of the way. The dragon charged after her. Willow commanded the air in front of it to 'Thicken' but slowed its rush for only a second.

The other members of the group charged with hand weapons or loosed crossbow bolts. The dragon's hide changed color subtly as a 'Stoneskin' spell took effect. The weapons bounced off without harming the now invulnerable monster. It struck out with a wing and sent Minsc flying across the chamber. His sword clattered away across the floor. The dragon's tail lashed around and took Sorkatani's legs out from under her. It slashed out with its left foreleg and caught Viconia across the chest. The mighty claws pierced through her armor and into her body. Viconia reeled backwards and sprawled on the ground. A bloody froth appeared on her lips.

Willow unleashed a counter spell to remove the 'Stoneskin'. Xander charged in with a cry of triumph and carved a gash into the dragon's side with the Sword of Chaos. The beast spun round and seized him in its jaws. Its fangs bit deep, driving through the armor, and then it tossed its head and released him. Xander hurtled through the air, smashed into the ceiling, and then plummeted forty-five feet to the ground. His shattered body landed almost at Anya's feet and she wailed in despair and grief.

Buffy hit the dragon across the face with the Blade of Roses and blinded it in one eye. Mazzy Fentan ran up the dragon's tail and onto its back. She stabbed down with her sword, but the scales there were thicker than at any other point, and she achieved nothing. The dragon reared up once more. Mazzy lost her footing and fell to the ground. The dragon stamped down at her and the halfling rolled aside. She wasn't quite fast enough and the stamping foot caught her leg and snapped it like a twig.

Minsc picked himself up, retrieved his sword, and returned to the fray. Sorkatani was on her feet again and she struck out with Celestial Fury. The enchanted blade delivered a shock that held Thaxll'ssyllia rigid for a moment, reared up on his haunches, wings spread wide. The spear protruding from its flank was plainly visible.

Anath was in her werewolf form. Spike grabbed her hand, or paw, and pointed. She nodded and the two of them raced forward together. They approached the dragon on its blind side, caught the butt of the spear, and thrust to drive it deeper into the belly of the beast.

The momentary rigidity wore off. The dragon bellowed and reached down with a claw towards the two puny humanoids who were causing it such pain. Minsc struck out with his two-handed sword and blocked the attempt.

Anya's face was contorted in an expression of berserk fury. She came in behind the dragon and sawed away at the hamstring of its left hind leg. It turned its head and opened its jaws wide to breath upon her with its breath weapon.

Dawn leveled her crossbow, took very careful aim, and shot it right in the open mouth.

Willow enveloped the dragon's head in a fireball a moment later.

Anya's sword severed the tendon and the dragon's leg gave way beneath it. The colossal creature fell sideways.

Sorkatani raced to snatch up Viconia from under the falling monster. She threw the drow clear but was caught herself. She was knocked to the ground, and appeared to be in danger of being crushed, but she braced her arms against the floor and managed to support the weight for a moment. Yoshimo had been industriously hacking away with his katana during the whole fight without achieving much; he abandoned his efforts and ran to Sorkatani's assistance. He used his weapon as a brace to support the dragon's weight and managed to pull Sorkatani free.

Spike and Anath continued to force the spear deeper and deeper into the wounded dragon. Buffy thrust again with the Blade of Roses and drove it into the dragon's eye socket. She pierced the brain and the monster turned its head, breathed out one last gout of jet black fog towards Sorkatani, and then went limp.

Sorkatani was on her hands and knees, recovering from having had to support the dragon's weight, and couldn't move to avoid the deadly spray. Yoshimo stepped in front of her and shielded her with his own body.

The spray lasted only for a couple of seconds. Yoshimo withstood it that long, his hands over his face to protect his eyes, and then he dropped to the ground and writhed in screaming agony.

Giles put down his guitar. "My God," he said, striding forward to render what medical aid he could. "What carnage! Was it worth while? Could we not have left well enough alone?"

"The dragon had to die," Mazzy said from between gritted teeth. "It was a deadly peril to all in the area. Ah, I am sore pained. Spike, a cigar, if you would be so kind?"

Sorkatani forced herself erect. Her face was blistered and obviously painful but she ignored it and wavered for a moment between Yoshimo and Viconia. "Logic," she muttered. "Viconia can cure others if cured herself." She staggered on wobbly legs over to the drow priestess and laid a hand on the girl's chest. She spoke a phrase and the rasping noise of Viconia's breathing eased.

"I didn't know that you could perform healing spells," Giles remarked as he used his water skin to rinse away the acid from Yoshimo.

"A minor talent only," Sorkatani said. She repeated the phrase and Viconia's eyes opened. "That is my repertoire exhausted."

"Jabbress? You have healed me?" Viconia sat up and winced. "Not completely, I think. And you yourself need healing."

"There are others in worse case," Sorkatani said. "See to Xander first, for he is badly injured at best."

Viconia obeyed. She walked on shaky legs over to where Xander's crumpled figure lay. She gave the body a brief examination and shook her head. "He is dead," she declared.

"Raise him! Raise him!" Anya demanded. "Give me my Xander back."

"To do so would exhaust me," Viconia said. "I shall tend the wounded first."

Anya glared at her but conceded the point. "Okay, but hurry up." She heaved a sigh. "I suppose that at least he won't get any worse."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

"Man, that was intense," Warren commented. "They did pretty good. I've seen the Shadow Dragon wipe out whole parties at their level."

"There are twice as many of them as a regular party," Jonathan said, "but yeah, they did good. Maybe they'll be able to cope with Firkraag after all."

"He's at least twice as tough as the Shadow Dragon, dude," Warren said. "That's why you're supposed to leave him until after Spellhold. If they've got any sense they'll rescue Tara and then call it quits for now."

"I know," Jonathan said doubtfully, "but that's not the way Sorkatani thinks. Plus, I don't know if Firkraag will leave them that loophole. He's kinda impatient to get things over with. If he keeps hold of the key they're gonna have to fight him before they can even get Tara loose. That is gonna be one tough battle."

"Well, most of them have leveled up with the experience for the Shadow Dragon. Maybe they'll be okay." Warren saw that Jonathan was still looking worried and so he changed the subject. "Hey, that was a nice save you pulled off there, putting Yoshimo in the way of that last breath weapon," he complimented. "She was down enough points that the level drain would probably have killed her."

Jonathan shook his head. "It wasn't me. I've lost control of Yoshimo too now. That was all his own idea."

Warren opened his eyes very wide. "He stood in a spray of acid and negative energy to protect Sorkatani? That took guts, dude. Shit." He frowned and scratched his head. "That's gonna mess up the whole storyline."

"Maybe," Jonathan said, "or it might work out the way it would do if Yoshimo got killed or kicked out of the party before they go to Spellhold. There's only one way to find out."

"Yeah. So, Yoshimo's running himself now, but I guess you've picked up Mazzy instead, right? What about the werewolf girl?"

"I can control Mazzy," Jonathan confirmed, "but Anath's a friendly monster. I can't do anything with her."

"There's no script for her in the game," Warren mused. "What the hell's she going to do now they've cleared out the Shadow dungeon?"

"Tag along with Sorkatani, I guess," Jonathan said. "It's just as well that they couldn't Raise the ones who'd been possessed by the Shade Lord or she'd pretty much have her own private army." He turned away from the screen. "I might as well leave them to it. They're going to be busy with healing and looting the dragon's lair and things for a while. Pretty boring. How's your pirate game coming along, dude? And the BG mod?"

"Totally awesome, dude," Warren grinned. "The horses show up in the mod and they don't affect anything except cutting down the travel time. I've got horses working in the pirate game too. They look great. Come take a look."

"Sure thing," Jonathan said. "Hey, Andrew. How's the rewrite coming on?"

Andrew glanced up from his PC. "Aar, Jonathan lad, the tale it be making good speed. The wind it be fair for Jamaicy, and thaar be good prospects for plunder. Galleons laden with pieces of eight, and Spanish maidens, and indigo, and tobaccy." He bit his lip and frowned. "Uh, guys, would it be cool, or kinda yucky. if the PC gets his hand cut off and has to have a hook?"

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

Disclaimer: the extract from the lyrics of 'I Won't Back Down' by Tom Petty is used without permission and with no intent to profit from the use.


	21. Chapter 21

**Chapter Twenty-one**

"Xander! Oh, Xander!" Anya threw her arms around Xander's neck and hugged him.

"Careful, he is yet fragile," Viconia warned. "As am I," she muttered under her breath. "He needs a day of rest, or a spell of full healing," she continued aloud. "I am weary, drained of power, and must rest myself before I could cast such a spell."

"So I guess we won?" Xander asked. "Oh, yeah, dumb question. If we'd lost there wouldn't have been anyone to bring me back."

"Yes, we won. Now you have to take it easy, Xander," Anya ordered. "Lie down and rest. I'll be back to tend to your every need in a little while. Just as soon as I've finished supervising the skinning of the dragon."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

"Spike, are you all right?" Sorkatani asked. "You look weary, and paler even than usual. I sense that something is amiss."

"Nothing's wrong, Tani," Spike said unconvincingly. Sorkatani raised her eyebrows and Spike sighed. "Oh, all right, you got me. I'm hungry. Nothing to eat in this bleeding forest. Haven't seen any animals, 'cept for the undead ones, and that's screwed up my meal plans. I'd been banking on catching deer and rabbits and what have you, or eating our enemies, but everything we've been fighting was sodding undead. Well, 'cept for the dragon, and I reckoned its blood was probably acid, or worse. Wasn't going to touch that. So I haven't eaten in two days and it's starting to get to me a bit."

"Oh, poor Spike," Sorkatani commiserated. "You should have said something earlier." She unfastened the vambrace on her left arm. "Easily fixed."

Spike stared at her incredulously. "You don't mean…?"

"Certainly." She rolled back the sleeve of her tunic and extended her arm towards him.

Spike made no move to take it. "Tani – you can't mean this."

Sorkatani raised her eyebrows. "I think I know my own intentions, Spike. I trust you not to take too much."

Spike stepped away from her. "You don't know what you're doing, Tani. I'm a sodding vampire! Once I start feeding I'm not going to be able to just stop. Don't do this. Don't bloody tempt me!"

His raised voice attracted Willow's attention and she came over. "What's the problem?"

"Spike has no blood and is hungry. I offered him some of mine," Sorkatani told her. "He refused."

"Too bloody right," Spike said. "Not going to drink from you."

"Uh, if it's the whole god-child thing that's got you wigged, I guess I could spare some," Willow offered.

Spike's eyes widened even further. "Bloody hell, Red, you should know better than that."

"Hey, we're friends, right?" Willow pouted at him. "And you said you wanted to bite me, remember?" She waggled a finger. "Although, you're not scoring points for thinking ahead. Couldn't you have, like, brought some along with you?"

"Did," Spike told her. "Filled a skin up with pig's blood back at the village. Went bloody solid, didn't it? No anti-coagulants here. Tried cutting the skin open and chewing on it but it's not the same."

Willow went slightly green. "Eww. So didn't need to know that."

Buffy joined them. "What gross thing is Spike doing now?"

"Refusing to drink our blood," Willow said.

"Huh?"

"Spike has not eaten for two days," Sorkatani explained. "I offered him my wrist, but he refused me. Willow too."

Buffy stared at Spike and her eyebrows began to check that they had adequate stocks of crampons, pitons, and ice axes. "Huh? Not that I don't think Sorkatani and Willow are totally nuts for offering, but how come you're turning them down?"

"Don't want to hurt them. Don't want to risk doing that level drain thing Mazzy mentioned."

"Viconia can reverse that," Sorkatani informed him. "And I do not think that you are that sort of vampire anyway."

"Look, just drop it, okay? I can hang on until we get back to the village. It's no big deal. Not like I'm going to starve."

"It is your decision, of course," Sorkatani said, "but it was my decision to make the offer. Your refusal does not offend me but I am somewhat puzzled."

"And me," Willow added.

"Okay," Spike sighed. "It's a sex thing, right? Pretty girl willingly offers herself up for a bite, it's a bloody turn-on. Both ways, right? And okay, Red, couple of years ago I'd have taken you up on it, yeah, and then shagged you stupid and you wouldn't have been able to resist. Wouldn't have wanted to resist. Different now, though. We're friends, don't want to bugger that up, and, hell, I like Tara and I wouldn't want to make things between the two of you any worse." His gaze shifted to Sorkatani. "And with Tani, well, it'd just be wrong."

Sorkatani's cheeks became tinged with pink. Willow's face went way beyond that and flamed scarlet. "Uh, that time in the dorm, when I said 'wait half an hour and then try again', were you, uh, was it, uh…?"

"Had a hard-on up to my bloody waist," Spike admitted. "Sorry, being crude," he said to Sorkatani. "Forgive me, jabbress."

Sorkatani's blush deepened. "Forgiven. I know little of such things except from books. This conversation has been, well, educational. I understand why you would not drink."

"Don't tell me you're being noble, Spike," Buffy said in a voice tinged with skepticism. "Would you have turned it down if it had been me that offered?

"No," Spike admitted. "Would have warned you what you were getting into, but yeah, I'd have gone for it. So, you offering?" He looked straight into her eyes.

Buffy hesitated. "Was that what it was like for Riley? Was he…?"

Spike pursed his lips. "Dunno. Don't think it works quite the same way for blokes. Blood pressure drops and that's a bit counter-productive. Might have been, though."

Buffy grimaced. "I hated you for showing me, but I should have thanked you." She shook her head slowly. "No, Spike, I'm not offering. I guess we're friends these days. Let that be enough, okay?"

Spike lowered his gaze. He extracted a cigar from a pouch and lit up. "As you wish."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

"I cannot believe this," Jaheira complained sharply. "One of my comrades has disappeared and is either dead or in dire peril, I am the only one who knows this, and you have me dragged away from them to attend a meeting! Threatened at the point of a crossbow, even, and for what? A review of accounts! Progress reports! A rephrasing of our mission statement! Had there been a crisis, a warning of an invasion of dragons or of a Zhentarim plot to overthrow the peaceful governments of the Sword Coast, then I could have understood. But for this?"

"If that was indeed all there was to it, then I would sympathize with your feelings," Galvarey said. He was elegant and urbane, the very model of a senior figure in any organization, his hair graying just the right amount at the temples and his beard neatly clipped. His voice was deep and rich, resonant with sincerity and understanding. "However, Jaheira, you misunderstand the object of the exercise. It was an important assessment."

"An assessment? Of what?"

"Of you, Jaheira." Galvarey steepled his fingers and leaned back in his leather armchair. "Your association with Sorkatani has caused some concern within the Harpers. We had to be sure that you had not become corrupted."

"Corrupted?" Jaheira's eyes widened. "From association with Sorkatani? Gorion's ward, brought up to honor the traditions of the Harpers?"

"From association with the daughter of the God of Murder," Galvarey said. "Nature may triumph over nurture."

"Or it may not," Jaheira said. "She lives by Gorion's code. Often did Khalid say to her 'Gorion would be proud of your actions' and those words would bring a smile to her face even in the bleakest of circumstances. He said it often."

"Ah, poor Khalid," Galvarey mused. "Such a tragedy. I remember him well. He had another saying, I recall. 'If at first I don't succeed – my wife never lets me forget it.' Yes, he was a great loss to the Harpers."

Jaheira's face paled. "He said that? Often?"

"In jest, in jest," Galvarey assured her hastily. "Forgive me for mentioning it. So, he often said that Gorion would be proud of her actions? Would Gorion be proud that she travels with a drow, and now also with a vampire?"

Jaheira sat up very straight and looked Galvarey directly in the eyes. "Yes. Viconia has changed for Sorkatani. I have seen it with my own eyes. At first I thought that Sorkatani was foolish to extend trust and friendship to Viconia and I told her so in no uncertain terms. Yet her trust has been repaid and Viconia has become a true comrade. In truth I myself have grown fond of her over time."

"Indeed?" Galvarey's eyebrows climbed. "I had heard that you quarrel incessantly."

"You are having us watched?" Jaheira's eyes narrowed.

"I have my sources. It is my duty to keep myself aware of the circumstances of Harper operatives in the area. Go on. You are fond of this drow, you say?"

"We bicker out of habit but there is no heat to it." Jaheira's eyes remained narrow as she stared at Galvarey. "I disapprove of some things about her, yes, but those things are trivial. She is staunch and true when it matters."

"And the vampire? Drow may or may not be evil by nature, and we have the example of Drizzt Do'Urden to confirm that there can be such a thing as a good drow, but that vampires are intrinsically evil is an incontrovertible fact."

"Spike is of a different breed to the vampires of this world," Jaheira told Galvarey. "He freely admits that he was evil in the past but, just as Viconia changed through Sorkatani's influence, so Spike has changed because of Buffy."

"Ah, yes, this 'Buffy'." Galvarey ran his fingers over his beard. "It is said that she is stronger and faster than any human in all of Faerûn. What of her? She is, I hear, known as 'The Slayer'. That is, perhaps, not a designation guaranteed to inspire trust. What do you know of her motives, and those of her companions from the other world?"

"She is Buffy the _Vampire_ Slayer," Jaheira stressed. "A warrior for Good in her own world as renowned as any in this. She wants, above all else, to go home. Hardly a motivation to cause concern, I would have thought. The others are her retinue; loyal, faithful, and true. One of whom, I might remind you, has disappeared and was replaced by a doppelganger. I dispute that any assessment that you wished to carry out upon me was worth the delay in informing Tara's comrades of this. You may have further imperiled her life."

"I sent Meronia back to relay your message," Galvarey assured her. "Also, I have passed the word for all Harper contacts to listen for any word of her and bring me what they find."

"Good. I take it I may leave now and rejoin Sorkatani?"

"And if she has received the message and is already on her way back to the city? Await her here," Galvarey urged.

"I think not," Jaheira said. "I shall leave at once."

"Oh, very well," Galvarey sighed. "But bring them to see me once you return to the city."

"If I can," Jaheira said. "Our first priority must be to find and rescue Tara. You should also bear in mind that Sorkatani may still bear you ill will over the affair of the mage Xvar. You tricked her into abetting the assassination of one who had aided her when she was in peril, and that sits ill with her. She may be in no hurry to accept your invitation."

"The wizard was a deadly threat and had to be eliminated by any means at our disposal," Galvarey claimed.

"Xvar was a buffoon who liked to claim powers and influence that he did not possess," Jaheira countered. "And as for his apprentices, who were supposedly creating abominations that would endanger the city, I am not convinced that they were much more than two foolish young people who thought that playing with magic was cool."

Galvarey frowned. "Cool? What does the temperature have to do with anything?"

"Exciting, fashionable, something that would impress their friends," Jaheira translated. "A term from the dialect of Buffy's world. It matters not. The point stands. Were they in truth a dire threat to the city, and to the Harpers, or did you inflate their significance to bolster your own importance?"

"I had information and I acted on it," Galvarey said evasively. "I used the resources available to me to neutralize the threat with the smallest possible risk to the Harpers. If that meant taking advantage of the Bhaalspawn, well, so be it."

"She has a name, Galvarey. Use it."

"Very well." Galvarey raised his eyes towards the ceiling briefly and then repeated his previous request. "I want you to bring _Sorkatani_ here to me when she returns to the city," he said. "I wish to see her for myself and make my own assessment of whether she is a force for weal or for woe. If my opinion of her coincides with yours then I may consider making an apology for my actions with regard to Xvar."

Jaheira sniffed pointedly and rolled her eyes. "I'm sure Sorkatani will be overwhelmed by your magnanimity. Not."

"Your attitude verges on insubordination, Jaheira," Galvarey said sharply. "I am your superior and I demand your respect."

"You are but little higher than me in rank, Galvarey. You are no Herald," Jaheira pointed out. "You shall have my respect when you earn it. Not before."

Galvarey gritted his teeth. "I insist that you speak to me in a respectful manner, then." A smile appeared on his face. It did not reach his eyes. "We have no quarrel. We both seek only to further the cause of the Harpers. I am working closely with your mentor Dermin in these matters and I have his wholehearted backing. Bring to me Sorkatani and, also, Buffy the Vampire Slayer."

Jaheira deflated slightly at the mention of her long-standing colleague and friend. "Not until after we have rescued Tara, or have learned her fate and avenged her," she said. "It is bad enough that Imoen languishes in the custody of the Cowled Wizards, and that we make no progress at all towards retrieving her, but at least Imoen's fate is not unknown."

"And I might be able to do something about it," Galvarey said. "I have some measure of influence. I do not claim that I can obtain her release but I may at least be able to get some definite information on her whereabouts and her prospects of release." His smile slipped. "You can tell the Bhaal– _Sorkatani_ – that I will do what I can. As long as she presents herself here to undergo assessment."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

"So. How was being dead for you, Xander?" Buffy gave him a rather shaky smile.

"Pretty good, all things considered," Xander said. He grinned widely. "I've got all these cool new powers."

"As if." Buffy rolled her eyes.

"No, really, I'm not kidding, Buff." Xander stood up. "I've tried one of them out already."

"Xander! Lie down right this minute," Anya ordered. She stopped wrapping up sections of dragon skin and scurried over to return to her boyfriend's side. "Viconia warned you that any exertion before you've had some healing could kill you again."

"And I've had some healing," Xander told her. "I did it for myself. All part of the whole new powers package."

Anya frowned. "What, you're a cleric now?"

"Better," Xander boasted. "I'm a paladin. A knight of the forces of Good."

Buffy's jaw dropped. "Can I say, huh?"

"And that goes for me too," Anya added.

Giles took the opportunity to escape from the task that Anya had badgered him into carrying out. He wiped his hands and went to join the group around Xander. "I gather that you had some sort of revelation while you were dead?"

"I did. I'm not just your average guy with a sword and axe any more. I went to this kinda great hall place belonging to some, uh, god," Xander hesitated before saying the term when describing a deity other than the Christian one, "by the name of Torm. There was a whole bunch of dead paladins and they told me I was one of them. There's a few things I've got to do, some rules I've got to stick to, and in return I can heal by laying on hands, can cast a few spells, I can cure diseases and I can't catch them, and hey, I can detect evil."

"Rules?" Anya asked. Her forehead creased deeply in a frown. "Please don't tell me you have to be celibate."

"Hey, don't worry, Ahn, that's not one of the rules," Xander assured her. His own forehead creased. "Uh, there is one you're maybe not gonna be wild about. I'm not allowed to get rich. I've got to tithe, that's, like, give ten per cent of my income to the poor."

"I knew what tithing was when there was nobody on your continent but Skraelings and Leif Eriksson," Anya reminded him. "I can live with _you_ tithing. But is there a rule against you marrying somebody rich or saying that your wife has to tithe?"

"Not as such," Xander said. "I can't spend too much on myself, but hey, it's not like they have that much stuff here I'd go crazy for. No cars, no TVs, and, hey, it's okay for me to have a castle, so that's about as much house as anybody could want. There's a limit on how much in the way of magic weapons and armor I can have but, hey, who needs a weapons chest full of the stuff anyway?"

Buffy looked down at her feet.

"And your wife?" Anya probed.

"I'm not supposed to spend, like, huge amounts on her – you – but they didn't say anything about you not spending your own money on yourself," Xander told her. "I guess they don't think in terms of women being successful in their own right here. Like, a little with the chauvinistic attitudes."

"Are you sure?" Anya still had a suspicious frown on her face. "And does this mean no nice presents from you?"

"Hey, Ahn, it's not like you were gonna get any diamond necklaces or Cadillacs from a foreman construction worker," Xander reminded her. "And hey, I reckon it's kinda relative. See, a lot of those paladin guys are pretty much the upper crust, and what they call being frugal we'd call living it up. Look, these cool powers can help us stay alive, and that's what counts, right?"

"I suppose so," Anya said. She still looked discontented and so Xander sought for a way to distract her.

"Well, I've tried out the laying on of hands thing, on myself 'cause lying around sucked, and Viconia's patched everybody else up," he went on. "I think I'll give one of my other powers a shot. Let's see how this 'Detect Evil' thing works."

"You don't really need to detect Spike," Buffy said. "He's right over there smoking a cigar. Just follow the smoke trail."

"I'm all for the first try being easy," Xander said. He concentrated. "Uh, this isn't working. Did I, like, just dream the whole thing?"

"Xander, lie down," Anya said at once. "If you just imagined that you healed yourself you could drop dead again."

"No, I feel fine, Ah, I really do," Xander insisted. "I'm getting something, but, well, it's so faint that it's pretty much useless." He called out to Spike. "Hey, Undead English Guy, come over here, okay?"

Spike wandered across the chamber. "Thought you weren't keen on secondhand smoke?"

"Actually, cigar smoke's not too bad, at least in a big room," Xander said. "I just wanted to try out my new ability to Detect Evil on you. Only, it doesn't seem to be working."

Giles raised his hand to remove his glasses, realized that his hands were smeared with grease, and thought better of his gesture. He peered at Xander over the rims. "Xander, has it occurred to you that Spike might not be evil?"

"Of course he's evil!" Xander insisted. "He's Spike!"

"Bloody right I'm evil," Spike agreed.

Sorkatani had come over to join the group close behind Spike. She looked at him with her eyebrows raised in a quizzical expression. "Are you sure of that, Spike?"

Spike gazed down at his feet. "Maybe not," he mumbled. "Don't want you lot taking the piss, mind."

Xander's eyes seemed to bulge out. "Not evil? Really?"

"Hell, I don't bloody know," Spike said. "Ask a sodding philosopher, not me."

"Well I'll be…" Xander gasped.

"Not by me you bloody won't," Spike hastened to say.

"So much for my trial," Xander moaned. "I was all geared up to Detect Evil and there's not a thing evil anywhere near. Which is good, yeah, but it's kinda an anti-climax."

Viconia had been sitting resting nearby, recovering from the strain of casting Restoration on Yoshimo and Raise Dead on Xander, and had taken no part in the conversation up to this point. Now, however, she stood up and moved closer. "You must be mistaken, foolish rivvil," she said. "Surely you can detect me?"

"Uh, nope," Xander said. He tilted his head to one side and stared at her. "Should I? Are you saying you're evil? I figured you for something of a bitca, kinda in the Cordy league, but that's all."

"Your words make no sense," Viconia complained. "Of course I am evil. I am a cleric of Shar. It is my duty."

"Uh, I'm reading a big zero on the evil-o-meter," Xander told her. "You're just joshing me, right?"

Viconia's eyes opened hugely wide and she put her clenched fist to her mouth. "Ssussun pholor dos!" she gasped. "You must be in error. Or you are jesting. Tell me you jest."

Xander shook his head. "Nope. No kidding. You're not evil. You've got the word of a paladin on that."

"No, this cannot be," Viconia insisted.

"Uh, suppose you aren't evil, what would be so bad about that?" Xander asked.

"I am a priestess of Shar, fool," Viconia snapped. "Goddess of darkness, loss, and despair. I gain my spells from her power. If I am not evil I will fall from her favor and my spells will desert me. I will become a mere fighter, and one of no exceptional skill at that."

"So no neat-o 'Raise Dead' and 'Heal'," Xander said. "Bummer, yeah."

"It is far worse than that," Viconia went on. "I am an apostate. I was a priestess of Lolth, goddess of the drow, and I forsook her worship and was marked for death. Shar protects me. If I again become apostate I lose that protection and the yochlol Handmaidens of Lolth will come for me and drag me away to eternal torment." She shuddered. "I must be evil. Tell me that you were jesting."

"Okay, yeah, I was joking," Xander said. "Have it your own way. You're evil. And so's Spike."

"And don't you bloody forget it," Spike smirked. "I'm the Big Bad."

Viconia's brow retained its troubled frown for a long time.

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

"Viconia's not Evil? Xander's suddenly a paladin? Huh? Have you been playing around with Shadowkeeper?" Warren accused.

"No way, dude. I wouldn't risk messing anything up in case it screwed with what you're doing with the save games," Jonathan said. "I guess Viconia's just, well, changed. It can happen in the straight game if you work at it."

"Yeah, but only if you've got a romance going, and even then not until 'Throne of Bhaal'," Warren pointed out. "This is just way, way, too early. And Sorkatani's a girl, and she comes over as being straight, so, no romance thing. Could it be something to do with Willow? But it's still too damn early to make sense."

"I don't know, it's kinda logical when you think about it," Jonathan said. "I mean, what Viconia does between the first game and 'Shadows of Amn' is pretty much not evil. She could have been up to all kinds of evil shit, right, and what does she do? Buys a farm and tries to get along with everybody."

"I guess so," Warren said. "Hmm. And Spike's not evil either."

"Well, Randy's Spike minus the memories and he's a good guy," Jonathan said. "I guess the change kinda goes all the way through. Hey, Xander's a paladin! Who'd have thought it?"

"I hardly knew Xander, but Alex is a really nice guy," Warren said. "I guess I can see it, kinda, but I don't get how it just happened by itself. Give me a look at his stats, dude." He scrutinized the screen. "Just a vanilla paladin. I kinda thought he might have the Undead Hunter kit."

"Yeah, it would have made sense," Jonathan agreed, "but I guess he's just the Vampire Slayer's sidekick, not the Vampire Slayer."

"I don't remember his Charisma score being that high," Warren mused. "I guess I wasn't taking that much notice. I was more interested in the girls."

"Well, everybody always liked Xander," Jonathan told him. "And he dated Cordelia Chase, and she was, like, pretty much the top prize. I guess it fits."

"18 Constitution, which I guess explains all those hit points," Warren went on. "17 strength, everything else pretty average. Hmm. We might as well take a look at everybody else while we've got it paused. Any other changes?"

"Yoshimo's got his lost levels back, yeah, I expected that. Spike's true neutral. Hey, so's Viconia! She's right, Shar is so gonna be pissed. Maybe the game changed them because of the rule against paladins associating with evil people?" Jonathan suggested.

"It's just a game, Short Round, it can't make decisions," Warren said, and then he remembered some of the other odd things that had been happening. "At least I don't think it can. It's just, uh, adjusting things to make them more internally consistent."

"And how is that different from making decisions, smart guy?" Jonathan challenged.

Warren gave him a shaky smile. "Stop it, Jonathan. Let me stay in de Nile a little longer. The water's nice and there don't seem to be any crocodiles."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

"The dragon skin should work way better than crocodile hide," Anya bubbled. "We can all have boots and there'll be plenty left over. Maybe we can sell the surplus. It can be my next thing after the bra."

"It's nice to know that we are carrying these heavy packs up hill and down dale in support of a worthy cause," Giles remarked.

"Yes, isn't it?" Anya said, with a beaming smile, completely blind to Giles' sarcasm. "I suppose I can't charge you, as you did help skin the dragon and carry the hide. Oh, well, there should be plenty left over to make boots for sale."

"There will be enough to make sets of armor," Sorkatani suggested. "There is a dwarf in Athkatla who can craft such things."

"Too light," Minsc said scornfully. "A warrior should wear armor of metal."

"You were trapped within your armor, unable to stand, when the Shadows sapped your strength," Sorkatani reminded him. "You would have been grateful for armor of lighter weight then, would you not?"

"Perhaps," Minsc admitted, "but otherwise I am content with what I have." He rapped his knuckles against his breastplate. "Full plate, and packing steel. Right, Boo?

"Well, I totally want dragon armor," Dawn staked her claim. "That would be just the coolest thing ever."

"Dawn Summers, you are so not going to go wandering around dressed in black leather," Buffy told her.

Dawn gave her an eye-roll that would have got a five point nine from any judge in the world. "Hello? Wearing brown leather right now."

"Well, black leather is different," Buffy said weakly. "It's just, well, skankier."

Dawn rolled her eyes again. "And your leather pants weren't?"

"Hey, don't diss the leather pants," Buffy said. She gave a very parental long-suffering sigh. "I suppose you can wear black leather armor as long as you wear something suitable underneath."

A call from the front of the column brought their discussion to a halt. "I see a log cabin ahead," Yoshimo announced. "Could it be the cabin of the wanted murderer Valygar?"

Anya pricked up her ears. "It's in the right place. Let's check it out. Do we surround the place and yell 'Valygar Corthala, come out with your hands up'?"

Buffy frowned. "Suppose we just knock?"

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

"I kinda feel sorry for Anya," Willow remarked. "She was looking forward so much to arresting Valygar, and turning him in for the reward money, and then he turns out to be a good guy."

"Yeah, well, I'm getting the feeling the Cowled Wizards are a bunch of lying scheming jerks," Buffy said. "It must be tough for Tani, with her almost sister being kept in prison by those creeps."

Willow raised her eyebrows. "You called her Tani," she observed. "Hey, did you pick that up from Spike?"

Buffy colored slightly. "Maybe," she admitted. "Spike's not so bad these days."

"Yeah, we have Xander's word as a paladin on that," Willow grinned. "He's kinda wigged about it." Her eyebrows crept down slightly and she pursed her lips. "Hey, Buff, tell me. When we were talking about, uh, feeding Spike, were you, you know, tempted?"

"No way!" Buffy denied. "Letting Spike bite me? That would be just, well, eww."

Willow looked around, checking to see if anyone else was within hearing range, and decided that it probably was safe to talk freely. Spike and Anath had gone into the woods to hunt, now that they had left the domain of the Shade Wolves, and there were no supernaturally acute ears to worry about. "Are you sure, Buffy?" she challenged, lowering her voice slightly. "'Cause hey, it kinda got to me. I got to thinking about him biting me on, not the wrist, but here in the crook of my elbow," she placed her fingers on the spot, "you know, licking me first and then sinking his fangs in kinda gently, and, uh, I got kinda, well, squidgy."

Buffy wrinkled her nose and said "Eww! But it's Spike!"

Willow quirked an eyebrow upwards. "Come on, Buff, you don't mean that. He nearly melted me and, hey, gay here. You can't tell me that you weren't even a little bit tempted."

"Vampire, bitey, equals badness," Buffy insisted. "That's all there is to it. The end." She changed the subject. "Hey, that Planar Sphere thing that Valygar was talking about? Maybe we could use it to get home."

"Maybe," Willow said, with no enthusiasm in her voice, and then returned to the topic of Spike. "Okay, so the bitey thing, not a turn-on for you, yeah, I can understand that, but hey, I don't get why you're playing it so cool. Spike is hot, he's in love with you, and he's got the all-clear on the evil thing now. I _know_ you think he's a hottie, Buffy, you can't fool me on that. You should be all 'carpe diem' and 'take me now', but no, you're all 'we can be friends', and hey, it's getting kind of old."

"Spike is a vampire, I'm the Slayer, 'just friends' is more than he's got any right to expect," Buffy said. "What's with you being all matchmaker-y anyway? Okay, you've gotten pretty friendly with Spike these days, I get that, but doing his wooing? Taking it too far, Will."

"It's not for him, Buffy," Willow denied. "I'm thinking of you."

"Of me? Is this some kind of transference thing? You think he's hot so I must?" Buffy saw Willow's raised eyebrows and quirked an eyebrow in return. "I didn't sleep through all of Psych class. Some of it stuck. Look, Will, I don't need a vampire boyfriend. Just a nice, normal, guy."

Willow rolled her eyes. "And you're going to find one in this world exactly where?"

"Hey, you might have given up hope of getting back to Sunnydale, but I haven't." Buffy sighed. "Although, yeah, it's not looking like it's gonna be any time soon. Still, even if we are stuck here, there's bound to be some nice normal guys around."

"Maybe." Willow looked straight at Buffy's face, almost tripped over a tree root, and had to return her eyes to the path ahead. "The thing is, Buffy, I _know_ you think Spike's hot," she repeated. "This isn't any kind of transference; this is me being your best friend and knowing you. And hey, as that best friend, I'm warning you that can't rely on Spike always being there for you if you change your mind."

"Spike stuck with Drusilla for, like, a hundred years," Buffy said airily. "He'll wait."

"So you admit that you're interested?"

"No way!" Buffy protested. "Okay, I admit that he's not entirely unattractive, but he's still a vampire. End of story. Oh, look! There's the village up ahead. Maybe we can get some hot baths if we bribe the innkeeper enough." She quickened her pace.

Willow turned her head and looked back along the line of adventurers to where Viconia walked at Sorkatani's heel. "Okay, Buffy, you keep swimming in de Nile," she said. "Spike stayed with Drusilla for a century, yeah, so maybe he will wait for you. Except that Drusilla didn't have any competition until you came along. You do have competition, Buffy. And Viconia's kinda like Drusilla only she's got the whole not being insane thing going for her, so, hey, pretty serious competition." She turned back to her friend but found that Buffy had drawn well ahead, out of hearing range, and so Willow shook her head and set out in pursuit.

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

The party entered the village in triumphant procession. Spike was well-fed again thanks to an unwary deer. Everyone was tired, and dirty, but cheerful and looking forward to hot baths.

A few of the local peasants stood at the side of the road and cheered for their liberator – Mazzy Fentan! Buffy pouted. Viconia glared at them fiercely. Spike laughed. Sorkatani just grinned. Mazzy looked acutely embarrassed and halted to call out loudly to the small crowd, informing them that the real heroes were Sorkatani, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and their comrades, who had rescued her and destroyed the Shade Lord who had been the true source of the evil that had afflicted the locality. The crowd took note and the cheers became directed at Sorkatani and Buffy. More of the villagers emerged from their dwellings as the news spread and the procession began to resemble a ticker-tape parade; except, of course, for the complete absence of ticker-tape or skyscrapers.

Mazzy's address to the crowd had brought the party's procession to a temporary halt. Xander, Anya, and Minsc had been at the front of the group at the time, and they continued onwards towards the inn without waiting for the others to start moving again.

"I'm starting to wonder if this paladin gig is the real deal," Xander moaned as he walked. "I'm supposed to be able to Detect Evil, right, only not a damn thing shows up. Spike's not evil. The werewolf girl? Not evil. Which maybe doesn't wig me out too much, 'cause hey, Oz was a good guy, but from what I remember about Dungeons and Dragons werewolves _have_ to be evil. Viconia's not evil and she's totally wigged about it 'cause being evil is, like, her job. The guy wanted for a double murder? Hey, he isn't evil at all. I guess he just bored those guys to death, yeah, 'cause I nearly fell asleep during his story. Hey, I figured I was on a winner with the ogres for sure – only they're not evil either!"

"The butt of Evil in these parts has been kicked most thoroughly," Minsc declared, with evident satisfaction.

"Or else my cool power doesn't work," Xander said. "I'd ask for a refund only I didn't pay anything for it. Isn't there anybody evil in this – hey, hold on a minute! I'm getting something. Evil. Coming in loud and clear from dead ahead."

Minsc grinned widely. "Then we shall kick its butt. Who is the evil one, Xander?"

"Uh, this doesn't make any kind of sense," Xander frowned. "I'm getting major evil readings from one of the merchant guys with a stall out in front of the inn. I mean, evil vibes off the scale." He bit his lip. "Only, hey, he's just standing there selling books. I can't just walk up and whack him with my mighty sword. I don't think that's a paladin thing to do."

"A book stand? Hmm. You mean that guy with that little straight moustache?" Anya halted and took off her backpack. She rummaged through it until she found a certain scrap of paper. "I wonder if he's selling 'The History of the Zhentarim'? Okay, the Valygar thing was a dead loss, but maybe this will make up for it."

"Did I miss an episode?" Xander wondered. "You kinda lost me there, Ahn."

"The note we found at the shop of that guy who was skinning people," Anya reminded him. Xander winced at the memory. "It goes 'Seek me out in the hills of Umar', which is where we are, 'and signal your identity with the purchase of the book, _The History of the Zhentarim_. This will identify you, for I do not know your name, nor should I'."

Xander nodded. "Seems to fit, yeah, what with the guy up ahead being evil."

"The rest of the letter was all cryptic clues about his secret name, stupid spy stuff, but I've decoded it. Well, Dawn and I have. You buy the book, you call him 'Darcin Cole', and then he'll talk. After that I think you can do as much whacking with your mighty sword as you like."

Xander grimaced. "I don't know, Ahn. If he was part of that whole 'Buffalo Bill' deal I might not be able to keep my cool long enough to go through with the whole undercover spiel. I might lose it and start with the whacking too early."

"Then I'll do it," Anya said. "I probably even smell like a skinner right now." She narrowed her eyes. "I really should have a cigarette in a long holder for this, and maybe one of those hats with a little veil, and a trenchcoat. And a gun. Oh well, I'll just have to rely on having the gang near at hand as back-up."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

"Your note said that you would provide the final ingredient," Anya pointed out sharply, "not just tell me what it is. The blood of a Silver Dragon? Well, I've just finished killing and skinning a Shadow Dragon and, let me tell you, dragon slaying isn't easy."

"That's not my problem," the man who went by the name Darcin Cole said. "You contracted to make the armor. If you can't fulfill your obligations then you'd better be ready to face the displeasure of our masters."

"And that would be worse than facing a dragon exactly how?" Anya asked.

Darcin Cole's eyes narrowed. "You should know that. Something's wrong."

Anya smiled sweetly and slipped a nine-inch enchanted dagger from her sleeve. She moved so smoothly that Cole didn't react until the blade was already at his throat. "It certainly is. I'm a bounty hunter and you're under arrest." She raised her voice. "Guys, come and get him."

"You're a fool if you think that you can cross The Rune and live," Cole snarled. His expression changed suddenly from one of anger to alarm. His mouth hung open slackly.

Anya thought that he must have seen something behind her but she didn't look round. All of her friends were in the vicinity, as she had persuaded them that there was no point in rushing to bathe if there was a possible fight in the offing, and several of them were invisible. She felt completely secure in that direction. "I'm not going to fall for the old 'look behind you' trick," she told him.

Cole ignored her. "Oh, shit," he groaned. His gaze was directed off to one side. Anya used her peripheral vision to look in that direction without taking her eyes from her prisoner. She saw a shimmering in the air and then three figures appeared out of nowhere. One of them materialized several feet above the ground and fell awkwardly. The others landed more elegantly and one spoke.

"You have uttered a name that should remain unspoken," the mage said. He fixed Cole with a steely stare and raised a clawed hand in a gesture as if he was ripping out a heart. "Suffer eternal death!"

Cole stiffened, clutched his throat, and toppled sideways.

The other mage extended his arm towards Anya. She lashed out with her dagger and caught him across the wrist. His skin flashed into the grey impenetrability of a Stoneskin spell and the blade glanced aside harmlessly. Azuredge bounced off his head a second later as Xander, twenty feet away, flickered into visibility. The mage ignored the blows, made the same clawing gesture in Anya's direction, and spoke with remorseless finality. "Suffer eternal death!"


	22. Chapter 22

**Chapter Twenty-two**

The mage gestured at Anya and spoke with remorseless finality. "Suffer eternal death!" There was a horrible choking gurgle and the soft thump of a slim female body collapsing to the ground.

Xander gasped in horror as Anath became visible, writhing in her death throes, only a few feet from Anya. He didn't know what had enabled Anya to survive but gave silent thanks as he threw Azuredge again. It rebounded harmlessly from the Stoneskin-protected mage.

Anya was facing the wrong way to see Anath but she could tell from the sounds that something bad had happened. She struck once more with her dagger, without effect, but she knew that Stoneskin could be broken by successive impacts and so she kept on trying.

"So, you are no amateur," the wizard observed. "Even so, your survival will be brief. Enough of this crude knife-work. Shrivel and die, by the power of Abi-Dalzim!" Dirty yellow smoke began to billow from his hands.

One of the other two mages took aim at Xander with a small rod of amber. His spell-casting was interrupted by a terrific impact that lifted him from his feet and slammed him into the wall of the inn.

Sorkatani came into view as her invisibility was broken by her attack. Her face was contorted in an ugly snarl and her eyes were wide and staring. Her twin katanas flashed as she whirled them in berserk fury. The mage's protective spells had prevented the blades from penetrating his skin but had been overwhelmed by the sheer force of the blows and he was obviously dazed as he rebounded from the wall. The amber rod flew from his hand and bounced away across the cobblestones.

The third mage, who had stumbled on landing from his teleport spell and had taken no part in events so far, was knocked from his feet by something invisible that landed on his shoulders and became a figure in black leather. Spike. The vampire's fangs couldn't penetrate the mage's Stoneskin either, but he began to bang the wizard's head against the cobbles hoping that he'd either break through the spell or else scramble the mage's brains.

Buffy landed in similar fashion on the back of Anya's opponent and made an energetic attempt to saw his head off with the Blade of Roses. The smoke rose around her and billowed out to envelop Anya, Spike, all three of the wizards, and then expanded outwards towards Xander and the other adventurers. It also swept over the three merchants who were manning the other stalls outside the inn and over a couple of locals who had been perusing the goods on the stalls until the fight had broken out. And to whoever it touched it brought agony.

Not to the three mages, who seemed immune to its effect, but to everyone else. It burned the skin, the mouth, the nose, and worst of all it burned the eyes of everyone within the cloud. Anya reeled back, choking. Sorkatani halted her all-out attack and staggered away. Buffy released her victim and fled. Xander retreated from the approaching cloud. Even Spike, who had ignored the approaching vapor as he had expected poison gas that couldn't harm him, blistered in the toxic fumes and was forced to abandon his assault.

Sorkatani saw one of the merchants, an elegant red-headed woman of around thirty who sold weapons along with the tools that made up the bulk of her stock in trade, stagger against her stall clutching her throat. The trestle table collapsed, spilling saws, hammers, axes and swords onto the ground, and the woman fell to her knees. Sorkatani raced in that direction, sheathing Celestial Fury as she went but merely dropping her lesser sword, and snatched up the woman. She ran from the cloud and carried the merchant to safety. Buffy grabbed Anya, who was also being overcome by the fumes, and also made it out of the vapor.

Spike followed in Sorkatani's wake. The two other merchants were managing to escape under their own steam but two of the villagers had fallen. Spike caught up both of them, one under each arm, and staggered out of the smoke bearing the two unconscious locals. He laid them down close to where Sorkatani had lowered the merchant woman to the ground.

Viconia was at Sorkatani's side immediately, casting a healing spell. Sorkatani stared into the smoke. "They attack," she yelled. "Willow!"

The Scoobies' own mage projected a jet of searing flame into the smoke. It bounced straight back at her. Her own magical protections stopped it short and the flame flickered out. Five seconds later a triple volley of Melf's Acid Arrows hit Willow, Xander, and Anya. Willow's defenses absorbed that spell too but Anya and Xander cried out in pain. Anya, already suffering badly from the effects of the caustic vapor, dropped to her knees and blood began to pour from her nose. Viconia hastened to her side and began to chant a healing spell.

Minsc drew his bow and loosed a shaft. Dawn, Giles, Yoshimo, and Mazzy hadn't expected to be needed for what should have been a simple arrest and were a little further away, without weapons at the ready, but now they followed Minsc's example and arrows and crossbow bolts whizzed through the air. All missed or bounced from the Stoneskins. Sorkatani drew her own bow and began to draw and loose quickly, hardly seeming to aim, but every arrow hit its target. Xander had hardly used his bow since acquiring Azuredge but now its extra range was vital. He hastily bent the bowstave and slipped the string into place. Spike and Buffy, neither of whom currently was in possession of any missile weapons, could do nothing but watch.

A fireball burst near Minsc, who scrambled out of the flames with his skin blistered and his trews smoldering. He retreated a few paces and loosed another shaft. It went astray due to fire damage to the flights; he cursed, examined his arrows and discarded several that were suffering from similar damage, and then resumed his part in the bombardment.

Simultaneously with the fireball's explosion a pair of magic missiles streaked for Anya and Viconia. One to stop Viconia from completing her healing spell, the other to kill the injured Anya. Both girls cried out in pain as the missiles hit, but it was too late; Viconia had already completed her healing spell and Anya survived.

"Our arrows outrange their spells," Sorkatani cried. "Back! Let us use our advantage." She began to back away, keeping up a hail of arrows as she retreated. The others followed her example. Once out of spell range Anya took up her own crossbow. Viconia joined in the bombardment with her sling, once she had attended to the immediate medical needs of the injured, crying out "For Shar!" each time she launched a missile.

Willow had started to fire off spells designed to strip away the magical protections from the enemy and in return had been the target of a spell that breached her own defenses. She saw the sense in Sorkatani's order and moved back, unleashing one final spell as she went; a barrier spell to stop the enemy from following. It took the mages less than a minute to dispel the barrier but by then it was too late.

A rain of arrows and quarrels fell on the three wizards, overloading the Stoneskin spells with repeated impacts, and then piercing through flesh. One mage went down and stayed down. The others took shelter behind the overturned tables. Their obvious move would have been to teleport away but Giles modified a Moody Blues song to shut off that avenue of escape. The cloud of toxic smoke dissipated and the mages replaced it with another identical spell. It provided them with only a momentary respite.

Spike borrowed a crossbow from a local hunter and climbed onto the roof of the inn. Yoshimo followed suit, scaling the wall with some assistance from the vampire, and the two of them began to fire down upon the mages. The improvised barricade was no protection from that angle. In desperation one of the wizards stood and unleashed a lightning bolt at the two figures on the roof. Spike and Yoshimo simply stepped back away from the edge and the bolt crackled harmlessly into the upper atmosphere. Sorkatani took careful aim with an arrow and shot the mage through the back of the neck.

Buffy joined the two bowmen on the roof. She didn't have a bow but she had brought a thirty pound boulder with her. The last surviving wizard was trying to use a chair as protection against the crossbow fire from the roof. She dropped the boulder on the chair, shattered it to pieces, and broke the wizard's arm like a twig. He screamed, stood up, and made a desperate attempt to flee.

"Take him alive," Sorkatani shouted. She dropped her bow and moved to intercept him. The hail of arrows stopped and the adventurers fanned out to block the mage's escape. He turned and made for the side of the inn. Spike ran along the roof until he was clear of the yellow haze of poison and dropped to the ground. Buffy ran to cut off any possible escape at the other side of the building. The mage wavered and came to a halt. He turned his head from side to side, searching frantically for some opening, but could see no way out. He raised his one working hand, cast something to the ground, and called out a magical command. A fireball erupted with the mage as Ground Zero. When it had cleared his charred corpse lay on the cobbles. The body of Anath lay nearby. She had metamorphosed into wolf form as she died and smoke curled up from her smoldering fur.

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

"I am sorry, Jabbress. I have failed you. I cannot bring her back." Viconia's tone was solemn.

Sorkatani's sad eyes widened. "You have lost your powers?"

"I feared that, but no. I still have Shar's favor, for now at least, and the power was there; it just failed to work. Her life force is lost without trace. Whatever spell those Faeren used destroyed it absolutely. She is gone forever." Viconia bowed her head and the corners of her mouth curled down. She cared little for Anath but hated to see Sorkatani upset.

Tears welled up in Sorkatani's eyes. "She's dead forever? Anath, Anath!"

"He said 'Suffer eternal death'," Anya remembered. "Poor girl."

Willow's eyes were huge and sad as she looked up from where she was perusing the spell book of one of the dead mages. "Death Spell," she read out. "It snuffs out the life forces of all enemy creatures within a radius of thirty feet. Powerful monsters, experienced warriors who have progressed in the martial arts to at least the ninth grade, paladins who have gained the ability to cast spells, wizards and priests who have mastered spells of the fifth level, and cunning and experienced thieves close to achieving the capability to control their own Guild, can resist this spell. Those of lesser power die instantly and irrevocably. They cannot be raised or resurrected." She raised her eyebrows at Anya and Xander. "You two were both within the kill zone. You must be, like, pretty powerful or you'd be dead too."

"Hey, I'm at least ninth level," Xander grinned. His grin faded away. Sorkatani was cradling Anath's body in her arms and weeping.

"I don't get it," Buffy muttered to Spike. "She hardly knew the werewolf girl but she's just totally broken up about her being dead. I mean, it's sad, yeah, but it's not like she was that close a friend. They'd only just met."

"Tani takes to people quick," Spike said. "Took to me quick enough, didn't she? Think she's got a thing for people who're supposed to be evil but aren't. Like me and Vicky. Anath fitted right in." He sighed. "Pretty upset about it myself. She was a good kid. We had some fun hunting that deer. Had a feeling we'd make a good team."

Buffy made no verbal comment but her raised eyebrow spoke volumes.

"Not that sort of team, Slayer," Spike hastened to put her right. "Liked her but didn't fancy her. Like Tara." He sighed again. "Seems a bloody shame, y'know?"

"Yeah." Buffy cocked her head slightly to one side and half closed her left eye. "Spike? You saved a couple of the villagers from that poison gas stuff. How come? I mean, I thought you didn't care about anyone who wasn't actually a friend?"

"Don't care," Spike admitted, "but it sort of seemed the thing to do, y'know? It was like, Tani would have expected it of me." He half grinned. "Would have gone for that red-headed lass Elence from the tools and weapons stall, right tasty piece she is, but Tani got there first. Had to make do with the plebs, didn't I?"

"It was a good thing to do," Buffy said.

"S'ppose so," Spike muttered. "Bang goes my sodding vamp cred."

Sorkatani managed to get her sobbing under control and lowered Anath gently to the ground.

"It's my fault," Anya said heavily. "I'm so sorry I got us into this."

Sorkatani shook her head. "Evil such as that of the Hidesman and those behind him has to be fought. You could not have known the peril. Blame not yourself."

Chief Minister Lloyd had been hovering, waiting for a suitable moment to approach without intruding too much on the party's grief, and he came forward now. "If you wish, we shall bury her in our graveyard, my Lady, and she will be remembered with honor and gratitude."

"Thank you," said Sorkatani. She wiped away her tears. "I think that she would like that."

"Our village has little gold," the Chief Minister went on. "Therefore in some small payment for your great deeds I would like to present you with this set of armor that belonged to an ancestor of mine, a ranger who protected this village long ago. Leather, but woven about with mighty enchantments to make it as strong as plate and chain." He swallowed as if suddenly nervous. "Uh, if it isn't enough, we could perhaps come up with some gold."

"I thank you, Minister Lloyd," Sorkatani said. Buffy wasn't comfortable with the formalities of this world and stayed quiet, letting Sorkatani act as spokeswoman. "The armor, and an honorable burial for Anath, is all that we could ask for. It is more than enough."

"Thank you, my Lady. It is good to know that there are still honorable people left in Faerun. Long shall you be remembered here as great heroes."

"Ah, we follow the path that leads to glory," Minsc remarked, a grin of satisfaction lighting up his face. "Boo is glad to be here, I can tell. We are all heroes."

"It's not worth a big fuss, Minsc," Sorkatani said.

"Why not? We must inspire fear in Evil. Quiet tales of hamsters on the riverbank are boring, but a man and his hamster who tear Evil limb from limb? That's scary! Shout it to the world."

"Oh, Minsc," Sorkatani said, shaking her head. A smile appeared on her tear-stained face. "Very well. Our deeds shall ring in the ears that we box and label 'do not open 'til the mid-winter fest'."

"Now you are talking the language of Minsc," the giant ranger boomed approvingly. "Next we must get you a hamster! Or perhaps an ice weasel, whatever is to your taste."

"May I?" Willow said, holding out her hands for the armor, and the Chief Minister passed it to her. It was so deep brown that it was almost black. Willow muttered an incantation and raised her eyebrows. "This is high class stuff," she said approvingly. "Enchantments as strong as on Spike's Armor of Deep Night."

"It is called 'The Night's Gift'," Minister Lloyd told her.

"I can see why," Willow said.

"How are we going to work out who gets it?" Anya asked. "There are three of us who'd be wanting it. Me, of course, and Dawn, and Yoshimo, right?"

"Indeed," Yoshimo agreed.

"Even me," Sorkatani said. "I tire of wearing full plate – although not of packing steel, Minsc – especially after my experience when I lost my strength, and I would like to follow Buffy's example and wear something lighter. I would not care to dispense with armor altogether, I think, but this may serve. Although perhaps I shall wait and see how the dragon scale armor turns out."

"Where is Dawn, anyway?" Buffy wondered.

"She got talking to some local kids about her own age," Spike told her. "She's not far off."

The Chief Minister shuffled his feet. "Uh, there is something else, my lady," he said to Sorkatani. "There was a messenger came while you were away and she left a letter for you." He handed her a roll of parchment.

"Thank you, Chief Minister," Sorkatani said. Minister Lloyd bowed and walked away.

"Big title for such a little place," Spike remarked to Giles. "Don't they call the top gadgy on the Isle of Man the Chief Minister?"

"They do indeed," Giles confirmed. "That might be a small place by British standards, but it is vastly larger than this little village."

"Yeah, seventy thousand alcoholics clinging to a rock, innit?" Spike grinned. His levity faded as he noticed Sorkatani's face pale as she read.

"What is it?" Buffy asked.

"A message from Jaheira," Sorkatani told her. "It – that – the –" She stumbled on her words, halted, and started again. "Tara is in danger," she said. "Jaheira says that it was not Tara who followed her from Nalia's castle. It was a doppelganger in Tara's form. She believes that Tara is still alive," she hastened to add, seeing Willow's face go white, "but she has been abducted. The doppelganger talked before Jaheira killed it and said that we should ask someone called 'Bodhi' where Tara is. Jaheira has discovered that Bodhi is the person who wanted me to meet her in the Graveyard District after nightfall."

"We have to get going!" Willow cried. "Right this minute!"

"No, we must first rest," Sorkatani said. "We are in no shape for another fight. Viconia has no spells of healing remaining and some of us still have hurts unmended. Tara has been missing for days. A few extra hours will make things no worse."

Willow was wide-eyed and obviously agitated. "It might make all the difference!"

"And us entering another fight in this shape might make all the difference between victory and defeat," Sorkatani pointed out. "Bathe, rest, prepare spells, and then let us ride forth to seek for Tara in the knowledge that we can bring all our power to bear upon those who have taken her."

Willow flexed her fingers experimentally. "I guess you're right," she said unhappily. "I could maybe do another Identify spell or two and that would be me flat busted. The 'battery low' light is flashing."

"Yeah, she sure is right, Will," Buffy agreed. "You look pretty wrecked and Viconia looks even worse. I know how you feel, but we need to get some rest before we can take on anything much. See if you can get some baths organized, 'kay? I'll go get Dawn."

"'S okay, Slayer, you go take your bath, I'll go round up the Nibblet," Spike volunteered. "I know which way she went."

"Thank you, Spike," Buffy said, and flashed him a dazzling smile. "That's really good of you." Spike walked away, looking slightly dazed, and Buffy headed for the door of the inn oblivious to the glare that she was receiving from Viconia. The drow girl turned to watch Spike for a moment, rolled her eyes, and then followed Buffy into the inn.

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

"Tough luck on the werewolf girl," Warren commented. "I would have thought she would have had enough hit dice to survive a Death Spell. She must have gained some experience out of her part of killing the Shadow Dragon, right?"

"I guess not," Jonathan said. He started up Shadowkeeper, opened the most recent Saved Game, selected Creature Browser, and scrolled down to Anath. "Funny," he remarked. "I thought there were five versions. There are six here." He opened them one after the other. "Seven hit dice," he observed as he checked out the first. "Same here, and here, and here. They're all pretty much – no, wait, this last one's different. Eight hit dice. And, yeah, alignment True Neutral. That must be the way she was when they got back to Imnesvale."

"Eight hit dice? Just one short," Warren said. "Man, that kinda sucks. She was so close to being safe."

"How about if I reload and see if she makes it through?" Jonathan suggested.

Warren pursed his lips. "How much control do you have over Mazzy?"

"Not a whole lot," Jonathan admitted. "I can override her choice of targets. That's about it."

"So there isn't much you could do to change the way things work out," Warren said. "I guess you could give Anath another hit dice with Shadowkeeper but, hey, that seems kinda like, well, cheating."

"I've got a bad feeling about doing anything like that anyway," Jonathan said. "Like it might mess up whatever's happening that's made even the NPCs come alive."

Warren nodded. "Good thinking, Batman." He looked more closely at the screen. "I think I'll take a look at Buffy's crew while you've got that open, dude."

"Sure thing," Jonathan said. "There's Anya right there below Anath. If I sort by 'Resource' it'll put them all together and handy." He clicked on the relevant column and moved over to give Warren equal access to the computer. They scanned through the detailed character information on Anya, Buffy, and Giles for a minute and then Warren suddenly frowned deeply.

"Anya, Buffy, then Giles?" he said. "Huh? That's not right. They're in alphabetical order within the Resource group. What's happened to Dawn?"

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

The three local boys didn't impress Dawn much but they were pretty much the first people of around her own age that she'd met since coming to this world. Hanging out with them for a little while made a nice change from being around adults the whole time. Plus, they were all big with the admiration and it was kinda flattering.

The aftermath of the fight had been kinda depressing and she'd been glad to get away for a while. Yeah, she could have used a bath, but she'd managed to duck out of doing the yucky dragon-skinning for Anya, and her part in the fight outside the inn had been at long range, and so she wasn't in too bad a state. It wasn't like the boys smelled of any roses anyway.

Well, two boys and a hobbit. Valsben was the size of a kid of eight, and him coming on with flirty talk was kinda wiggy, but hey, different planet, different rules. He was probably way older than her, anyway, if hobbits – halflings – aged the same way here as they did in 'The Lord of the Rings'. In his twenties, maybe; Dawn didn't know whether that was more cause for wigging or less.

The two human boys were okay-looking, she thought, but kinda dumb. There wasn't a whole lot of education available in a village like this, she guessed, where 'peasant' was pretty much the only career option. They were both fair haired but didn't look much alike otherwise. The shorter of the two, Neler, was curly-haired and had red cheeks. The taller, Dirbert, had bristly hair, he had more of a tan, and he had a cute mouth that looked like it might be good to kiss. It was a shame about his name; she couldn't stop herself from wondering if he had a Dogbert and a Catbert, maybe even a Ratbert, and if he wanted to be an engineer.

Actually he wanted to be an adventurer. All three of them did. They were totally bowled over by Dawn in her leather armor, with her short sword hanging at her side and her crossbow slung on her back, and by her status as one of the band of adventurers who had defeated the evil that threatened their village. She was a fascinating and glamorous figure to them, and their eyes shone with admiration as they plied her with compliments. It almost seemed a shame to steal their purses but she did it anyway. Just for the practice, right, and she totally was going to give them back.

They escorted her slightly out of the village to a sunny spot that was sheltered from the wind by a great boulder that stuck up from the ground. There they bombarded her with questions about her adventures, and about the mighty heroes in whose company she traveled, and about the city of Athkatla. They also persuaded her to take off her armor to better enjoy the sunshine.

A couple of Dawn's shirt buttons had come off during the fighting, unknown to her until then, and the Anya-designed bra that she was wearing under it made the most of assets that she had always previously regarded as fairly modest. This meant that the boys hardly lifted their gazes above the level of her collarbone once she had removed the leather jerkin. This was flattering, annoying, and embarrassing in pretty much equal measures and Dawn wasn't quite sure how to deal with it. She'd never been the object of anything like as much attention from any of the boys at school.

"If we had swords we could be adventurers," Dirbert stated confidently. "Defeating monsters and protecting the village and winning treasure and all."

"Uh, it's not that easy," Dawn said. "There's, like, a whole lot of hard work. Buffy and Sorkatani practice for, like, hours every single day. And hey, you can get so tired after a fight that it's like right down into your bones." And she remembered the smell of blood so strong that it made the gorge rise in her throat, and being so scared that she thought that she was going to wet herself, and the sight of friends lying very still on the cold and blood-soaked earth, but she didn't know how to word her thoughts so that she would cool the boys' enthusiasm for an adventuring career without also cooling their enthusiasm for her.

"We could practice if we had swords," Dirbert pointed out. "Only they won't let us have any. It's not fair. You could get swords for us. And beer."

"Hey, I'm way too young to buy beer," Dawn protested. She had no idea what the legal age for purchasing alcohol might be in Amn, if indeed there were any restrictions, and her protestation came out by reflex. The boys took no notice.

"Bastard swords," Dirbert went on.

"Yeah, bastard swords," Neler agreed enthusiastically.

"Yeah," Valsben agreed. His voice held markedly less enthusiasm and he lowered his eyes as he spoke. Possibly he was thinking of the difficulties that he would have in wielding a hand-and-a-half grip sword, bigger in proportion to his size than a two-handed sword was to Minsc or even Xander, and was looking at the short sword that Dawn had lain aside when she took off her armor; or perhaps he was just staring at Dawn's ass as a change from staring at her boobies.

"Why bastard swords?" Dawn asked, wondering if there was any logical reason or their choice was dictated only by the name of the weapon.

"Uh, well," Dirbert said, his hesitation confirming Dawn's suspicions, "they're a real man's weapon."

Dawn rolled her eyes. "Yeah, right, and a broadsword isn't?"

Dirbert opened and closed his mouth a couple of times without saying anything and then regained his composure. "And beer," he said. "You can get us a keg of De'tranion's Baalor Ale, 'cos it's got a real kick to it. It's what the real men drink."

"I'll take your word for it," Dawn said. "But hey, even if they would serve me, there is just no way that I could carry a keg. Does it come in bottles?"

"We've got the money," Dirbert went on. "If you do the buying …" His hand went to his belt and came away empty. "Hey! Where's my purse?"

Neler and Valsben's hands went to their belts. "Where's mine?" Neler cried. Valsben stared accusingly at Dawn.

"Oops!" she said. "Busted. Here they are. It was just for the practice. All part of being an adventurer, you know? I was totally going to give them back."

Neler glared at her with fury in his eyes and his nostrils flaring wide. "Thief!" he growled. He glowered as he counted his coins to make sure that they were all there.

"Well, yeah," Dawn said. "It's my job in the adventuring party. I so was going to give them back."

"It took months to save up the money for the swords and ale," Dirbert complained. "You come in here with your fancy armor and sword and jewels and you think that it's funny to steal our hard-earned money. Well, it's not."

"It was just for the practice. Hey, I don't want your money," Dawn protested. "I get plenty from Buffy. It so was just for the practice," she repeated.

"You owe us," Dirbert said.

"Hey, I've given the money back!"

"That's not good enough," Neler said. "You're going to have to kiss us all or we'll go tell Minister Lloyd that you stole our money only we caught you."

Dawn gulped. Her plan had been to toss the purses back casually as they parted, thereby making herself look even cleverer and more glamorous and exciting, but it had been totally spoiled when the boys had noticed their absence. If they made a complaint against her, with the truth on their side to put the ring of sincerity into their voices, they were going to be believed and her own protestations that she had been going to give the money back were going to sound pretty lame. Even getting Viconia to do a truth spell to back her up probably wouldn't help; a drow's word didn't count for much in Amn, she'd learned. She was going to be in so much trouble. "Uh, okay," she said reluctantly. "You can have the kisses."

"And you have to show us your diddies," Dirbert pushed his advantage.

"Diddies?" Dawn echoed blankly, and then she realized what he meant and blushed. "No way!"

"Okay, we'll go tell Minister Lloyd," Dirbert threatened.

Dawn gulped. It was a big step. No boy back in Sunnydale had ever seen her boobies. Justin had put his hand on them over her clothes while he was kissing her, a few minutes before she had dusted him, but that was the furthest that she'd ever gone. The same went for Janice. Her second-best friend Lisa had revealed to her once that she'd allowed a boy to put his hand under her bra, and there were persistent rumors at school that Kirsty had given Kevin a hand job, maybe even a (ewww!) blow job, so maybe going along with the request wouldn't make her too much of a slut; not that anything she did here would ever get back to the girls at school anyway even if they did find a way of returning to California. "O-o-okay," she conceded. "I g-guess that's kinda fair."

"Yeah!" Neler leered. "Show us your diddies."

Dawn unfastened the remaining buttons of her shirt, hooked her hands under the bottom of her bra, and lifted it to reveal her breasts. She then tugged it back down hastily.

"Oh, wow," Valsben moaned. "Pretty diddies." Neler groaned wordlessly and brought up his hand to wipe drool from his lips.

Dirbert was less impressed. "That's not enough," he said. "Give us a proper look. Take that thing right off."

"Yeah, we want more than just a little peek," Neler added, following his friend's lead.

Dawn gulped again. But hey, she'd already showed them her boobies, so the bridge had been crossed anyway. She undid the buttons at her sleeves, took off the shirt, and then reached behind her back to unhook the bra. 'Why couldn't Anya have made them front-fastening when she was pretty much starting from scratch?' she thought briefly. Then the garment fell away and her breasts were exposed to three pairs of lecherous eyes.

Lecherous, but also somehow reverent. "So beautiful," Dirbert breathed. Dawn fought back the impulse to cover her breasts with her arms and allowed the boys to feast their eyes on the sight.

Of course after half a minute of viewing they were no longer satisfied with just looking. "Now the kisses," Dirbert said.

"I guess so," Dawn said, and bent to pick up her bra. This put her boobs into a position that brought renewed moans from Neler and Valsben.

"Hey, that stays off!" Dirbert demanded. "We get to kiss you with your diddies showing."

"Hey, that so wasn't part of the deal," Dawn protested.

"Yes it was," Dirbert insisted. "That's why the diddies came out first."

"Yeah, we get to kiss you with your diddies out," Neler backed him.

"You have to or we tell Minister Lloyd," Valsben chimed in.

There was a flaw in Dirbert's logic but Dawn didn't want to get into an argument about it. It wasn't such a huge deal, now that they'd seen her with her top off and she'd already agreed to kiss them, was it? "Oh, all right," she said, heaving a sigh. "Okay, get on with it."

Valsben went first. Dawn had to bend over a long way to kiss him, and his hands came up and cupped her breasts. She broke the kiss and pulled back. "That's enough," she declared very firmly, and the hobbit boy obeyed and stepped away. He stood staring at the palms of his hands, giving the distinct impression that he was never going to wash them again.

Neler was next. He groped her boobies during the kiss as well, but also accepted it when Dawn called a halt.

Dirbert went last. His kiss was much more forceful, his tongue invaded her mouth, and his hands wandered over her breasts and caressed her nipples. He put one arm around her and pulled her close, just when Dawn had been about to break the kiss, and for a second she felt alarmed, but then his other hand left her breasts, and she relaxed and allowed the kiss to continue. It didn't occur to her that his hand had moved down to the fastenings of his breeches.

"If that comes out, it comes off." The voice wasn't making a threat; it was a flat statement of fact.

Dirbert yelped in alarm, released Dawn, and jumped back. Dawn yelped too and crossed her arms over her breasts. "Spike!"

"What the sodding hell are you playing at, Nibblet? Get some bloody clothes on. Now."

"It's not my fault," Dawn blurted out. "I picked their pockets for practice but they noticed and they wouldn't listen when I said I was going to give the purses back and they made me show them my boobies and kiss them or they said they'd tell that Chief Minister guy and get me into trouble."

"Bloody hell, Dawn, didn't you learn anything from that sodding shambles at Halloween?"

"That's not fair. It's totally not the same. I didn't have to kill these guys, did I?"

"You wandered off with three kids you'd just met. Okay, this time you let me know where you were going. S'ppose you've learned that much. Still bloody stupid." He glared at her. "Buffy was going to come looking for you. If she'd seen you like that she'd have gone absolutely bloody spare."

Dawn cringed at the thought. Not that she knew what 'gone spare' meant, but it didn't sound good, and her own visualization of Buffy's likely reaction was scary enough. "You're not going to tell her, are you?"

"Bloody ought to." Spike shook his head. "Nah, I'll keep my mouth shut, Bit. Now get a move on. Get dressed. We're moving out soon." He turned his attention to the boys, putting his back to Dawn to give her a chance to dress out of his sight. "Ought to bloody strangle you lot."

"But she stole our money!" Dirbert protested.

"And you sodding well blackmailed her into giving you a show and a grope," Spike growled. "Don't push it, kid. I'm this close to ripping your throats out. And you breathe one word of this to anyone else and I bloody will kill you. Got it?"

"You don't even have a sword," Dirbert said defiantly.

Spike frowned and put his hand to his hip. "Bugger. Must have left it sticking in one of those wizards. Doesn't matter. Don't need a sword for the likes of you." His frown transformed into brow ridges and his fangs came out. "Just you bugger off and keep your mouths shut. Got it?"

"Y-y-yes sir!" Dirbert stammered. Neler and Valsben were already fleeing. Dirbert stumbled backwards, torn between terror and his desire to see as much as possible of Dawn as she dressed, and then terror won and he turned round and ran away.

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

"There she is," Jonathan announced, as he perused the Shadowkeeper Creature Browser. "Panic over, dude, Dawn's there after all. Hey, that's sorta weird. All the rest of them have got resource codes that are, like, 'BV' and then their initials and a number. Dawn's is totally different."

"Let me see, dude." Warren peered at the screen. "Holy shit! '**#00FF00'. **That's the code that I have to keep putting into everything to get it to come out all super-detailed. Even in places where hexadecimal doesn't make sense and shouldn't even work. It's Dawn. She's the one who's making everything happen. That piece of code is, like, the key."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

Spike stood with his back to Dawn until she called out to say that she had finished dressing. She was buckling on her sword belt when he turned around. "Bloody idiot!" he growled. He saw her lip tremble and his expression softened. "Oh, Nibblet, you daft muggins," he said, shaking his head. "What were you playing at? Never mind, I'll drop it and I won't say anything to the Slayer. But you bloody well be more careful in future, right?"

"Okay, Spike, I will," Dawn promised. "Thank you so much."

"'S okay," Spike mumbled. "Not like I did much. Like I said, Buffy was going to come looking for you anyway."

"What's the hurry?" Dawn wondered. "I thought we were going to take some time getting in some rest and recuperation. How come we're heading out so quick?"

"Had a message from Jaheira," Spike explained. "Tara's vanished. Kidnapped."

"Tara's vanished?" Dawn's mouth opened very wide. "In Athkatla?"

"Yeah, probably, but not just now," Spike explained. "Wasn't Tara who left Nalia's place with Jaheira at all. Sodding doppelganger pretending to be Tara. She probably got snatched back when we were all in town. Red reckons Tara was acting a bit funny just as we were setting out on this jaunt. Said she couldn't ride, when she'd told Red before that she spent half her time as a kid on horseback. That'll have been the doppelganger."

"Doppelganger? Like that thing that Sorkatani and Minsc stuck with Jaheira's spear back when we were getting out of that prison place?" Dawn asked.

"Yeah, just like that," Spike confirmed. "Looks like they're a bit cleverer and more dangerous than she led us to believe." He frowned at Dawn. "Another reason not to go buggering off by yourself, Bit. Don't want to have to kill something that looks like you."

"Yeah. Right, I'll be careful," Dawn said. "But hey, if I can't date on this world that just totally sucks."

"Forget dating for the time being," Spike told her. "Bloody hell, Bit, you were thinking of dating those berks? You can do better than that."

"Hey, they were like the first kids my age I've even met here," Dawn protested, giving Spike a brief eye-roll. "But okay, I'll give dating a miss. For now." She sighed. "I so suck. I shouldn't be complaining after what's just happened, and while Tara's missing. She's, like, probably stuck in some horrible damp smelly dungeon somewhere. I hope she's all right and she isn't getting treated too bad."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

Tazok pushed a covered tray through the hatch in Tara's cell. Tara took the tray and sniffed as a familiar and delicious aroma reached her nostrils. "Thank you, Tazok," she said, and set the tray down. She removed the cover. "Is that – coffee?"

"Coffee from Ulgarth," Tazok confirmed. "Also cakes of oatmeal and honey, made to a recipe of the dwarfs, and chocolate from Maztica." He thrust something else through the hatch. "And I brought you some flowers."


	23. Chapter 23

**Chapter Twenty-three**

Cromwell's beard was trimmed shorter than was usual for a dwarf and was bound into a tight plait with golden bands. The singed ends of the hairs that protruded beyond the bands offered a clue as to why he had adopted that style. The heat of the forge could be felt even at the far end of his shop.

"Ye've done a braw job o' skinning thot muckle beastie," he praised. He tugged idly at the end of his beard and pondered. "There's mair dragon scale there than ah've seen in mah life afore thae noo. Whit tae dae wi' it, thot's thae puzzle, hoo can ah get thae maist use oot o' it?"

"Boots," Anya said. Cromwell glowered at her.

"You are the master craftsman, and I would not presume to advise you," Sorkatani said, "but our thoughts were that it could be used to reinforce our suits of enchanted leather armor. Also, we desire boots of dragon skin."

"Ah'm nae a cobbler, young lassie," Cromwell replied, "but ah ken one weel, a guid man, an' ah'll have a wee bit word in his ear." He stared at the party one after the other, his eyes dwelling on their armor, and then he scrutinized the sets of leathers that they had laid out on one of his tables. "Ah, there's some bonny wark there," he said admiringly. "Ah'll have tae gang canny nae tae spoil thae enchantments. Still, ah'm nae a maister for naethin'. Ah'll dae it." He smiled at Sorkatani. "Ah've heard o' ye frae Taerom Fuiruim, thae Thunderhammer. Ye're thae lass they call thae Perfect Warrior, is thot richt? He speakit weel o' ye."

"He is a fine craftsman and a good friend," Sorkatani said. "It pleases me that he has spoken of me."

"Whit happened tae thae suit o' Ankheg armor thot he made for ye?" Cromwell asked.

"I was captured and imprisoned, and all my possessions taken," Sorkatani explained. "I found some of them in the dungeon in which I was held, but that armor is gone." She rapped her knuckles on the breastplate of the steel armor that she wore. "I took this from a fallen foe, and it may even exceed the Ankheg plate for strength, but its weight can be bothersome."

"As is the weight of mine," Viconia muttered.

"Weel, ah'll see whit ah can dae for ye, lassie," Cromwell told Sorkatani. He swung his gaze upon Viconia. "Ah nivver thocht ah'd see a drow in mah forge. There's aye bad bluid betwixt thae drow an' my ain fowk, ye ken. Auld matters of stolen artifacts an' murdered dwarves thot are nae easy forgot."

Viconia shrugged. "I was not born then, hargluk. My people stole items from the harglukkin during the Descent, yes, I know this. Of course we did. We wanted the best, after all."

Cromwell stared at her for a moment longer and then gave a grunt of laughter. "Ye've a bonny tongue in yer heid for a drow, lassie. Ah'll see whit ah can dae for ye."

"How long will it take?" Spike asked. He didn't want to be parted from the Armor of Deep Night for any longer than he could help, and was also nervous lest the dwarf's alterations spoiled the look of the beautiful leather garment.

"Thot depends on hoo many laborers ah hire," Cromwell said. "Ah dinnae suppose ye'd be willin' tae help oot in thae forge yer ain selves? Nae, ah thocht not. Ah tell ye whit. Ye lave thot bonny piece wi' me for a day an' ah'll dae thae reinforcin'. Ah'll nae harm it, mannie, dinnae ye fash yersel. It'll be a ten-day at thae least afore ah've got suits for aw o' ye done, an' thot's if ye gi' me thae coin for a full crew." He raised a hand to his helmet and adjusted its position on his head. "Six thousand danter wud be aboot richt."

"We have weapons and armor here that we do not use and plan to sell," Sorkatani said. "Perhaps we could do a trade?"

"Ay, thot will dae verra weel," Cromwell replied. "Ah'll take these pieces as payment for thae labor, richt enough. Ah micht make a wee bit loss on thae deal, or ah micht nae. It'll dae."

Buffy was less interested in the armor than were most of the others and she grew bored with the discussion, especially as she found Cromwell's accent almost impenetrable, and she wandered around the forge looking at the weapons for sale. She didn't see anything that appealed to her, certainly not in the way that the Blade of Roses had, but once the deal was struck she asked Cromwell what he could produce in the way of special weapons.

"Ah'm nae an innovator," Cromwell confessed. "Gi' me a muckle weapon o' thae past thot's damaged an' ah can dae a braw job o' fixin' it, forbye, but ah dinnae make thae things frae scratch, at least nae wi'oot thae plans." He tugged at his beard. "Ye've got a couple o' wee bits in amang yer stuff thot micht be worth a closer look. Thot bow-stave lookit verra much like thae wark o' Gesen tae me. If it is, an' ye can find one o' his strings, ah can make a bonnie bit weapon indeed. Ah saw a scroll ah cud dae wi' takin' a closer look at, as weel."

Buffy located the scroll in question and passed it to the dwarf. "Ay, thot's it," Cromwell nodded. "Thae scroll o' Crom Faeyr. Instructions for hoo tae make thae Crom Faeyr war hammer. Aboot as muckle a weapon as can be." He frowned as he read the scroll. "Ye need Gauntlets o' Ogre Power, a Girdle o' Frost Giant Strength, an' thae Hammer o' Thunderbolts. Ah dinnae think ye'll find aw o' thae things, ye mind, but, if ye dae, ye come back tae me."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

"How come the dwarves all sound like they're Scotch?" Dawn wondered, as they walked along the dockside towards the Harpers' building.

"Scottish. Scotch is the drink," Giles corrected her. "It is undoubtedly a side effect of the spell whereby we understand the language of this place." He glanced around at the other members of the group. "Just as Viconia sounds vaguely Russian, as indeed does Jaheira, and Yoshimo sounds Japanese."

"Sorkatani doesn't," Dawn commented. "Sound Japanese, that is. She sounds more, well, English than anything, I think. But she's from the same country as Yoshimo, right?"

"Born there, Bit, but she was brought up in Candlekeep, and that's just up the coast from here," Spike joined in with an explanation. "Could ride there in a week – a ten-day, I mean – or so. That right, Tani?"

Sorkatani turned bleak eyes upon him. "I could, yes, but I would not be allowed inside. I am exiled forever. I can never go home any more."

"Oh, that's terrible," Dawn commiserated.

Sorkatani gave her a half smile. "I grow maudlin. Forgive me. I should not be sad, for I made a home for myself in Baldur's Gate, and I shall return there once Imoen is rescued. Your case is worse, I fear, for I know not how you can return to your world. I would help you if I could. Perhaps Elminster might have the power to return you. He was friend to Gorion, and I have met him a time or two, but he would never lift a finger to help me except with cryptic words. I shall plead your case, if we meet him, but I can promise nothing. I am sorry."

"Hey, don't worry about it," Dawn told her. "This place isn't so bad. If we have to stay here, well, it isn't the worst thing in the world. Maybe you could, like, show me around Baldur's Gate."

Sorkatani's smile grew broad and her face lit up. Suddenly she looked very young. "That would be a pleasure, Dawn. We could 'hang out' – is that the right expression in your idiom?"

"Yeah, you got it right," Dawn confirmed. She tilted her head to one side. "Uh, Sorkatani, how old are you?" She had tended to assume that Sorkatani was much the same age as Buffy but once in a while the Perfect Warrior seemed much younger.

"Seventeen," Sorkatani replied, somewhat to Dawn's surprise. "Nearly eighteen. I am not so much older than you, really. I was just your age when I fled from Candlekeep. Since then almost my whole life has been spent on the road, save for a few short months of peace in Baldur's Gate after the death of Sarevok." She sighed. "I have had to grow up fast. I hope that you are spared such experiences."

"Hey, last year there was this, like, hell goddess looking to sacrifice me the whole time," Dawn revealed. "This is totally a vacation compared to that."

Sorkatani raised her eyebrows. "Then indeed we have something in common."

Their conversation was interrupted as Jaheira emerged from the building ahead of them and approached at a fast walk. "Sorkatani," she called. "It is good to see you. Did you get my message?"

"We did," the Perfect Warrior confirmed. "We have only just returned to the city. Now that we are reunited our search for Tara can begin."

Jaheira cast a glance back at her shoulder at the Harpers' building. "My superior Galvarey wishes to interview both you and Buffy, but that can wait. Tara must come first. To the Graveyard District?"

"Later," Sorkatani replied. "The invitation specified that we must go after nightfall. Right now there is a small matter that I must sort out for Yoshimo, and then I suggest that we go back to the Copper Coronet. There is much to talk about."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

The man was tall and handsome and wore gleaming armor and a silk-lined cloak. A mace hung from his belt. His hair was dark brown and brushed back from his forehead to display a lofty brow, his eyes were gray, and his skin was tanned. He had full lips, which were not hidden at all by the short beard that was shaved well back from his mouth, and his teeth gleamed white as he smiled.

Spike disliked him on sight even before the man spoke to Buffy.

"Fair lady," the stranger addressed her, "what brings you to this cesspool of corruption?"

Buffy's hand went up to her hair, she twined a strand around her finger for a moment, and then she rethought and lowered her hand to the pommel of the Blade of Roses to activate the enchantment that made her even more attractive. "Uh, hi," she said. "Cesspool of corruption, huh? Hey, it's a bar, yeah, but it's not so bad. We've, like, freed the slaves and all that stuff. Hey, you should have seen it when Lehtinan was running the joint."

"I had heard rumors of one who struck a mighty blow against the slave traders of the city," the armored man said. "It is true, then? You must be a mighty force for righteousness and justice."

"Well, it wasn't exactly just me," Buffy said. "There's a whole bunch of us. But, yeah, I'm one of the two leaders."

"Perchance I have found worthy companions," the man went on. "I seek to be knighted in the Most Noble Order of the Radiant Heart and I must prove my worth. Have you, perhaps, need of a strong arm? I am Anomen, warrior priest of Torm. What is your name, my Lady?"

"Buffy," she replied, "the Vampire Slayer."

"Vampire Slayer?" Anomen's eyes widened. "A mighty feat indeed to slay a vampire."

"It's kinda my job," Buffy said. She looked over to the other side of the barroom, to where Sorkatani sat talking to Jaheira, and frowned. "I don't know if we need another fighter. There's getting to be a lot of us. Although, Mazzy went off to her home town to arrange funerals for her dead buddies, and Anath died, so maybe there might be a slot. Hey, did you say you're a priest?"

"I did, my Lady," Anomen confirmed.

"We're short a cleric, with Tara missing," Buffy mused. "Viconia was, like, totally drained after that last battle, and even with Jaheira back we could probably use the extra healing and stuff. Come on, I'll introduce you to Sorkatani, and we'll see if we have room for you."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

Sorkatani greeted Anomen with stiff formality and a complete lack of any welcoming smile. When Buffy asked if there was room in the group for an additional cleric Sorkatani consulted with Viconia and Jaheira before replying.

"The healing duties for so many are a strain," Viconia admitted. "I must needs allocate all my power to healing spells, with none remaining to cast spells of destruction upon our enemies. I would welcome another hand to lighten the load, at least until Tara is rescued and returned to our company. What say you, treehugger?"

"My thoughts are the same as yours, drow harlot," Jaheira agreed.

"Drow?" Anomen's eyes narrowed and he stared at the veil that obscured Viconia's face. "You associate with a creature of the blackest evil?"

Sorkatani's eyes narrowed. "Viconia has been my true friend and companion through many months of bitter struggle, priest. Insult her not if you wish to join this company."

"He didn't mean anything by it," Buffy said. "You didn't, did you, Anomen? It's just, hey, you know how people are about the drow in these parts. But he won't say it again." Her voice took on a hard edge. "You won't, right?"

Anomen's brow furrowed. "If you vouch for this, ah, woman," he said, with evident reluctance, "then I suppose that I could tolerate her."

Sorkatani's eyes remained cold. "It is more a question of whether or not she will tolerate you."

"To call me 'evil' is hardly an insult in my eyes, Jabbress," Viconia reminded her. "If Buffy wishes this rivvil to join us I have no objection. As I said, I would welcome another to take a share of the healing duties."

Willow was watching the interplay without taking part. She took note of Buffy's attitude to Anomen, glanced across to where Spike was staring at the priest with an unmistakably hostile glower on his face, and realized why Viconia was so enthusiastic about the prospective new member of the group. "Hey, we don't know anything about this guy," she spoke up. "Sorry, Buffy, but we've got to be careful."

"No problemo," Buffy said airily. "Xander can check him out, right?"

"Yeah, sure, Buffster," Xander agreed. He concentrated briefly. "Nope, no evil vibes whatsoever. Well, except from that dwarf over there, the one who's such a big fan of Giles' songs."

"Hmm," Giles mused. "Perhaps I should play him something by Black Sabbath or Iron Maiden?"

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

"Skulking about in graveyards by night, accepting a quest to return a toy bear to a ghost – bah! These are no tasks for a warrior. Out on the field, facing the enemy in open combat, that is how it should be," Anomen rambled. "I remember last summer's campaign by the Order against the Hillgnasher giants. A day of glory under the bright sun. I myself slew twenty of the beasts."

"And he's still got to prove himself?" Xander muttered to Spike. "Jeez, what do they expect in this Order? Should he have done it while riding on a unicycle and juggling live porcupines?"

Spike sniggered. "Bloke's about as full of crap as a dozen elephants," he commented.

Buffy hadn't been listening to Anomen's boastful reminiscences. "Hush, guys," she ordered. "There's something out there. A vamp." She drew the Blade of Roses from its scabbard and then stood absolutely still, her head tilted to one side, listening.

Anomen gulped and took a step backwards. Spike moved forward, silently as a ghost, and took up a position at Buffy's side. Sorkatani frowned at Spike's unheeding back and rested her thumb on the crossguard of Celestial Fury ready for an iaijutsu draw. Xander grinned and poised Azuredge for a throw.

"So, at long last you have responded to my invitation," a soft and husky female voice purred from the darkness. "I was beginning to think that you would never come."

"Your choice of meeting place is scarcely calculated to inspire confidence," Sorkatani replied.

Buffy slipped out of the circle of torchlight and disappeared into the darkness, moving as silently as a shadow, followed closely by an equally silent Spike.

"There are a number of reasons why we must meet here, few of which need concern you," the voice went on. "First, let me introduce myself. I am Bodhi. I have asked you here primarily because we are unlikely to be overheard."

"Speak, then," Sorkatani said. "Where is Tara? What have you done with her?"

"Nothing," Bodhi replied, a hint of mocking laughter in her voice. "I have no interest in the curs that follow at your heels, god-child. Did they blame it upon me? A plot to set us against each other, perhaps. I want you to work for me. Why would I jeopardize that by abducting one of your followers?"

"The doppelganger that I slew said that you could tell us where Tara is, vampire," Jaheira put in.

"And indeed I can," Bodhi told her. Her voice suddenly sharpened. "Hold, Vampire Slayer! Come no closer, neither you nor your little pet, or I will simply run off and say nothing."

"Tell us where Tara is," Buffy demanded.

"Go back to your friends and then I will speak," Bodhi said. "There must be a truce between us or this discussion will not take place at all."

Buffy and Spike walked back to the rest of the group and stood glaring sullenly in Bodhi's direction. "Okay, truce," Buffy agreed, in a voice thick with resentment and distrust.

"Ah, yes, that is better. Very well. Your comrade is a prisoner of Lord Jierdan Firkraag in his fortress in the Windspear Hills. I tell you this as a gesture of good faith. Did you get such a gesture from Gaelen Bayle? I think not."

"You are in opposition to Bayle?" Sorkatani asked.

"I am," Bodhi confirmed. "I can get you to Spellhold, god-child. You can reach your missing… friend. For this service I ask only fifteen thousand danter. And that you perform some small services for me, true, but Bayle will ask similar services also. And you would find his requests far harder to fulfill than you will mine."

"You cannot treat with this foul and unnatural creature," Anomen protested.

Sorkatani grimaced, raised her eyes towards the stars above, and spoke briefly and quietly to Viconia in the drow tongue. She raised her voice again and challenged Bodhi. "Let me guess. You control the guild that is fighting the Shadow Thieves, Bayle is one of the Shadow Thieves' officers, and his task would be for me to kill you, as yours will be for me to kill him."

"Clever, clever, god-child," Bodhi said. "You are not precisely correct, but close enough. I want you to weaken the resources of the Shadow Thieves. There is a monopoly in this city and I intend to break it. They will not be easily destroyed but once a few key figures are disposed of the majority of their members will join with me. We will have broken the largest criminal organization south of Waterdeep."

"The Shadow Thieves are indeed a blight upon our society," Anomen mused.

"Broken, or merely assisted in a change of leadership?" Sorkatani shook her head. "I trust you not, vampire. Thank you for the information about Tara, although I am sure that you provide it for your own purposes, but I shall not ally with you."

"Just because I am a vampire? And yet you have a vampire amongst you. Do you think that the Shadow Thieves can be trusted? How naive. They will betray you in an instant if they smell profit. You must know this. Reconsider, god-child. I can get you to Imoen."

"So you claim. I would rather stick to the devil I know. I am an honorary member of the Shadow Thieves and count some of their number as friends. I will not betray them. I refuse your offer."

"A vampire amongst us?" Anomen said incredulously. Everybody ignored him.

"So you would oppose me? That is… unfortunate. Very well, you may go. You have made an enemy here tonight and I will face you on my own terms when the inevitable time comes."

"And then you will die," Jaheira spoke confidently. "Many better than you have underestimated Sorkatani, to their cost, and Buffy is not called the Vampire Slayer for nothing. You will rue the day of conflict when it comes, creature."

"We shall see when next we meet." Bodhi replied. "Take your little army with you when you seek out Firkraag, oh Perfect Warrior. You will need it. Farewell."

"Do we let her go?" Willow asked. "I could set that whole area on fire, no problem."

"It was a truce," Sorkatani reminded her. "Let the vampire leave unhindered. For now."

"She's heading off real fast," Buffy said. "Not like we could catch her anyway. Yeah, let's call it quits for now, Will."

"Okay," Willow agreed. "At least we know where Tara is now."

"We know where that vamp says that Tara is," Buffy corrected her. "She might be lying. Trying to get us to fight somebody for no reason."

"In that case would she not have said that Tara was held by the Shadow Thieves?" Yoshimo pointed out. "Lord Jierdan has a reputation in Athkatla as a man who rules his lands with an iron fist. Arrogant, perhaps cruel. He came to the Copper Coronet to enlist Sorkatani for some task or other and she did not have time to speak to him. He may have taken offense and abducted Tara as revenge, or to force us to serve him."

"Lord Jierdan is a respected member of society," Anomen interjected. "He may be completely innocent."

"If he's abducted Tara then he's gonna be a respected pile of smoking embers," Willow muttered.

Sorkatani put her hand on Willow's shoulder and squeezed it gently before replying to Anomen. "Yes, he may be innocent, although somehow I doubt it, but I agree that we should not take precipitate action before we know the facts. We shall go forthwith to the Windspear Hills, with open minds, but also with all the force that we can muster."

"I'm good with that," Buffy agreed. "Okay, we can't go tonight, so we might as well go look for that kid's toy bear. I vote that tomorrow we call in on the dwarf, pick up whatever bits of armor he's got ready, and then head for the hills."

There was a chorus of agreement from the party and they left the graveyard and headed back towards the city proper. Anomen took up a position at Buffy's side as they walked. "Tell me, fair lady, how much do you know of my Order of the Most Radiant Heart?"

Buffy smiled at him. "Not enough, I guess," she said.

Behind her Willow and Dawn exchanged an eye-roll. "They're a bunch of pompous jerks?" Dawn suggested, keeping her voice down to a point at which she was sure that Buffy wouldn't hear. Willow smothered a laugh.

"The man is a braggart and a fool, I think," Sorkatani said to Spike, as Anomen lectured Buffy on the glorious achievements of the Radiant Heart. "Once Tara is restored to us there will be no place for him in our company."

Spike looked glum. "Buffy's got a soft spot for self-righteous pillocks with dark hair that sticks up. Bet she wants to keep the tosser around for a while."

Viconia overheard his words and smiled.

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

"Ye're a wee bit ower suin, but nae matter," Cromwell said. "Ah'll hae the Armor o' Deep Nicht finished in a hauf hour or sae, an' this set for a lassie in as lang agin." He quirked his bushy eyebrows at Sorkatani and Viconia. "Ah've somethin' a wee bit special in mind for ye twa bonnie lassies, an' ah've nae made a start yet. A ten-day, like ah said."

"So there is nothing ready now, but in an hour there will be two sets complete?" Sorkatani checked that she had understood him properly.

"Ay, thot's richt, lassie," Cromwell confirmed.

"It would make little sense to leave now, in that case," Sorkatani said, her eyes on Willow.

"Yeah, I guess," Willow agreed. "Hey, Buffy, there's a room upstairs at the Sea's Bounty Tavern where they have actual coffee, the real thing. We could go get some to fill in the time, 'kay? Just girls, right, there's a few things I'd like to talk about."

"Or we could call upon Galvarey at the Harper's Hold," Jaheira suggested. "It is close at hand, and if we get it over with then perhaps he will not meddle in our affairs in future."

Buffy screwed up her mouth. "It all sounds too much like doing SATS to me. I'm so not in the mood for anything like that. Coffee sounds good."

Sorkatani mirrored her grimace. "I am no more enthusiastic than are you, but I suppose I may as well get it over with. Very well, Jaheira, I shall go with you to your superior. I can spare him an hour. No more."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

"Buffy, that Anomen guy is a total jerk," Willow pronounced judgment upon the man who appeared to be in contention for the role of the Slayer's new boyfriend. "I just don't get why you want him around."

"Hey!" Buffy protested. "He's cute. Real good looking, and he's all with the 'fair lady' and stuff. What have you got against him?"

"Well, that line he was shooting about the twenty giants? So doesn't stand up," Willow said. "And hey, that story he told about cutting off the head of the orc chieftain? Hello, cleric, carries a mace not a sword, so he cut off the head exactly how?"

Buffy's brow creased. "Okay, so maybe he talks a little big," she conceded, "but hey, he's just trying to impress me. He's still cute."

"He's a wanker," Dawn gave her opinion, and received a death glare from her sister in response.

"He is extremely handsome for a rivvil," Viconia said. "A noble, too. His broad chest contains a beating heart, and his testicles no doubt produce fertile semen. What more could Buffy ask for in a man?"

Buffy glared at her because she had said 'testicles' and 'semen' in front of Dawn. Dawn glared at Viconia because she was speaking up for Anomen.

Willow rolled her eyes. "I know what you're up to, abbil. Drop it, why don't you?"

"Yeah, just 'cause you want a free run at Spike," Dawn backed Willow.

"So you two are against Anomen just 'cause he isn't Spike?" Buffy turned her glare upon her sister and her best friend. "Newsflash, people. Spike is a vampire. That isn't gonna change, and that means I'm never going to be more than friends with him, no matter what. You can drop all the plotting on his behalf 'cause it so isn't going to work."

"I'm against Anomen 'cause he's a jerk," Willow said. "Come on, Buff, you must see it. Hey, even Sorkatani doesn't like him, and she likes pretty much everybody. You wanna take up with a human guy? Fine. If it was, say, Minsc, I'd be all with the 'go Buffy, jump his bones'. But Anomen? You can so do better than that."

"Minsc? You're kidding, right? He's, like, everybody's big brother. So not boyfriend material."

"He's tall and kinda good looking, well, 'cept for being bald, and he's funny, and he's a real hero not a fake," Willow said. "Okay, yeah, the brain damage thing and the talking to a hamster thing might be downers, but hey, if Minsc says he's got your back, well, he's got your back. Like Spike. When that vamp girl turned up you two just moved as a team without even thinking about it. I didn't notice Anomen do anything other than moving back out of harm's way."

"He's new, you can't expect him to fit into the way we do things straight away," Buffy defended the priest. "He'll learn."

"He'd better," Willow said. "All he's done so far is kinda put Xander right off the whole paladin thing. This Order of the Radiant Heart sounds like a whole bunch of jerks in armor with sticks up their asses. The 'greatest force for righteousness and justice in all Faerun', huh? Well, if that's so, how come so many people come to Sorkatani for help? She's ten times as good as they are."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

"I fail to see the point of these questions," Sorkatani complained. "What does it matter what I choose as my favorite color? I know that your main concern is my heritage."

"I seek clues towards your ultimate intentions," Galvarey revealed. "Yes, your heritage is of great concern to us. The Prophecies of Alaundo foretell disaster that might well be embodied in you."

"I grew up in the building that was erected above Alaundo's tomb," Sorkatani reminded the Harper. "I have known his prophecies all my life. There is nothing in them that refers to me specifically. Has it occurred to you that it might be Sarevok who was the fulfillment of the 'chaos shall be sown in his passage' part of the prophecy of the Bhaalspawn? _His_ passage, I stress, and hello? Girl here, in case you haven't noticed."

Galvarey frowned. "Your speech is strange," he commented. "I am not sure that I followed your meaning."

"Forgive me. The idiom of the other-worlders," Sorkatani explained. "It is oddly infectious and I sometimes find myself falling into their patterns of speech. My point is that the prophecy specifies a man and I am a girl." She took a sip from the cup of coffee that Galvarey had poured for her and grimaced at the bitter taste.

"Hah! She has you there," Jaheira interjected.

"Please remain silent, Jaheira," Galvarey said, scowling at her. "I dispute that interpretation. I have also heard the prophecy expressed as 'chaos shall be sown by _their_ passage'. It speaks of all of you, not just one, male or female. The Bhaalspawn are a force for chaos, it cannot be denied. Children of the god of violent death. How could it be otherwise?"

"I make my own destiny," Sorkatani insisted. "Whatever my parentage, I am my own person. Gorion was the only father I ever knew and his teachings guide me at every turn."

"Ah, yes, Gorion. The idealist who thought that he could circumvent the prophecy through education." Galvarey shook his head. "A doomed project. I was against it from the start."

Jaheira sniffed. "When Gorion adopted Sorkatani you were little more than a callow youth who had just entered the service of the Harpers. You knew nothing of the decision."

"Had I done so I would have advised against it," Galvarey said. "Divine blood will out."

"Certainly many people have tried to shed mine," Sorkatani said.

"And failed, because you slew them. How many have you slain, Bhaalspawn?"

"Only those who forced my hand." She drank again from her coffee. It was too bitter for her taste but she knew that the drink was a rare, and expensive, import and felt that it would be impolite to complain.

"So many that you have lost count," Galvarey said in somber tones. "Violence comes easily to you, does it not?"

"I have acquired a certain facility with weapons," Sorkatani conceded, "but only that I might preserve my own life and the lives of my companions." She lowered her empty cup to the table and frowned as she realized that her hand was trembling.

"And so many have died that you might live. You are a threat to the peace of the world, Bhaalspawn."

"I like not the way this conversation is progressing," Jaheira frowned. "An assessment, you said? This is more like an interrogation. A trial, even, with the judgment pre-determined."

"Peace, Jaheira. I do but pose questions and scenarios," Galvarey said. "This is an amicable discussion. Your friend is not on trial. Would you care for some more coffee, _Sorkatani_?" He did not raise his hand towards the coffee pot but instead lowered it below the level of his desk.

"I think not," Sorkatani replied. She blinked, frowned, and blinked again. "It is more bitter than I had been led to believe. Less pleasant. The aftertaste is like a burning in… my… throat." Her eyes widened. She clutched at her throat with a hand that was trembling uncontrollably.

Galvarey smiled. It was a cruel and rapacious smile and made him resemble a wolf. "That, my dear Bhaalspawn, is because your portion is laced heavily with an especially potent poison." He brought up his hand from below the desk. It was holding a small crossbow and he leveled it at Jaheira. "Guards!" he shouted. An armored man and a woman wearing a katana rushed into the room, followed by a blue-robed mage who strode at a more leisurely pace. "Restrain Jaheira if she tries to intervene. Her loyalty in this matter is suspect."

"You bastard!" Jaheira hissed.

Sorkatani tried to rise from her chair. She rose a few inches and then slumped back down. Beads of sweat appeared on her forehead. "Why?" she croaked.

"You are a menace to the Realms," Galvarey said. "I am acting to remove that menace."

"You are acting to increase your personal glory so that you may make a claim for the position of Herald," Jaheira accused. "Stop this madness! The antidote, I beg you! Or let me cast the spell of neutralization." She stepped towards Sorkatani. One of the guards seized her arm in an iron grip and halted her in her tracks.

Galvarey gazed at Sorkatani and nodded in grim satisfaction. "The paralysis is already taking effect, I see. Within another couple of minutes you will lose the power of movement altogether, even of speech, and in twenty minutes you will be dead."


	24. Chapter 24

**Chapter Twenty-four**

Warren looked up from Andrew's completed Pirate game script. "Hey, this is pretty damn good, dude," he praised. "Mostly, anyway. There are just a couple of places where it, well, kinda sucks. Just a touch, dude. Mainly it's good."

Andrew pouted. "Okay, dude, let's see you do better," he challenged.

Warren shook his head. "You know I can't write worth a damn," he admitted. He cocked his head to one side and looked at Jonathan. "How about you? I kinda suspect you might have done some fanfic writing. Am I right, dude?"

The smallest of the Trio shuffled in his chair. "Yeah, I've written some stuff," he confessed. "I did a Baldur's Gate story that was pretty long, one time, but I never tried putting it up on alt dot games dot baldurs-gate, or fanfic dot net, or anything. I was kinda scared it'd get pulled to pieces, you know?"

"I guessed you had," Warren said. "All that back-story for Sorkatani, the stuff about Sarevok giving her that 'Perfect Warrior' nickname and that kinda thing, it's not in the game script but it had to come from somewhere. You still got it, dude?"

"Uh, yeah," Jonathan said. He stared down at the table. "It's on the same PC as the game. You can take a look if you want but, hey, don't blame me if it sucks. I never said that it was any good."

Warren's eyebrows went up and down and he nodded slowly. "The game must be accessing it some way, I guess. Yeah, I'll take a look. Don't look so nervous, dude, I bet it won't suck that bad. It just has to be better than the crap that I write to qualify you for doing some beta work on Andrew's script." He rose from his chair and headed for the PC. "Hey, less of the sulking," he said to Andrew. "I'm not saying your stuff is bad, dude, it's just there are a couple of places where it could do with a – fuck!" His hand shot out and hit the space bar to pause the game.

Andrew sniggered at the unintentionally humorous effect of Warren's exclamation. Jonathan, however, rushed straight over to join his friend at the PC. "What's up, Doc?" he asked.

Warren pointed at the screen. "Sorkatani's frigging dying, dude. What the hell? They were just doing R&R and picking up armor from Cromwell. How come things suddenly went all to hell?"

"That's the Harpers' Hold," Jonathan said. "It's that Galvarey thing. Only, it's supposed to be this whole big confrontation thing, right, but only Sorkatani and Jaheira are there. It looks like Galvarey got smart."

"You see the skull and crossbones sign on your girl's pic? Yeah, he got smart. No taking her crowd on in a straight fight, and getting creamed, this time. The creep's poisoned her. Jeez, the red was going up her picture so fast I could frigging see it moving, man. She must be losing two hit points a second. They've grabbed hold of Jaheira to stop her from helping and I don't think your girl is gonna make it through this one. What saves have we got?"

"The last full save was back at Imnesvale," Jonathan confessed. "These days I'm only using the saves to get new area coding for your mod. Like, what's the point when I can't control any of the party members? It's not like I could do anything to change things."

Warren sucked in his cheeks. "I guess you have a point, dude. Only, you can control Anomen now, right?"

"Oh, yeah, like I'd want that asshole to come swooping in to save the day?" Jonathan rolled his eyes.

"I don't think you've a choice, dude," Warren said. "We're gonna have to reload when she dies and, if we can't do something to save her, it's gonna end up in a loop where we can't get past this point. They won't ever get to Spellhold. What's the Autosave showing?"

"Sorkatani going in to the Harpers' building. That's not far enough back to do a whole lot of good. Yoshimo's hanging around not far off but that's no use when I can't make him do anything. I guess it's Anomen or nothing. Bummer."

"Yeah, bummer. That jerk bugs the hell out of me and if he gets to be the hero he'll be even worse. Hmm. He's right over on the far side of the Docks. He'd never make it across in time to do any good. Okay, I guess we might as well see what happens when the Bhaalspawn dies and then do what we can with the reload." Warren tapped the space bar again and the game came to life once more. "Poor kid, she – yay! Go Sorkatani! Man, your girl kicks serious ass."

Words flashed across the bottom of the screen as the avatars moved in frantic action.

_Galvarey did 2 damage to Sorkatani_

_Sorkatani__ – Slow Poison: Sorkatani_

_Sorkatani__ – attacks Galvarey_

_Sorkatani did 13 damage to Galvarey_

_Galvarey – Stunned_

_Jaheira – attacks Harper Guard_

_Jaheira did 5 damage to Harper Guard_

_Harper Guard – attacks Jaheira_

_Harper Guard – Critical Miss_

_Sorkatani – attacks Meronia_

_Sorkatani did 15 damage to Meronia_

_Nadinal – casts Mirror Image_

_Galvarey did 1 damage to Sorkatani_

_Nadinal: Mirror Imaged_

_Jaheira – casts Neutralize Poison: Sorkatani_

Warren raised his hand to high five Jonathan. The shorter man grinned and was in the process of raising his own hand when events on screen caused him to freeze with his hand only halfway up. His grin vanished. Warren followed his eyes. "Oh, crap."

_Iko – attacks Jaheira: backstab_

_Iko did 22 damage to Jaheira_

_Jaheira – Spell failed: casting failure_

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

Galvarey's smug smile wavered as Sorkatani seemed to glow with an inner light for a moment. "What-?" he began

She exploded up from her seat in an irresistible surge of motion. Her hands were under the edge of the desk and it rose into the air and crashed down on top of the senior Harper. The legs of his chair shattered under the impact and Galvarey went down with the heavy desk on top of him, its edge across his breastplate, pinning him down. The coffee pot smashed into fragments and dark liquid splattered across the mosaic floor.

Jaheira whipped her right hand around and punched her captor squarely on the nose. He released his grip on her left arm and swung a clumsy punch in return. She ducked under his swing and kicked his legs out from under him.

The other guard was a woman, Meronia, powerfully built and much taller than Jaheira. She drew a katana in a quick and smooth motion. Unlike Sorkatani, however, Meronia did not strike as part of the draw. She raised the sword to an attacking position and before she could bring it down Sorkatani had unleashed one of her own lightning-fast combination draw and strike moves. The Perfect Warrior's hands were still shaking and her aim betrayed her. Instead of hitting a vital point the blade sliced across the guard's buttocks. Meronia staggered away, shocked by the pain and by Celestial Fury's enchantments, and her blow at Jaheira remained undelivered.

The mage was left untouched for the moment. He didn't take his opportunity to unleash a deadly spell but instead thought first of his own safety. Multiple images of himself flickered into existence around him, shrouding him from attackers.

Jaheira ignored him and made for Sorkatani, uttering the first words of her Neutralize Poison spell as she went, and stretched out her hand towards her stricken comrade. Even as she did so she cried out in agony as a sword plunged into her back. The spell was lost.

A halfling appeared behind her. He had been invisible, lurking unseen behind Galvarey's other guards, and had timed his attack perfectly. His blade had pierced Jaheira's armor and penetrated four inches into her flesh. He pulled it back and struck again.

The mage began to chant the words of a Summoning spell. Sorkatani brought Celestial Fury around in a desperate slash but connected only with two of his Mirror Images. The wizard was untouched and completed his spell.

Jaheira recovered her balance and spun around, bringing her fist across in a blow at her attacker, but she was expecting a human and her aim was too high. The halfling ducked easily under her punch and drove his short sword into her thigh. Sorkatani lashed out with Celestial Fury at Meronia, who was returning to the fight, and simultaneously kicked at the halfling. She caught him full in the face, and sent him flying across the room to crash into the wall, but she lost her balance in the process and fell to the ground. The guard previously felled by Jaheira grabbed Sorkatani and tried to pin her sword arm. She butted him viciously in the face and he went limp.

Jaheira helped Sorkatani to rise. "Galvarey, please, I beg you," she pleaded, "give her the antidote." She drew her scimitar and engaged Meronia.

Galvarey was pushing at the desk in a futile attempt to free himself. "Gone," he grunted. "I drank it beforehand in case of accidents. The Bhaalspawn will die whatever you do, and good riddance."

Sorkatani caught up the chair that she had sat in earlier and threw it at the mage. She leaned over the desk and put the tip of Celestial Fury to Galvarey's throat. "If I was the killer that you thought… me to be… you'd be dead now," she said, the words coming slowly and with great effort, and turned away. She saw the floor rippling as an Earth Elemental, summoned by the mage, rose up from the mosaics and emerged into the room. "Jaheira!" she called. "Run!"

They raced for the door on faltering legs. Jaheira left twin trails of blood droplets behind her. Sorkatani dragged her left leg and it seemed on the verge of buckling beneath her. An armored guard blocked their path briefly but Sorkatani slammed him into the wall and they pressed on.

Behind them the Earth Elemental wavered for a moment, uncertain what to do as the mage who had summoned it was dazed and incapable of issuing commands, but then the Harper wizard picked himself up and urged the creature on. It lumbered after the fugitives, moving awkwardly but with surprising speed, and the wizard followed behind. The halfling assassin clambered to his feet, spat out a bloody tooth, and joined the pursuit.

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

Yoshimo stood at the edge of the quay, staring out over the harbor, his normally cheerful face set in an expression of deep misery. He tossed a pebble into the calm water and watched the ripples spread out. "Whichever way it turns out, I lose," he muttered to himself. "But how could I have known? It all seemed so simple then. Revenge and profit all in one package. A win-win situation. Hah! You fool, Yoshimo."

A noise behind him made him turn. Thirty yards away Sorkatani was stumbling away from the door of the Harpers' building, doubled over, with one arm clutching her stomach and the fingers of her other hand in her mouth. The sound that had attracted Yoshimo's attention had been the sound of Celestial Fury falling to the cobbled ground. The hairs on the back of his neck stood on end. Sorkatani would never discard that precious katana unless she was on the verge of death.

Jaheira emerged from the doorway, reeling backwards, her face a smashed and bloody mask. She halted her retreat and stood at bay as a massive and vaguely humanoid creature of living soil shambled out and made for Sorkatani. Jaheira struck out with her scimitar but it glanced from the monster's lumpy exterior without effect. The Elemental swung its massive fist and swatted Jaheira aside. Her eyes rolled up in her head and she toppled sideways like a felled tree.

A leather-clad halfling ran past the Earth creature and made for Sorkatani with a short sword in his fist and a snarl on his bleeding face. Sorkatani was bent double, retching, but nothing came out of her mouth. Her legs gave way under her and she sank to her knees. This put her head right down at the halfling's level. She wore no helm, as it was a warm day and she had believed herself to be going to a place of safety, and she was wide open to his attack. He grabbed her hair, jerked her head back, and brought his blade up to cut her throat.

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

"Help me up, damn it!" Galvarey ordered. "Get this blasted thing off me!"

Meronia lowered the bottle of healing potion that she had just gulped down and rushed to obey. She grunted with effort as she heaved at the heavy desk and her eyes widened as she remembered the way that Sorkatani had tossed it at Galvarey. "She must be very strong," she muttered, and then she remembered something else. "She didn't kill you. Why? If she's so evil…" Her brows descended low over her eyes and she shook her head.

Galvarey clambered laboriously to his feet and scowled at the dent in his breastplate. He was well aware that if he hadn't been wearing armor it would have been his ribs that took the impact and his chest would have been crushed. "She is not entirely evil," he conceded. "She kills in hot blood, not cold, and my helplessness no doubt awakened Gorion's teachings of chivalry and mercy. Still, she is a creature of Chaos, and will bring doom upon us all if we do not end her now." He strode to the corner of the room, where his great two-handed sword stood propped against the wall, and took hold of it by the scabbard. "Go! Stop her, before she reaches her companions, and bring back Jaheira, dead or alive. Make haste!"

Meronia bowed her head and then ran from the room. Galvarey picked up his mighty blade, made his way back to his desk, and opened a drawer. At that moment a green-clad mage, who had the slightly pointed ears of a half-elf, entered. The wizard stared at the unconscious guard lying on the floor, and at the shattered chairs and pottery fragments that were strewn about the room, and then turned to Galvarey. "What has happened, my Lord? Did things go amiss?"

"She resisted the poison long enough to get away," Galvarey explained. "She seems to have some spell-casting ability and I believe she cast a Slow Poison upon herself. Then that treacherous bitch Jaheira nearly spoiled everything. Luckily Iko got to her in time." He pulled out a squat orange flask from the drawer. "Excellent! I had feared that this would be broken. If the Bhaalspawn's comrades arrive to avenge her we'll need every advantage we can get."

"Avenge her? I thought she'd gotten away?"

"Oh, she'll die," Galvarey said confidently. He leaned the sword against the desk and began to remove the seals of the flask. "The paralysis should have set in by now even allowing for her spell. After that it's just a matter of time before her heart stops working. Perhaps one minute, perhaps twenty. It's difficult to make accurate predictions when one is dealing with a semi-divine being, and her Slow Poison spell complicates things still further. It would be safest to remove her head before any of her associates can intervene. Of course then they are going to be somewhat incensed. The Vampire Slayer is reputed to be quite remarkably strong and fast, more so even than Sorkatani." He raised the flask to his lips and drained it. "Now I'm stronger."

He flung the flask to the floor, adding a new set of fragments to the mess that was strewn there, and picked up his greatsword and brandished it effortlessly with one hand. "And if you would be so good as to cast a Haste spell upon me, my dear Bessen, I'll be faster too."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

Iko's sword swept round for the killing stroke. It didn't land. Instead a mighty fist of earth smashed down upon his head and felled him instantly. The Earth Elemental followed up by stamping down with a massive foot upon the prone halfling and caving in his skull.

"Idiotic creature!" Nadinal raged from the doorway. "You have slain the wrong mortal. Kill the girl!" The Elemental turned towards the mage, then turned back to Sorkatani, and then back towards the mage again. "What is wrong?" Nadinal asked. He received no reply, as the Elemental lacked the power of speech, but the answer to his question revealed itself immediately.

"Kill him, Earth creature!" Yoshimo ordered. He wore the Ring of Earth, a treasure won at Nalia's keep, which granted him a limited power of command over Earth Elementals. So far the ring had proved of but little worth to him, for they had encountered no such creatures, and he had continued to wear it only because its secondary enchantments enhanced the protective spells on his leather armor to some extent, but now he was thanking every god in the pantheons of Faerun that he had taken the ring as part of his share of the loot from that expedition.

The monster lurched towards Nadinal. The mage exerted his will and turned the Elemental back towards Yoshimo. The bounty hunter sent it heading back at the mage. Stalemate. But a stalemate that was in the wizard's favor, for the Ring of Earth enabled the wearer to control an Elemental for only forty-five seconds, and Sorkatani had now slumped from her kneeling position to sprawl face down on the cobbled ground. Jaheira lay beyond her, motionless, unconscious or even dead. There was no aid to be had from that source.

But perhaps there might be assistance from somewhere else. Yoshimo cast a quick glance to the side, along the harbor, and saw Spike and Minsc walking on the quayside quite a long way off. He took a deep breath and yelled as loudly as he could. "Spike! Minsc! Help! To me!"

The Earth Elemental lurched towards Sorkatani as Yoshimo's concentration wavered. Hastily he turned his attention back to the monster. Perhaps even Spike and Minsc could not defeat such a being, and he had only seconds left before it reverted to the control of the Harper wizard. Yoshimo had a vision of its foot descending upon Sorkatani's defenseless head and despair started to fill him. Then an idea hit him and a grim and mirthless smile spread across his face.

"To me, creature," Yoshimo ordered. The Elemental obeyed. Nadinal hesitated, uncertain of what Yoshimo was doing, and did not try to oppose the command. "Run," Yoshimo commanded. "As fast as you can. In a straight line." He jumped aside just before the Elemental reached him. "Keep running!" he yelled. "No turning back!"

Nadinal realized what Yoshimo intended too late to counter it. The Elemental reached the quayside, went over the low stone wall without even pausing, and plummeted fifteen feet to the water in the harbor with a splash that swamped a couple of the small boats that were tied up nearby.

Yoshimo turned triumphantly back to the mage and froze. Meronia was now standing over Sorkatani's body, the katana in her hand poised to strike. Yoshimo drew his own blade and advanced, calling out a challenge, but he was horrifyingly aware that he couldn't hope to reach the woman quickly enough to prevent her from bringing the sword down and ending Sorkatani's life.

"Kill her!" Nadinal snapped. "Quickly!"

Meronia hesitated. "I can't just kill her in cold blood," she said. She stepped away from Sorkatani and faced Yoshimo.

"You disappoint me, Meronia," Galvarey said, stepping out from the building and blinking in the sunlight. "Oh well, as they say, if you want anything done properly do it yourself."

"Evil, meet my sword!" Minsc's mighty voice rang out in challenge. "Sword, meet Evil!" He was still some distance away, however, running along the quayside brandishing his sword Lilarcor.

Galvarey frowned. "Blast. I had hoped to avoid facing him. Meronia, if you have qualms about disposing of the Bhaalspawn, you can slay that annoying ninja instead. I'll deal with the Bhaalspawn myself. Minsc is too far away to intervene."

"But I'm not." Spike had raced along the dockside at full vampire speed and had left Minsc far behind. He vaulted over a street trader's barrow and landed in front of Galvarey. "You lay one finger on Tani, wanker, and I'll rip out your lungs." He was in full game face and he bared his fangs in a snarl.

"She's dying anyway," Galvarey informed him. Spike growled and charged. Galvarey sidestepped the onrushing vampire and struck a tremendous blow with his sword. It failed to penetrate the enhanced Armor of Deep Night but it swept Spike from his feet and sent him sprawling headlong. "I don't think you'll be doing any ripping out of lungs, vampire," Galvarey sneered. "Rather the reverse, I believe." He brought the greatsword down in another powerful strike and the blade struck sparks from the cobbles as Spike rolled aside.

Spike leaped up, inside the arc of the sword, and seized Galvarey's arms. His mouth gaped wide and his fangs approached the Harper's throat. Galvarey released the sword with one hand, wrenched up his arm despite Spike's grip, and placed the flat of his hand against Spike's face. He thrust the vampire away with irresistible force and Spike's eyes widened as he was pushed backwards until he had to relinquish his grasp. Galvarey sent Spike stumbling away and took hold of the sword with both hands once more.

Spike retreated, dodging and dancing just out of range of Galvarey's swings, and drew his own sword. He maneuvered to keep himself between Galvarey and Sorkatani. She was still lying motionless, her breathing was irregular and shallow, and her lips were beginning to show a hint of blue.

Bessen, the half-elven mage, came out onto the street to back up his master. Two men-at-arms accompanied him. He raised a scornful eyebrow at Nadinal. "You don't seem to have achieved much," he remarked. "Perhaps you'd better leave it to the professionals."

Nadinal scowled at his rival and turned his attention to Yoshimo. The bounty hunter was facing off with Meronia, feinting and probing, but neither had launched a serious attack as yet. They seemed evenly matched in speed and strength. Nadinal sent a volley of Magic Missiles streaking through the air and Yoshimo cried out in pain as they hit. His eyes turned to the wizard. Meronia reacted instinctively and struck at her distracted opponent. Her blade bit into his arm to the bone and went on to slice through his leather armor and carve a bloody gash across his chest. His katana fell from his hand and he stood helpless before her as she raised her weapon for another stroke.

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

"I do not deny that I desire to take Spike to my bed, Buffy," Viconia said. "His devotion to you has thus far meant that my advances have been rejected. Perhaps if you make it clear that your preference is for that jaluk belggir Anomen then Spike will relent and become my mrann d'ssinss. Then we can all live in ssinssriggin happiness. Except for you, obviously, but you will have brought your misery upon yourself."

Willow chuckled, Dawn giggled, and Buffy pouted. She wasn't sure if Viconia was making a serious suggestion or if she was merely making jibes at Anomen for her own amusement. Buffy knew that 'jaluk' meant 'male' but had no idea what 'belggir' meant; somehow she doubted that it was anything complimentary. Sometimes Viconia seemed to use words in her own tongue because she did not know a term in the human language with the shade of meaning she desired, but often it seemed to be because she was insulting someone or swearing. 'Ssinssriggin', Buffy guessed, meant something obscene. She had learned to respect Viconia, and to accept her as tolerable company, but regarding her as a close friend in the way that Willow obviously did was still a long way off. The drow girl was too much like Cordelia in Buffy's eyes.

"_Evil, meet my sword! Sword, meet Evil!"_

The distant cry would have passed unnoticed if anyone had been speaking at that moment. Neither Dawn nor Willow heard it. Viconia cocked her head to one side. "Was that Minsc?" she asked.

"Minsc's battle cry," Buffy confirmed. She pushed back her chair, rose to her feet, and almost ran to the window. She could see little through the thick and uneven glass and so went to the door and peered out across the docks. "I don't see anything," she said. "Maybe we should head out anyway."

Willow joined her. "Let me take a look," she said. "I've been meaning to try out Clairvoyance." She squinted into the distance. "I can see Minsc running," she reported. "Spike's fighting someone. Oh goddess! Sorkatani and Jaheira are down. Not moving." She spun around and headed for the table to retrieve her bag. "Good thing I've learned Dimension Door, huh?" The killing rage that burned in her eyes belied the lightness of her words.

Viconia had jumped to her feet when she heard Willow's report. Her lips curled back to show her teeth. "Wait, abbil," she urged. "I have a better plan."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

Meronia hesitated for a moment. Yoshimo had fought bravely in defense of his leader and she was loath to slay him. Common sense, however, dictated that the bounty hunter was too dangerous an opponent to spare; his vengeance for Sorkatani's death might come weeks or months later in the form of a lethal trap in an unexpected place. She took a half-step forward and raised her katana for the finishing blow.

"Taste hamster justice!" Minsc roared. Close, very close. Meronia whirled round just in time to throw up her blade in a desperate parry. It was futile. The immense power that Minsc had put into his blow drove the two-handed sword through her block and on to connect with her head. The heavy blade clove through her skull and split her head almost in two.

"What have you done to Sorkatani, fiends?" the tattooed warrior demanded.

"Poison, I think," Yoshimo gasped out. He fumbled one-handed in a belt pouch for a healing potion.

Minsc bellowed in rage. "Cowardly murderers! Minsc and Boo shall wreak vengeance upon you!" He began to lift up his sword; it was wedged in Meronia's jawbone and her corpse rose into a sitting position in a ghastly parody of life. Minsc put his boot upon her body and tugged the sword free.

Even Hasted Galvarey was finding that fighting Spike was a frustrating experience. The vampire gave him no more chances to land a solid blow but danced around poised to leap in at Galvarey's first mistake. When the Harper had ignored Spike for a moment and advanced determinedly towards Sorkatani Spike had rushed in and delivered a blow of his own that scored a gouge along Galvarey's dented breastplate. It was almost with relief that Galvarey turned aside to face Minsc. "Bessen, slay me this vampire," he called out as he went.

Bessen frowned. His repertoire of offensive spells was geared more towards combat with humans than with a member of the Undead. He was Hasted, however, as were the two men-at-arms, and he had a Stoneskin spell to protect him. He fired off a Magic Missile that hurt Spike, but did no serious damage, and then advanced with his enchanted quarterstaff. The two men-at-arms advanced at his side.

Galvarey frowned as he saw Meronia's dead body. He had hoped that Sorkatani's allies would arrive in ones and twos and could thus be defeated piecemeal, and that aspect of his plan seemed to be working so far, but attrition of his own forces posed a serious danger. He needed to finish off Minsc, and the wounded Yoshimo, as quickly as possible. "Nadinal, assist me," he ordered.

The wizard obeyed and cast a Hold Person spell at Minsc and Yoshimo. The bounty hunter froze in place, standing motionless except for the drip of blood from his arm and chest, but the berserk Ranger didn't even slow down. Minsc's sword lashed out and destroyed the last of Nadinal's protective Mirror Images. Then Galvarey was there. He brought his greatsword crashing down in a blow that the Harper thought would brush aside the Rashemen warrior's blade and strike home.

The two swords clashed. Minsc's block held. "Villain!" he roared, and struck back. His rage-fueled power was almost enough to match Galvarey's Potion of Fire Giant Strength. Not quite, however, and the Harper parried with ease.

The two Harper guards tried to pin Spike between them. One had a sword and shield and the other bore a spear. Spike slashed the swordsman across the face and sent him spinning away, crying out in shock and pain, but then the vampire had to leap aside hurriedly to avoid a spear thrust. Bessen raised his quarterstaff but was then distracted by an unexpected happening.

A hooded figure was kneeling at Sorkatani's side. He held a small bottle of dark green glass and was trying to pour the contents into the Perfect Warrior's mouth.

"What are you doing?" Bessen snapped. "Get away from her!"

The hooded man raised his head. He was Foven, a peddler, who sold goods of dubious provenance from a barrow at the quayside. His barrow disappeared into the nearby narrow alleys with remarkable speed whenever alarm whistles indicated that the City Guard were paying one of their rare visits to the area. "Don't give me orders, Harper," Foven warned. "Even you can't cross the Shadow Thieves."

"Shadow Thieves?" Bessen repeated blankly. "What business is it of theirs?"

"You'd better not be harming her," Spike growled. Behind Foven a window in the air opened and Willow stepped through. She stood looking around for a moment, trying to work out what was going on before she acted.

"Indeed not. This is an all-purpose antidote," Foven explained. He frowned. "She cannot swallow."

Bessen hesitated for a moment but then made up his mind. The Shadow Thieves were a power in Amn but the Harpers were a network that spanned the continent. He fired off another Magic Missile and Foven was thrown from his feet and lay writhing in agony on the ground. The bottle of antidote fell onto the cobblestones and smashed.

His action clarified the situation for Willow. "Bag of knives!" she called, and tossed her bag to the ground. A swarm of daggers rose from the bag and hurtled towards Bessen. His Stoneskin protected him from the blades at first but when the hail of steel ended his defense had been stripped away and he was bleeding from a dozen cuts. He reeled back and began to chant the phrases of a ward of Spell Turning.

Galvarey rained down blows upon Minsc, a hint of desperation showing on his face, in a furious attempt to overwhelm the Ranger before the witch's arrival tipped the balance of the battle too far the other way. Minsc withstood the onslaught, although barely, but had no chance to strike back.

And then Buffy arrived.

She was moving so fast that she was almost a blur. Her Slayer speed was enhanced by a Haste spell and she had run all the way from the tavern at forty miles an hour. The Blade of Roses whistled towards Galvarey. He swung up his greatsword, confidently expecting to sweep her sword aside and deliver a riposte, but he received a rude shock. Her raw strength matched his enchanted power and his parry was only just enough to avert her strike. She changed over to a two-handed grip and struck once more with even greater force. Galvarey parried again and backed away, trying to open the range so that the length of his weapon would give him the advantage, but she followed up quickly and pressed him hard.

Viconia raced onto the scene wielding her flail and mace, moving almost as fast as Buffy, using the strength boost bestowed upon her by her enchanted mace to negate the encumbrance of her armor. She was bare-headed, as her hat had been torn from her head by the resistance of the air as she ran, and her white locks streamed out behind her. "Jabbress!" she wailed, as she saw the still figures of Sorkatani and Jaheira. "Abbil! You must not die!" She divested herself of the Flail of Ages, by flinging it at Bessen, and dropped to her knees at Sorkatani's side.

Bessen rocked under the impact. The flail wrapped itself about his neck. He tore it away, burning his fingers on one of the weapon's magical heads in the process, and glanced around to size up the situation. He had managed to complete the Spell Turning ward before Viconia's interruption and he felt reasonably confident that he was safe from Willow at least for the moment. Not for long, a mage of her obvious power would be able to negate the Spell Turning in time, but perhaps for long enough. He considered striking back at her but rejected the idea. She would undoubtedly be warded as effectively as was he, or more so; she had just cast a devastatingly effective spell that he had never even seen before, and he had an uneasy feeling that she had powers that he could not match. Retaliation would have to wait. His first priority had to be to dispose of the Bhaalspawn.

The drow woman was no doubt going to cast a healing spell. He could disrupt it with a Magic Missile; or he could strike directly at Sorkatani, finishing her off before the spell could take effect. Yes, that was the best option. He pointed his finger to unleash the magical darts. His mouth opened but, instead of the command word, it was a spray of blood that burst forth from his mouth. He swayed on his feet and clutched at his neck. His fingers encountered a short shaft with small stiff vanes, a crossbow quarrel that was embedded deep in his throat, and he gazed with unbelieving eyes at a teenage girl forty feet away who was lowering a crossbow. She stared back at him coldly as she re-cocked her weapon, her hands moving with uncanny speed, and slipped home another bolt. His legs gave way under him and he sat down hard on the cobbles. He fumbled desperately in his belt pouch for a healing potion.

Dawn took careful aim and shot him again.

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

A few yards away Nadinal cast a Summoning spell and two ferocious Gnoll warriors materialized and charged into the battle wielding halberds. Minsc met them with a yell of "Go for the eyes, Boo! Go for the eyes!" and slew the first with one mighty blow. The wild-eyed Ranger turned on the other and drove it back.

Galvarey looked about him and a hint of panic began to appear in his eyes. Moments ago everything had been in his favor; now the balance had tipped decisively in the other direction. Meronia and Bessen were dead. One of his men-at-arms was dead and the other was struggling feebly in the vampire's grasp. Nadinal was running out of offensive spells. The opposition had a spell-caster of their own on the scene now and he guessed that she had Nadinal outclassed by far. The Vampire Slayer was proving to be every bit as formidable as her reputation had suggested and it was taking every bit of his skill to hold off her assault. She had drawn her second sword and her barrage of attacks was beginning to tell. Another gouge had appeared on his breastplate alongside that left by Spike's sword earlier. One more blow like that and the dented armor would give way. Victory, so certain minutes ago, no longer seemed even remotely possible.

Then Sorkatani sat up.

"Nadinal!" Galvarey cried. "Get us out of here."

Nadinal gulped. Spells of escape and evasion had been Bessen's speciality. His own area of expertise was the summoning of monsters and his best cards had been played already. He cast down fragments of bone and skin upon the cobbles and brought forth a pair of zombies. "Run for the door, my Lord," he yelled. "I'll try to hold them off!"

Willow's eyes narrowed and she began to chant.

Galvarey flung his sword at Buffy and ran for the building. Nadinal spent a brief instant in issuing mental commands to the zombies and then followed. They didn't make it. The very air around them seemed to thicken and clutch at them. Nadinal halted in his tracks. Galvarey, using his giant's strength, managed to force himself forward but his pace was slowed to a crawl.

Minsc hacked the remaining Gnoll to pieces.

Viconia stood up. Tears of joy and relief were trickling down her cheeks. "Ssussun pholor dos, naut-elghinyrr," she cried at the zombies. They shriveled up, crumbled into dust, and blew away. She permitted herself one brief sneer at the mere wizard who had thought to summon Undead in the presence of a true cleric and then she bent to help Sorkatani to her feet.

Willow pointed her index and little fingers at Galvarey and Nadinal. "Mystra, Azuth, magic's source, strip away their borrowed force." Galvarey's slow progress halted completely as the potion's effect was dispelled and his strength became that of a normal human. Buffy sheathed her secondary sword and seized hold of Galvarey by the top of his armor's back plate. She dragged him backwards, encountering no resistance from Willow's spell, and tossed him to the cobbled ground.

Spike whipped a left cross to the jaw of his captive man-at-arms and dropped him in an unconscious heap. He ran to where Celestial Fury lay, picked it up with a care bordering on reverence, and brought it to Sorkatani who took the blade, held it for a moment in steady hands, and then twirled it into its scabbard.

Viconia turned her attention to Jaheira. "She lives!" she cried joyously. "Thanks be to Shar," she added conscientiously. She examined the unconscious warrior druid, running her fingers lightly over Jaheira's face, and frowned. "Her jaw is broken," she announced. "Dawn, I would have you assist me here. If I heal her with the bone out of place it may set crooked." Dawn put away her crossbow and came in answer to Viconia's summons. Viconia almost absently cast a Cure spell on the injured, possibly dying, Foven as she waited for Dawn.

Minsc dragged Nadinal from the grip of the thickened air and dumped him on top of Galvarey. "Villains, make your peace with your gods, for your evil shall be punished by death," he growled.

"Wait!" Sorkatani's voice rang out. She walked forward slowly and looked down at the two men. "Spare them." There was weariness in her voice, and a great sadness. "There has been too much killing already."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

The bedraggled but victorious band of warriors walked back along the quayside. Minsc was still seething with suppressed rage at the treacherous and cowardly attack upon his beloved leader. Spike was wondering whether Sorkatani's mercy towards Galvarey would have unpleasant consequences in the future and was expressing his misgivings to Yoshimo, who was oddly quiet and not forthcoming with responses to Spike's comments.

Sorkatani too was silent and withdrawn, Willow was trying to comfort her, and Buffy was alternating between displaying concern for Sorkatani and for Dawn. The Slayer was convinced that her sister would be going into shock over having killed a human at any moment; Dawn was blissfully free of any such worries. She had killed humans twice before, something that Buffy had apparently forgotten; perhaps forgivably as on one of those occasions the Slayer had been busy dying herself at the time. Anyway, Dawn felt totally justified in her action as she had shot Bessen as he was about to murder Sorkatani in cold blood, and she was expressing her opinion of Buffy's attentions with some truly spectacular eye-rolls.

Viconia and Jaheira were bickering as usual. "I know not why I took such care in attending to your face, treehugger. The squirrels care not what you look like," Viconia sneered.

"And the men who flock to you notice only the ease with which you part your legs," Jaheira riposted. "They never lift their eyes above your breasts, unless they desire that you pleasure them with your mouth."

"Pleasure that you would not know how to give," Viconia shot back. "Only food enters your mouth, and only harsh words come forth from it."

Their insulting words were in complete contrast to their actions; Jaheira's arm was around Viconia's shoulders and the drow had her arm wrapped around Jaheira's waist. Viconia's last jibe struck too close to home, however, and Jaheira winced and her arm tensed briefly.

"What is it, abbil?" Viconia asked, the mocking tone suddenly absent from her voice and replaced by tenderness and concern. "Does it pain you still? I have a spell or two yet remaining."

"As have I," Jaheira said. "Your care could not be faulted, dear friend. It is just that Galvarey told me that Khalid complained often about my sharp tongue."

"In jest only," Viconia assured her. "He was devoted to you, abbil."

"Was he?" Jaheira's expression became pensive. "I always thought so. Yet I am no longer sure. When I met him in the fields of Silvanus he seemed content in a way that he never was in life, for I would never let him rest satisfied with what he had. Always I urged him to achieve more."

Viconia wanted to reassure her friend but was somewhat at a loss for the right words. Loving partnerships between equals were extremely rare among the drow and when they did occur were more likely to be in same-sex relationships than in heterosexual ones. It had always seemed perfectly natural to her that Jaheira had been very much the dominant partner in the marriage, rather than the topsy-turvy male dominance prevalent in this strange surface world, and she had been surprised only that Jaheira had never taken a whip to Khalid. It was hard for her to comprehend why her friend was upset. "He knew that you wanted only the best for him," she said.

"Perhaps," Jaheira said, and fell silent.

Viconia's brow furrowed as she wracked her brain for something else to say. Then a man stepped out from behind one of the stalls at the side of the street and approached her. He was holding something of hers.

"Your hat, my Lady," he said, his tone respectful.

Viconia's eyes opened wide in surprise. The man was an ordinary townsman, a rivvil peasant in her eyes, one of a class who she would have expected to address her as 'vile creature of evil' rather than 'my Lady'.

"Thank you," she said stiffly, suppressing her natural impulse to take the hat without comment and then have the man flogged for presuming to speak to her. She let go of Jaheira, accepted the hat, and placed it on her head. She thought of how Sorkatani would have acted and, guided by those thoughts, put her hand in her purse and took out a gold danter. "Please, good sir, accept this coin as a token of my gratitude." She forced a smile onto her face, although it was barely visible through the veil.

"You are most gracious, my Lady," the man said. "May the gods bless you and the Lady Sorkatani." He took the coin, bowed, and returned to his stall.

Jaheira raised her eyebrows at Viconia. "Your speech to him was passing fair," she commented. "I would have expected you to snarl 'vith'os, jaluk rivvil' and perhaps to smite him with the Flail of Ages."

"Such was my first thought," Viconia confessed. "Yet it was pleasant to have my hat returned to me, and it would be convenient to have others perform similar services for me in the future. To put aside my contempt for the moment, adopt this strange rivvin custom called 'politeness', and feign gratitude seemed to be in my best interests."

"Congratulations," Jaheira said. "You have just discovered the secret behind all of humanity's customs."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

"Hey, guys, you so have to take a look at my girl," Xander greeted them with a beaming smile that faded as he noticed their disheveled condition of their apparel and the bloodstains that covered Jaheira and Yoshimo. "Hey, what's up? Did I miss a fight?"

"You did," Buffy confirmed. "It was bad, Xan." She shook her head. "You're lucky you missed it. We could have used your help, yeah, but it was bad. Scary bad."

Dawn had opened her mouth to say 'Yay me, I killed a wizard!' but Buffy's tone made her change her mind and remain silent.

Anya came out of Cromwell's forge wearing leather armor reinforced with Shadow Dragon hide. It was matt charcoal gray rather than black, and had a skirt of leather strips rather than leggings, but still looked sexy as well as practical. Matching knee-high boots completed the outfit. She was expecting to have to dispute possession of the boots with Buffy but the Slayer had temporarily lost all desire for conflict.

"It looks good on you, Anya," was all that Buffy had to say on the subject.

"Yeah, I totally envy you," Dawn said.

"First come, first served," Anya said.

"I guess," Dawn replied.

Anya pouted. She had expected more argument and felt almost disappointed to have been ceded victory so easily. "What happened?"

Giles emerged from the dwarf's shop before anyone could reply to Anya. "Ah, Sorkatani, you are back," he said. "We can set off on our mission now, I…" His voice trailed off as he saw their condition. "Oh dear. I take it there has been some trouble?"

Willow's mouth twisted. "Yeah, you could say that," she told him.

Sorkatani's impassive expression cracked and she burst into tears. Giles instinctively held out his arms to her and the Perfect Warrior almost hurled herself into his embrace, clutching the Watcher to her, and sobbing. "The Harpers… tried… to kill me," she choked out. "The _Harpers_."

Giles hugged her with one arm and patted her on the back with his other hand. "There, there, my dear," he said, feeling totally ineffectual at first but then realizing that Sorkatani was drawing comfort from him. He had become surrogate father to yet another young lady. "It's all right. You're safe."

"They poisoned her, Giles," Willow explained. "She was, like, about ten seconds away from death." She clenched her fists. "Bastards."

Xander's eyebrows shot up. Even such mild swearing was rare for Willow and indicated extreme emotion. "They poisoned her?"

"And beat the crap out of Jaheira for trying to save her," Willow added.

Giles stiffened and his eyes went to the druid. "Are you all right?"

Jaheira turned her head away from him and then her resolve failed her and she met his eyes. "They summoned an Elemental. It broke my jaw and smote me senseless," she related. "Viconia healed me. I am well recovered, Rupert."

"Thank God," Giles breathed. "Ah, that is, thank the gods." He patted Sorkatani's back again. "And thank the gods that you are safe, dear child."

"The _Harpers_," Sorkatani sobbed again. "Why? I was brought up by a Harper. Jaheira is a Harper, as was Khalid. Why turn against me?"

Buffy put her hand on Sorkatani's shoulder and gave what would have been a comforting squeeze had the pauldron of the Perfect Warrior's armor not negated the effect completely. "On my eighteenth birthday," she said in a flat and tightly controlled voice, "the Watchers' Council arranged for me to be dosed with a toxin that took away my Slayer strength. I was supposed to be locked in a house with an insane vampire and to have to kill it without my powers. It got even worse than that. Real ugly. I never understood why they did that."

"Then you too know the pain of betrayal that I feel," Sorkatani snuffled.

"Yeah. We've got a lot in common, sure enough," Buffy agreed.

"Galvarey seeks personal advantage," Jaheira said. "He hopes for advancement in the Harper hierarchy. So he has built up Sorkatani as a menace in their eyes so that he can gain credit for removing this threat that exists only in his reports. Far safer for him than seeking out a true evil who can not be poisoned under the guise of friendship. There are other Bhaalspawn, or so rumor has it, who lead bands of marauders rather than defenders of the right. An orc chieftain, a human, perhaps even a giant."

"A giant? No problem," Xander muttered. "Anomen can bump him off with a toothpick, and nineteen more at the same time."

Buffy gave him a dirty look but said nothing.

Giles eyes seemed to smolder. "I sincerely hope that this Galvarey is dead now," he said.

Spike opened his mouth, looked at Sorkatani, and closed it again with his comment unvoiced.

"Sorkatani spared his life," Viconia said. "I counseled against it, but she did not take my advice."

"You called her a fool and walked out on us when she spared Tamoko," Jaheira remembered.

"Worry not, treehugger, I shall not desert her this time," Viconia promised.

"Tamoko?" Yoshimo echoed. Jaheira frowned at him. "It is a name of Kara-Tur," Yoshimo said. "Is it not?"

"It is," Sorkatani confirmed. Her sobs had abated now. "She was Sarevok's girlfriend. It is a long story and I will not tell it now. She aided me for her own reasons but asked me to swear that I would not kill him. I could make no such promise, and in the end she came to me and sought combat. I spared her. It was to no avail, for she killed herself after I had slain Sarevok. A great shame. I liked her and would have been her friend."

"A sad story," Yoshimo commented. His face was impassive but Spike noticed that Yoshimo's heart rate had speeded up. The vampire wondered briefly why this might be but quickly became distracted as the conversation returned to the central topic.

Xander had no interest in the tale of events long past. "So this Galvarey dude poisoned you, nearly killed you, and you just let him off? Hey, I'm a paladin, kinda sworn to be honorable and all that stuff, but I still think that it was kinda dumb."

"She spared him twice," Jaheira said.

"I could not bring myself to slay him while he was helpless," Sorkatani said. "Nor could I slay him once he was a prisoner in our custody. Perhaps he will recognize that I pose no threat. Perhaps he will attack again. Regardless, I could do nothing else. I am no murderer."

Giles' lips moved silently, repeating words that he had spoken once before and would always remember. 'She's a hero, you see. She's not like us.'

"I guess not," Xander said. "I just hope that you don't come to regret it."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

Galvarey toyed with a quill pen and stared at a blank parchment. "We can't have Meronia resurrected," he announced. "She saw the Bhaalspawn spare my life. If she finds out that it happened twice she'll ask too many questions. She might ask those questions of the wrong people."

"Indeed," Nadinal agreed. "She is no great loss, I suppose. A skillful swordswoman, but not skillful enough. Easily replaced. Unlike Bessen."

Galvarey scowled. "The fool. Why did he have to involve the Shadow Thieves? He should have aimed his spell at the Bhaalspawn, not at the peddler."

"I didn't know that Foven was a Shadow Thief," Nadinal said.

"A fence in this area could not operate without their approval. It is no surprise." Galvarey sighed. "We cannot risk a feud. Better to let Bessen stay dead and offer apologies for his unauthorized action. The drow woman saved Foven's life, thank the gods, and so Bloodscalp should be willing to leave it at that. It is strange, and intensely annoying, that we have a disgusting drow to thank for the loophole."

"Not that disgusting," Nadinal said. "I would not kick her from my bed."

Galvarey frowned. "I think that taking the drow to your bed would be the most foolish thing that you could possibly do."

"I did but jest," Nadinal said. "If ever I did so she would be bound and gagged or silenced. And really, in that event, what would be the point? A lover who does not cooperate is no lover at all."

Galvarey paid no attention to his comments. "Iko was a useful tool, but your Elemental crushed his head to a paste. I fear that he is beyond resurrection. Lucette is more deadly by far than he ever was but has too many scruples. She will require careful handling if we are to use her against the Bhaalspawn. Damn." He yawned. "I am smitten with fatigue," he declared, and laid down his quill with the parchment still untouched. "The Haste spell demands its repayment from my body for the energy that I spent. I can do no more today. I must take myself to my bed. I shall write to Dermin tomorrow."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

The aftermath of Willow's Haste spell had left Buffy, Viconia, Willow, and Dawn equally fatigued, and the expedition to rescue Tara had been postponed for yet another day. The party had returned to the Copper Coronet and the girls had retired to bed, as had Sorkatani and Jaheira, and even Minsc; his adrenaline-fuelled exertions in the fight had taken almost as much out of him as if he had been Hasted. Xander and Anya had taken themselves off to bed too, although sleep was not what they had in mind. Anomen had gone back to his own home, reluctantly as apparently his relationship with his father was not unlike that of Xander with Tony Harris, but with Buffy absent there was nothing to keep him with the rest of the group and he despised the environment of the Copper Coronet.

The new plan was to make an early start in the morning and leave the city at dawn. There would be no detour to call upon Cromwell, even though there would be another set of armor ready that day, as they wanted no further delays. They would ride to Nalia's keep, pause there for a meal, and then on to the Windspear Hills.

Giles was performing a few songs before bed. The strains of his rendition of the folk song 'Matty Groves', most memorably recorded by Fairport Convention, drifted up to where Yoshimo paced the walkways on the tavern's roof. There were apartments up there, and peddlers' stalls, and even a temple of Ilmater. Yoshimo approached the temple but hesitated and turned away without entering. Two muggers sprang at him from a shadowed corner; he slew them with two swift sword strokes that were delivered by pure reflex. They were dead before he even realized what he was doing.

He stared at his bloodied blade. "I am damned whatever I do," he muttered. "Trapped. And she did not even kill Tamoko! My revenge would have been hollow anyway but now I find there is nothing to avenge. Would that those fools had killed me!" He flicked the blood from his katana and twirled it into its scabbard. "Yet to have fallen before such incompetents would have been no fit end for Yoshimo. Viconia would have brought me back anyway, most likely, and there would be no respite. I must go on towards my doom and hope only for an honorable death."


	25. Chapter 25

**Chapter Twenty-five**

"I could actually order that he be hanged? Legally?" Sorkatani's eyes widened.

"Yes, my Lady," Captain Cernick confirmed. "You have the power of High justice within the De'Arnise Hold. It is within your remit to order executions, maimings, brandings, imprisonment and floggings."

Sorkatani shuddered. "With no right of appeal against my judgments? I like that not. No one should have that power. I see why Nalia feared the hold falling into the hands of one cruel or unscrupulous. Or capricious. A crime could be punished by execution just because I was having a bad hair day." She stared directly into Cernick's eyes. "This man Lastin is under your command. What do you know of him? Is he a good soldier – apart from the thefts, that is?"

Cernick pursed his lips and considered his reply for a moment and then spoke. "I have not observed him in combat. He is one of the new guards taken on to replace those slain in the troll invasion, and I do not know him well, but he came to us with good reports. He is a hard worker, I know that, diligent in all his duties and never shirking a task. He cares for his equipment meticulously. He seemed popular with the other men, save only that this past ten-day he has been somewhat morose and unsociable."

"And that is when the thefts took place," Sorkatani said. "I would hear him speak for himself."

"I shall have him brought before you forthwith, my Lady," Cernick said, and departed.

"Theft from his liege lord's hold? Utterly shameful behavior," Anomen spoke up. "Execution is too severe for petty theft, certainly, but you should have him flogged. And, of course, dismissed from your service. Perhaps branded to warn others of his bad character."

"I am certainly having thoughts of a flogging and dismissal from my service," Sorkatani told him. Her brows were lowered in a heavy frown but the corner of her mouth twitched and her eyes seemed to twinkle.

Anomen smiled and nodded. Dawn gave a horrified gasp. Spike clapped his hand over his mouth to smother a chuckle. Xander clamped his mouth tightly shut and his cheeks puffed out as he fought to smother an outburst of laughter. Buffy's frown matched Sorkatani's but without the twinkling eyes.

"No, Jabbress, you mustn't have the guy flogged," Willow protested. "Not just for some petty thefts. Okay, fire the guy if you have to, but not flogging."

"A flogging would be entertaining," Viconia remarked.

"I will do what I must," Sorkatani said. "Viconia, confirm for me the truth of the man's words, if you would?"

"Usstan a'dos quarth," Viconia agreed, bowing her head.

The guard who had been caught stealing from the keep was brought before Sorkatani. Lastin stood to attention, his face impassive, as he confessed his crimes.

"Why?" Sorkatani asked simply.

Lastin's impassive demeanor cracked and he blurted out a story of a sick wife and medicines costing five hundred danter, two years' wages for a man-at-arms, and his seeing no honest way to come by the money. "I couldn't let her die, my Lady," he finished. "I know what I did was wrong – but I just couldn't let her die."

"Viconia?" Sorkatani raised her eyebrows questioningly.

"He speaks the truth, Jabbress," Viconia confirmed.

"You should have come to me," Sorkatani told the guard. "Or to Captain Cernick in my absence. What you did was wrong – but, in the circumstances, I pardon you."

"Thank you, my Lady," Lastin said. "I am to be dismissed?"

"No." Sorkatani smiled at him. "How would it help your wife if you had no wage at all? Captain Cernick, there is five hundred danter in the tax receipts, if I am not mistaken? Give it to Lastin for the purchase of the medicines."

"Thank you, my Lady," Lastin said again, but this time with a tone of reverence and wonder in his voice as well as gratitude.

"Very well, Lady Sorkatani," Cernick said. "Then he is to receive no punishment?" His stern demeanor and frowning brow could well have indicated that he felt that Sorkatani was being excessively lenient.

"I didn't say that," Sorkatani replied, a hint of a smile appearing at the corners of her mouth. "There is arduous and unpleasant work to be done when one is a guard, is there not? The digging of latrine pits, repairs to the palisade, setting up the practice dummies, polishing armor, and cleaning boots – I think that you should be able to find duties enough to assign to Lastin to make him thoroughly miserable for the rest of the month. Then that is to be the end of it. This matter is not to be held against him afterwards."

Cernick's frown cleared. "You are wise as well as merciful, my Lady," he said approvingly, and led away the grateful guard.

Viconia sniffed. "A flogging would have been entertaining," she lamented.

"It would have been well deserved," Anomen said. "Stealing from his betters? A heinous crime. You should have dismissed him forthwith."

"I approve wholeheartedly of your judgment, my dear," Giles said. "The latrine pits were an excellent touch."

"Yeah, good call, Tani," Buffy smiled.

Willow's forehead bore a perplexed frown. "But you said you were thinking of a flogging and a dismissal. You were just teasing? It was kinda – oh. Right. I get what you meant." Her eyes went to Anomen and the corners of her mouth turned up. "Cruel, maybe, but, yeah, I get it now."

"Bit slow there, Red," Spike grinned. "Xander got it right off."

"I could do nothing else but show mercy," Sorkatani said. "Love, give, forgive. These are the principles by which I try to live. All too often, alas, only violence will serve, but this was not one of those occasions." She grinned ruefully and shook her head. "This place is a drain on my purse indeed. Nalia got the best of me, it seems. And yet, I do not regret acceding to her request. Isaea Roenal would have had the man hanged, I am sure, and that would not have been justice."

"Wouldn't even have been in his own interests," Spike put in. "Saw the look in that bloke's eyes as he went out, Tani. You've got another lad there who'll follow you into Hell if you ask him, no question. Bet that Roenal git's soldiers would bugger off and leave him to it if he got into a tight spot."

"That was not my motivation," Sorkatani said. "I just want to do the right thing."

"And it is why you are beloved by many," Jaheira said. "Truly Gorion would have been proud of your actions."

"I hope so," Sorkatani said. "Alas that it seems my actions matter not to certain Harpers who concern themselves only with my parentage." She sighed. "I must not brood upon that. Let us eat and then set forth in search of Tara."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

"I like not these words," Viconia complained. She was rehearsing 'Sunshine on a Rainy Day' as they rode, with Giles tapping out a rhythm on the pommel of his saddle, but she had a problem with the lyrics of the fifth verse. "Shar is a foe to Selûne, goddess of the moon, and to sing what might be seen as praise of the moon may offend my deity."

"Ah. I see your problem." Giles thought for a second. "There is no rhyme involved. Substituting 'wave' for 'moon' would be perfectly acceptable. 'Like a wave on the sea'."

"That is satisfactory, zra'ha. Again, then. _Make it feel, make it feel, so unreal. Like a wind in the desert, like a wave on the sea. Yeah! Sunshine on a rainy day, makes my soul, makes my soul, trip trip away_…"

Spike squirmed in his saddle. Listening to Viconia sing was giving him a hard-on and making him uncomfortable both physically and morally. He had to admit he was extremely tempted to take her up on her offer of a shag, she was definitely a smart piece of talent and her husky voice made him want to hear her crying out in the throes of passion, but how would Buffy react? Okay, it shouldn't really be any of the Slayer's business, she'd made it very clear that there was nothing on offer from her but friendship, but Spike still had a feeling that actually shagging another girl wouldn't go down with Buffy at all well.

A faint scent on the wind impinged on his consciousness and distracted him from that train of thought. He sniffed the air. "Somebody's left the prawns on the barbie too bloody long," he commented. "Well, smells more like chops than prawns, but that'd have spoiled the quip."

"I can't smell anything," Buffy said. "Cooking? So, you're thinking we're near a village or something?"

Spike inhaled again. "Nah. Thinking more like someone's been doing a bit of Joan of Arc reenactment." Another sniff. "Maybe set fire to a horse too."

"Eww." Buffy's nose wrinkled. "That is totally gross." She sniffed hard and caught a scent. "Although, possibly accurate. Maybe we oughta check it out. What do you think, Tani?"

"I smell it too," Sorkatani said, "and I think that we have no choice but to check it out. Unless I am much mistaken the burning was directly in front of us."

She was proven correct a few minutes later. The charred and twisted body of a horse lay in the path. The remnants of a saddle and harness indicated that it was not the sole source of the stench of burned flesh and confirmation of that fact turned up a few yards further on. A knight in armor.

Or most of one, anyway.

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

They found the bodies of five horses, three of them partially devoured, and four humans who were dismembered as well as burned. A separate patch of seared metal fragments and scraps of blackened bone seemed to show that there had been a fifth knight who had been almost totally destroyed.

"I know these men," Anomen said. "I think. Knights of the Order."

Spike bit back the comment that rose to his lips. This terrible scene was no place for flippancy or sarcasm.

Sorkatani gazed down at one of the bodies. "Ajantis," she said. Her voice trembled.

"Ajantis Ilvastarr," Anomen confirmed. "I was not sure, but if you also think so…"

"I know. He was in our company, hunting the bandits who plagued the high roads, for a month and a half. I remember him well." Sorkatani turned to Viconia. "Can you do anything?"

"Nothing." Viconia shook her head. "There is too much gone. It is beyond me, Jabbress."

Sorkatani turned back to the body and gazed at it with eyes that seemed to be open too wide. "I thought as much. Poor Ajantis. At least it seems that he achieved his knighthood before he died."

"What did this?" Buffy wondered. "I'm guessing dragon. Is that just me not knowing enough about this world?" She glanced up at the sky with some nervousness showing on her face.

"I think the same as you," Sorkatani confirmed. "A red dragon. A firebreather." She looked up with equal nervousness. "To be caught in the open like this would not be good. If it appears the first thing that we must do is to dismount. Our horses would panic and that could be fatal."

"Dismount, check. Giles makes with that 'Won't back down' song?"

"Indeed." Sorkatani turned to Willow. "Fire spells will not harm a red dragon, of course, but perhaps the spell by which you make the air thicken would be of some avail. They have a great resistance to magic, alas, but there is a chance that it would bring it to the ground."

"Sure thing," Willow agreed. "I could hit it with a Cone of Cold, maybe? Or an Ice Storm? No, both."

"With everything you have," Sorkatani said. "Other than fire, that is. We must check what protections from fire we have and get them ready."

"I kinda wish we'd brought a rocket launcher with us," Buffy said. "That's a thing from our world that would be a big help against a dragon. You think maybe you could sing one up, Giles?"

"I'm afraid that most of the songs that I know deal in rather more wholesale destruction," Giles lamented. "The atomic bomb features often, but other military hardware is rarely mentioned. 'The Sidewinder Sleeps Tonight'? No, no use. I can't think of any other songs about rockets that don't involve space, astronauts, walking on the moon, or satellites." His brow furrowed. "Satellites, satellites – aha!" His brow cleared and a partial grin made a tentative appearance.

"A-ha?" Buffy looked at him with a frown of perplexity creasing her forehead. "That Eighties band that did one of the Bond movie themes?"

"What? Oh, no, I was thinking along totally different lines. I think I may have something. A song that would have quite devastating effects upon a dragon." His frown returned. "Or so I hope. I would prefer not to have to try it out."

"Mmm, red dragon leather," Anya mused.

"Hey, crispy fried Scoobies," Xander warned her. "Let's not ask for trouble, Ahn."

"Bloke heading this way," Spike announced.

"I see him," Yoshimo said. He drew his bow and nocked a shaft.

"Dismount!" Sorkatani called. The party left their horses and took up a fighting formation.

The approaching man wore chain mail and had a short sword belted at his waist. A steel cap hid most of his hair but the wisps that could be seen were a faded gray and his eyebrows were heavily streaked with white. "What has happened here?" he asked.

This opening gambit provoked a series of eye-rolls and at least two Scoobies bit their tongues holding back remarkably inappropriate rejoinders.

Sorkatani spoke for the party. "We believe that there has been a dragon attack," she said.

The man surveyed the debris. "Quite probably. However I was brought news that described it somewhat differently. Is one of your party a witch named Willow?"

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

"Hey, this is interesting," Jonathan commented. "That dumb scene where you have to fight those ogres that are really knights has gone. Firkraag just killed the knights himself and spread the word that it was Willow."

"That fight always kinda bugged me," Warren agreed. "You get railroaded into it and, hey, anyone with half a brain would see that there's something wrong and hold back. You can't dispel the illusions, you can't talk them out of it, if you fight to subdue they still try to kill you when they wake up – you're stuck. And hey, one of them is a BG1 character and he doesn't even get to recognize the Bhaalspawn's voice, which is dumb, and you only find out about him if you've got Anomen or Keldorn with you. Like you wouldn't know a guy you might have spent months with? Hey, if you go north straight from the Friendly Arm Inn first time you're there, you can have Ajantis with you for as long as Jaheira and Khalid. Not that I ever did, paladins are a pain in the butt, but you could. And they think you won't know the guy without someone pointing it out?"

"Not now," Jonathan said. "The logic circuits are engaged, Captain. It makes sense this time. I wonder how it'll play out in your mod?"

"Do a save once they've finished talking with Garren Windspear and I'll check it out," Warren said. "I wonder what Firkraag's got against Willow?"

"If you're gonna leave charbroiled knights lying around it makes sense to blame it on someone who knows Fireball," Jonathan suggested. "Maybe Tazok put him up to it. Get Willow out of the way and it gives him a better chance with Tara."

Warren rolled his eyes. "Like he's got any chance at all? Although I guess it wouldn't be too bad a plan if she wasn't gay. At least it got rid of that dumb and pointless fight. You don't even get much experience for killing the knights and their equipment isn't anything to shout about. Man, I hate it when games make you do something dumb for purposes of the plot and don't give you any way out of it. That's something we'd better watch out for with the pirates." His tone sharpened. "Have you done anything with the rewrite on Andrew's sucky scenes or have you just been watching the Adventures of Sorkatani and Buffy the whole time?"

"Don't lose your cool, dude," Jonathan replied calmly. "I've got the game running in a window. I'm working on the beta job the whole time. It's just like having the TV on, dude. Pretty much like a movie seeing as how I can't affect what they do anyway. Yeah, I've made progress." He stuck a finger in his ear and wiggled it around. "Uh, I've got a couple of ideas, but you might not like them. They'd mean a whole lot of extra work."

"I can maybe live with that," Warren said, "if the pay-off is worth it. What kind of extra work?"

"Well," Jonathan explained, "a couple of the bits that you weren't happy with, they suck, yeah, but it's 'cause the things the guy says just aren't things that a guy would say. Then it struck me that they'd be fine coming from a girl. So, I thought, suppose we made it so you could play as a girl? There were girl pirates for real and not just in bad movies, dude, Anne Bonney and Mary Read."

"I could live with having a kick-ass female player character, yeah," Warren said approvingly. "As long as she wasn't, like, just Sorkatani Mark 2. I've gotten to like that girl a lot but she wouldn't cut it as a pirate. Hey, wait a minute; wouldn't the whole Governor's Daughter romance plot go all to hell with a girl PC? Unless she was a lesbian. Only then I guess the religious types would go all funny about the game."

"That's why I said it would make extra work for us, dude. I've got this idea for an alternate romance with the Royal Navy captain sent to catch them. Kinda star-crossed lovers thing, man."

Andrew had been sitting in pouting silence during this interchange, as he had not taken kindly to Warren's demand that Jonathan did the rewrite, but now he perked up. "Yeah, that would be kinda cool," he agreed.

Warren nibbled thoughtfully on his lower lip for a moment. "Yeah, I guess that might pretty much rock," he decided. "As long as there's a chance of a happy ending. A bit of angst is fine as long as it works out okay in the end. Yeah, you go for it, man. But you still have to put right the problems with the original script, okay?"

"I'm just about finished," Jonathan told him. "It hangs together pretty well now I've changed the dialogue in a few places. And I put in a chance to fight your way out instead of talk in one scene 'cause hey, pirate." He lowered his head. "At least I think it hangs together well. Maybe it'll just suck a different way."

"Hey, don't put yourself down, man. Your fanfic story was pretty good. About as good as most of the fics on 'Tales from the Copper Coronet', I'd say. We'll get by. If there are any rough edges I'm counting on the magic straightening things out the way it's done in Baldur's Gate. Although it probably won't work quite as well without Dawn really being there."

"You could take her out of BG2 and stick her in the pirate game," Andrew suggested. "Well, the whole bunch of them, I guess, not just her."

Warren shook his head. "I'm not gonna mess them around like that, man. Maybe we did a bad thing sticking them in BG2 in the first place, but they seem to have gotten pretty used to it by now. Even Buffy seems okay with it. I can't think of any way of getting them back to their real bodies, without screwing things up for Alex and Joan and the others, so I vote we just call it quits and leave them where they are."

"Even if they get eaten by a red dragon and Tara ends up married to an ogre or whatever kind of cross that Tazok guy is?" Andrew challenged.

"Hey, at least he gives her chocolate," Warren said, grinning widely. "Okay, maybe not then. If they get in too deep and I can't work out any other way of saving them I'll pull them out and send them to the Caribbean," he conceded. "You hurry up with those scripts, guys. If that happens we could do with having somewhere for them to go. I don't know if time would pass for them in the crystal or not and, if it did, that would pretty much suck for them."

"I don't think it would," Jonathan said, "but I don't know for sure."

"We could do with pressing on anyway, man," Warren said. "If Holden Webster's gonna do some of the voices we have to have those parts finished before he goes off back to college. That doesn't give us much time; unless we catch him at Spring Break, and I don't know if he's even coming back here then. Better to get it done now, okay? I'll get some more work done on the coding." He stretched his arms and cracked his fingers. "Man, this can be tiring. I'm working eight hours a day here. More. It's getting to be like I'd finished college and gone to work for Electronic Arts or somebody."

"Except that you've got control, and nobody cares if you leave pizza boxes scattered round the place, and you can take a break any time you like," Jonathan said. "Although, come to think of it, I hear that working for Google is pretty much like that except that the food is better than pizza."

Warren frowned at him. "Wash your mouth out, dude. Nothing's better than pizza."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

Garren Windspear's hospitality was welcome but the meal at his house was a gloomy affair for most participants. Only Dawn seemed cheerful; Garren's son was her age and was cultured, well educated by the standards of the environment, and remarkably good-looking in a clean-cut way. He appeared interested in her and was attentive and polite. He was probably the best prospect for a boyfriend that she'd met since coming to Faerûn and in fact, at least on first impressions, she liked him better than anyone she knew back in Sunnydale.

The other members of the group were far less happy. Sorkatani in particular was sunk in depression and Willow's mood was but little lighter.

"Come on, like anybody's gonna believe it was us," Buffy said, making a valiant attempt to lighten the mood. "I mean, well, I know this is totally gross, but what about the bits of the bodies that were eaten? That's a kinda big clue that it was a dragon."

"Yeah, well, only if people come out here and look," Willow said. "And, hey, things could have eaten bits of the bodies after they were dead. If word gets round that I Fireballed them, and then Tani and Spike chopped them up, it might be kinda hard to prove otherwise."

"Especially with Galvarey spreading slanders about me." Sorkatani gazed at her untouched food. "This may be taken by the Harpers as adding substance to his word."

"Jierdan Firkraag destroyed me through attacks upon my reputation," Garren Windspear told them. "Trade caravans pillaged in lands under my protection. The village that was the main source of my rents attacked and the crops burned. Bandit raids that I could not stop but that he cleared up in days. Missing persons who I could not find but, lo, he was somehow able to produce immediately. In no time I was regarded as an incompetent and he was the hero of the hour. The Council appointed him overlord of the area and my own people supported him. I still hold title to the land but authority rests with him."

"Problems that only he could solve, and no doubt created by him," Jaheira commented. "The Iron Throne used a similar technique in Baldur's Gate."

"Killing Sarevok solved that problem," Sorkatani said grimly. "I fear that we must apply the same remedy here. I do not understand why he has involved us in all this but we must make him regret it."

"You think the dragon is, like, his pet? Turned loose to burn crops and, well, knights?" Buffy suggested.

"Dragons are pets to no man," Jaheira told her. "They are intelligent and proud. One could have allied with this lordling for its own purposes, of course. Or the dragon could even be Lord Jierdan Firkraag. Some dragons can take human form. His very name smells of dragon to me."

"They can do that? That is so not fair. Although…" Buffy's voice trailed off and her brow furrowed deeply.

"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" Xander asked.

"I think so, Xan, but where are we going to find a feather duster, a walrus, and nine gallons of whipped cream out here in the Windspear Hills?" Buffy responded.

Xander roared with laughter. Anya gave a brief and tightly controlled laugh. Giles guffawed. Spike chuckled. Dawn giggled. Willow smiled, for the first time since they had seen the bodies of the knights, and then broke into a laugh.

Jaheira raised her eyebrows and then smiled. A smile gradually spread across Sorkatani's face. Yoshimo, who seemed to have lost all his previous good humor and had not cracked even a hint of a smile since Sorkatani's near death, allowed his mouth to twitch into at least a partial grin. Minsc's grin was wide and cheerful. "Boo says that is very funny," he said.

Anomen merely furrowed his brows and looked askance at Buffy as if pondering her sanity. Viconia's eyes narrowed as she flicked glances back and forth between Buffy and the laughing Spike and the corners of her mouth turned down.

"I do not understand," Garren Windspear said. His son looked equally puzzled. Dawn tried to come up with a short explanation of 'Pinky and the Brain' for him.

"It's a joke about something back where we come from," Buffy explained. "I thought we could use a little laugh. What I was really thinking was that, if the dragon turns into a guy, maybe he'd be a bit easier to kill then."

"He would," Jaheira confirmed. "He would not be able to breathe fire in that form, and neither could he buffet us with his wings, nor bite us in half. I warn you, though, they are said to be able to change back with remarkable speed."

"Yeah, well, maybe we can hurt him a whole lot before he changes. 'Cause, building a catapult under his nose? Probably not an option this time. I think this one's gonna be a lot harder than the Shadow Dragon and that came close enough to handing us our asses in a sling. I say, if we get a chance to get Tara back without messing with the dragon, we take it and run, 'kay?"

Anya pouted. She was still thinking about red dragon leather. Most of the others nodded assent. Willow, however, shook her head.

"I say no. Yeah, getting Tara back is the most important thing, but suppose we go back to Athkatla and get thrown in jail for killing those knights?"

"Surely they would take my word," Anomen said. "I am a squire of the Order."

"I was a Knight of the Order until my father died and I retired to take up my duties running the manor," Garren pointed out. "Lord Jierdan has power and influence. If he is acting against you then your reputation would avail you nothing. I still have friends within the Order, and I shall plead your case, but I can make no promises that my words would hold sway against the falsehoods."

"Truth spells?" Buffy suggested.

"There are spells that can confound them," Viconia said.

"We offered to subject ourselves to truth spells when I was accused of murder in Baldur's Gate, but to no avail," Sorkatani said. "I think that we must slay the dragon."

Willow put on Resolve Face. "That's what I think. 'Cause, riding in with the head of a red dragon?"

"And the hide," Anya interjected.

"Pretty powerful evidence that it wasn't us," Willow continued. "I say we waste the sucker. And anyone else who gets between us and Tara."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

"Sorkatani's bunch is in the area," Rascar announced as he walked into the room that held Tara's cell. "They're staying with Garren Windspear tonight." He frowned at Tazok, who was playing chess with Tara through the bars of the cage. "The plan was for us to do a raid on them and snatch Windspear's kid out from under their noses but it's been called off. There are just too many of them. Conster can't teleport enough of us in with him to be sure of holding them off while he does the snatch."

"That is less than a league from here," Tazok told Tara. "Soon they will arrive and meet their doom. Once they are dead I shall claim you as my prize."

"They'll kill you," Tara warned him. Her expression was grave.

"I am stronger now than when I faced Sorkatani before," Tazok said. He pushed back his chair, stood up, and flexed the mighty muscles in his arms. "She shall fall before me."

"Buffy won't. She's defeated a god, Tazok. I kinda get the feeling that just being strong won't help you a whole lot against Sorkatani either. You're gonna lose."

"A knife to your throat would make them lay down their weapons," Rascar sneered.

Tazok growled deep in his throat. "Lay one finger upon Tara and my sword will cleave your skull in twain. Nobody harms her."

Rascar quailed before the monstrous humanoid's ferocious scowl. He made no reply but left the room immediately.

"Thanks," Tara said. "Uh, Tazok, maybe I've got Stockholm Syndrome, but you've been a real nice captor and I've gotten to like you quite a bit. Maybe being your wife wouldn't be the worst thing in the world, if it came to it, even though I don't do the thing with guys. But it's not gonna happen because they'll kill you. I don't want to see that. Walk away. Quit before it's too late."

"And leave you to Rascar?" Tazok's nostrils flared. "Even were I not sworn to Firkraag's service I could not do that. But it will not come to pass. Your friends cannot win against Firkraag's might in any event. They shall perish. I shall see that they are buried after the manner of heroes. Then I shall take you. I shall be gentle with you, beautiful Tara, and give you great pleasure. Our children shall be strong and wise and will be mighty rulers."

"Yeah, definitely not the worst thing in the world," Tara said. "I could live with that, gay or not, if it came to it. Only it won't. Don't fight them in here, Tazok. Please. I don't want to see you die."

"I will fight them elsewhere if I can," Tazok said. "I will win, doubt it not, but I would not have you see your friends die at my hand. This is my post, however, and I may have no choice."

"I hope it doesn't come to that. It's your move," she reminded him.

Tazok looked down at the chess board. "I concede the game. I must go to inspect our defenses, and you have taken too many of my pieces already." He grinned at her in a fashion that would have been best described as 'engaging' if it hadn't been for his fangs. "As you have taken my heart."

Tara's cheeks flushed slightly. "That's sweet. Come here, okay?" She beckoned him over to the bars. "Bend down." Tazok obeyed, frowning slightly, and Tara pressed her face to the bars and kissed him. "Goodbye, Tazok."

"I shall return," Tazok assured her.

"Maybe," Tara said. Her blush deepened. "Uh, Tazok, I, uh, if you, uh, if you surrender to them w-when they get here I'll, uh, let you, you know, take my v-virginity. Just the one t-time. B-but you could have me. If you don't fight them."

"You tempt me with your seductive wiles in an attempt to save your friends." Tazok's brow furrowed. "It is tempting indeed, but I am Tazok the Mighty and I do not surrender. Also, once would not be enough. I desire to take you many times, in many different positions, and hear your cries of pleasure and passion ring out through many a long night of bliss, and spend days enjoying your spirited company."

"That's pretty m-much the nicest thing anyone has ever said to me," Tara said. "It's almost a shame it could never work. There are just too many strikes against it. I'm gay, and I'm in love with somebody else, and you're evil. But it was nice."

Tazok put his hand through the bars and cupped it behind her head. He pulled her gently but firmly forward and kissed her again with surprising tenderness. "You will learn to love me," he told her. "Farewell for now." He strode off towards the main part of the underground fortress.

As soon as Tazok had departed Rascar stepped back in through the other door. He leered at Tara. "So you try to tempt Tazok to desert our cause? Brazen hussy. You shall lose your virginity, never fear, but it shall be to me. And I won't be gentle. The more you scream the more I'll enjoy it."

"Tazok will kill you if I tell him what you said," Tara threatened.

"Firkraag will have Tazok killed if I tell him what you offered, and that Tazok seemed tempted," Rascar sneered back. "He doesn't believe in taking chances. Oh, I don't think Tazok is stupid enough to take you up on it. He'll fight Sorkatani all the more furiously to prove that he's not a coward or a traitor. You seem convinced that he'll die. Well, she killed him once before, so maybe you're right. Only then Firkraag will kill her, and all the rest of your friends, and he won't have any further use for you. So you'll be mine."

"Only if Firkraag says so," Tara reminded him.

"And why should he not? You're of no interest to anyone else. Unless he decides to eat you, of course. They say that virgins taste especially sweet to dragons." Rascar sniggered. "Watching that might be even more fun than raping you."

Tara remembered a taunting epithet that Tazok had directed at Rascar following the thief's succumbing to her Command to masturbate. A British epithet that was one of Spike's favorite terms of abuse. She raised her chin defiantly. "Yeah, sure, for you. Wanker."

Rascar's face contorted in fury. "I have not forgotten that, priestess. You will regret it, I swear. I shall make you suffer."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

Lyrics from 'Sunshine on a Rainy Day' by Zoë are used without permission and with no intention to profit from their use.


	26. Chapter 26

**Chapter Twenty-six**

They formed up on the stairs with Tazok and DigDag in the centre of the front rank and two orog swordsmen at each side. The archers were behind and above them and could thus take advantage of the high arched ceilings of the fortress tunnels to shoot over the heads of the taller warriors. Plath Rededge was there to provide magical support and healing, sheltering behind Tazok and DigDag, and she was backed up by an orc mage. Conster would have been bfetter, his repertoire of spells far outclassed those of the orc, but Firkraag wanted him at his side and Tazok had to make do with what he could get.

Rascar had laid some traps on the stairs in front of them but had then retired back to the living quarters, claiming that Firkraag had other duties for him, although Tazok suspected that the thief was simply trying to avoid getting involved in the fight. His presence would have added little to the fighting power of the band and so Tazok refrained from making an issue of it. The quarters adjoined the room that housed Tara's cell, and Tazok had one moment of concern lest Rascar had some nefarious purpose in mind; but the cell was impregnable, Conster had the only key, and Tazok dismissed the thoughts from his mind and went back to organizing the defense.

It wasn't an ideal position. There was no room for maneuver, they had no cover, and the traps were no barrier to missile weapons. They couldn't charge lest they fall victim to their own traps and, if it came to a long-distance exchange of missiles and spells, the attackers would have the edge. Dynaheir was no longer with Sorkatani's band, thankfully, but it was said that the little red-headed witch who had replaced her – Tara's former lover Willow – was very formidable indeed. So was Conster, true, but Conster wasn't going to be involved. On the plus side they did have the advantage of height and they could not be outflanked. Tazok had a feeling that it would come down to a slogging match at close quarters and the battle would hinge on whether or not he and DigDag could defeat Sorkatani and Buffy the Vampire Slayer. On that point he felt quietly confident.

The Bhaalspawn and her bunch had made worryingly fast and inexorable progress through the fortress. Even the vampires, and the dread guardians of King Strohm's tomb, had barely slowed them down. Tazok had hoped that some of them would have fallen to the other defenders by the time they got this far but it hadn't happened. They must have been weakened, however, their store of potions and spells depleted, and hopefully that would be enough to give him the edge.

Tazok would have liked to start the battle Hasted, and with perhaps a couple of other spells augmenting his power, but there would be no point in ordering the spells to be cast too soon. The attackers might simply wait for them to wear off and the aftermath of a Haste spell was crippling fatigue. Tazok had no option but to wait for Sorkatani to arrive. The orc-ogre hybrid orogs, proud of their status as elite warriors, stood and waited patiently. The orcs, naturally chaotic and prone to indiscipline, fidgeted and DigDag growled at them. Plath Rededge began to fidget too. She drew out a miniature pot of ointment from a pouch and smeared it onto her eyelids.

"Stupid time to make yourself look pretty," Tazok sneered. "They'll be here soon. And you'll never look as pretty as Tara anyway."

"Hush," Plath snapped. "This is important." She chanted a phrase in an archaic language and poked her head past Tazok to look down the staircase. Her eyes widened. "They're here!" she shouted. "Loose your shafts!" She began to recite a protective incantation but an arrow whistled from out of nowhere to slice a bloody gash across her cheek and her spell-casting was disrupted. She retreated hastily back to her sheltered position behind the armored warriors.

Three figures appeared on the stairs. One was close by; much too close. A slim figure in jet black armor. He had bypassed the traps without disturbing them, not making a whisper of sound in the process, and was within a sword's length of the line. He held a long dagger in his right hand. His left held a saber, a fine weapon with an ornate bell guard protecting his fingers, and blood was running along the channel in its blade. One of the orogs doubled over, clutched his hands to a thigh that was suddenly spouting blood from a severed femoral artery, and yelled for healing.

The other two newcomers were further away. One of them was also clad in dark leathers. He had the yellowish skin and slanted eyes of a denizen of far Kara-Tur. He had just loosed an arrow from a short bow and it was he who had injured Plath Rededge.

The third attacker was a girl. Slender of build, unarmored, and not tall, but the sight of her sent a thrill of alarm through Tazok's body. He would have guessed her identity even if he hadn't recognized her from the descriptions that had cropped up in his conversations with Tara. Willow the Red Witch in full battle mode. Her skin was the dull grey of a Stoneskin spell. Her arm was outstretched with her little finger and thumb spread out in the magical 'horns' symbol and an incantation was already on her lips. Something intangible streaked from her hand and burst just behind the orc archers. A cloud of choking death billowed out from it.

The archers panicked. Tazok felt the sting of gas in his nose and eyes and knew that if they stood still they were dead. To retreat would mean going deeper into the gas cloud before they could escape on the other side. "Forward!" he ordered. "Kill the witch." He charged forward, desperately trying to remember exactly where Rascar had set the traps, with DigDag and the orogs at his side and the orcs following at his heels. The gas cloud rolled downwards with them. The wounded orog died where he lay.

The little witch cast one of the simplest of beginners' spells and a section of stone in their path became coated with slippery grease. Three archers lost their footing and went down. Two choked to death before they could rise. The third landed on a caltrop left by Rascar and clambered to his feet with the wicked little spikes impaling his hand. His bow was lost. One of the orogs blundered into a tripwire and a hidden crossbow was triggered. The bolt struck an archer in the back and dropped him in his tracks.

The black-clad swordsman blocked the path of one of the orogs and prevented him from leaving the poison gas cloud. The bulky monster threw himself bodily at the swordsman, trying to drive him back with sheer weight, but the man dodged aside and drove his dagger into the orog's side. The man in black slipped past the injured orog and voluntarily entered the toxic zone. He lurked unharmed within the deadly vapor, a disturbingly cheerful grin on his face, and his sword licked out at the backs of the orc archers from within the fog.

Tazok got past the traps and the Grease spell without mishap. An arrow bounced from his armor without penetrating. DigDag slipped but managed to keep his footing. They charged on down the stairs, accompanied by the two surviving orogs, and headed for the witch and the other enemies who were approaching fast to join her.

Sorkatani. Minsc, bellowing 'Go for the eyes, Boo, go for the eyes!' Jaheira, holding a spear. The fair-haired kensai who was known as the Vampire Slayer. A pair of armored knights, or perhaps a knight and a priest. The drow Viconia, who had been there when Sorkatani's company had infiltrated Tazok's bandit band a year and a half ago, but who had been absent from the final confrontation in Baldur's Gate. A bard with a musical instrument at the ready. Two girls in leather with crossbows. They made up a formidable array. The initial slight numerical advantage of his forces was being eroded by that deadly gas and the man in black's sword and dagger. The orc wizard was coughing too badly to strike back. Tazok grimaced in frustration. "Kill the witch!" he bellowed again.

Plath emerged from the gas cloud and unleashed the most deadly long-range spell in her arsenal. A Flame Strike, a column of fire lashing down from the heavens to punish and destroy an enemy. It seared down with devastating effect; but on Plath herself, not on Willow. Spell Turning. Plath screamed in agony and then began to chant the words of a healing spell. An arrow struck her before she could finish and she fell to her knees.

Sorkatani's armored fighters moved forward and screened the witch from Tazok's onrushing forces. He angled his charge to target Sorkatani and she came forward to meet him. Their blades clashed.

DigDag faced off with Buffy the Vampire Slayer. His axe swept down. Her twin swords rose to intercept his blow and her foot stamped out in a kick to his mid-section. He reeled backwards under the impact and his face twisted in shock. The force of the kick was unbelievable coming from such a small opponent.

The orc mage saw what had happened and hastened to support his chieftain by casting a Remove Magic spell upon Buffy. He thought that her incredible power must stem from a Potion or Girdle of Giant Strength. The spell had no effect. Buffy was still far stronger than DigDag and her onslaught drove him back up the stairs towards the gas cloud.

The man in black – Spike the Vampire, Tazok deduced – was slaughtering the remaining archers with impunity from the cover of the gas. He sent one tumbling down the stairs to crash into the orc mage and the impact sent the wizard stumbling out of control towards Sorkatani's forces. Jaheira met him with a braced spear and the wizard impaled himself on the point. The new male cleric moved forward and battered the helpless mage to death with a mace.

Minsc and the armored knight battled the orogs. The two girl thieves, joined by the bard who had apparently decided that his magical songs were unnecessary, sniped at a couple of archers who were trying to retreat from Spike to gain room to use their bows. Viconia bypassed the orogs, advanced up the stairs, and finished off the badly wounded Plath Rededge with a triple-headed flail.

Tazok could see the events of the battle only in brief glimpses. His main focus had to be on Sorkatani. Their first clash of blades had been indecisive. He brought his sword around again and delivered a downward chop towards her head. She parried with one sword and hit back with the other. The gleaming katana glanced from his armor. Tazok twirled his sword around and smote with all his might. The Perfect Warrior danced aside. She drove out a leg in a stamping kick to his knee and he was only just able to stay on his feet. Her blades licked out in swift strikes. Again her katana struck his breastplate. This time she angled the blade upwards and it bit into the underside of his arm as it glanced from the hardened steel. Her other blade damaged his gauntlet.

She was better than she had been when they clashed at Baldur's Gate, Tazok thought, and she had killed him then. He tried a new tactic and brought his sword across in a low sweep at her legs. She leapt lightly over his weapon and kicked him in the chest. Her swords descended on his shoulders as she came down from the leap. He rocked back and hit the stone wall. He threw himself forward again and tried a kick of his own as he brought his sword back into position. She sidestepped and swept his standing leg out from under him. He fell heavily on his back and the air was driven from his lungs. He caught a brief glimpse of DigDag's head rolling down the stairs and then Sorkatani knocked his guard aside with her lesser sword. Celestial Fury stabbed down in a thrust aimed straight at his throat.

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_The battle was lost. "I yield!" Tazok gasped out. For one terrible moment he thought that he had been too winded to make any audible noise, or that the Perfect Warrior was going to ignore his plea and kill him anyway, but the blade halted as it touched his skin. "I beg quarter." Behind Sorkatani he saw Minsc and the knight slaying their orog opponents at almost exactly the same moment._

"_Lay down your sword," Sorkatani commanded. He tossed the mighty blade aside with alacrity._

"_Just kill the git," the man in black advised, appearing at Sorkatani's shoulder. "Left it a bit too bloody late to surrender, mate." He was definitely a vampire, as mere seconds earlier he had been butchering the archers near the top of the stairs, and he must have raced down at incredible speed to reached Sorkatani so quickly. Frankly Tazok wished that he hadn't bothered._

_Sorkatani pulled back her sword. "I do not do murder," she said. "I slew you once, Tazok, and I will do so again if you prove false. Where is Tara?"_

_He told her where to find the cage. "The key is in the possession of Conster the Mage," he explained. "Or perhaps held by Firkraag himself. Watch out for the thief Rascar. He bears Tara ill will."_

"_If he hurts her he's toast," Willow said. Tazok had no doubt that she was speaking the literal truth._

"_Stay here, Tazok," Sorkatani ordered him. "We go to rescue Tara. I can spare none to guard a prisoner. If you take up arms against us again I shall hunt you down and slay you without mercy."_

"_Just slay him now, abbil," the drow girl advised. "Such creatures cannot be trusted."_

"_I do not murder," Sorkatani repeated. "If he is true to his word I shall be true to mine." They moved off still discussing Tazok's surrender. The girl thieves cleared away the last of Rascar's traps from the stairs. The gas cloud dissipated and Sorkatani's band ascended the staircase towards Tara._

_Tazok sat up, shook himself, and then climbed to his feet. He went to DigDag's headless body; the orc chieftain had been in possession of some nice trinkets and had no further use for them. Someone had been there before him, however, and DigDag's pouches were empty. The same turned out to apply to Plath Rededge. Tazok gave up and sat down against the wall to wait for Sorkatani's return._

_He tried not to think about what Firkraag would do to him for his betrayal if Sorkatani and her companions were slain and he waited patiently for their return. Eventually they reappeared, or most of them. Some were missing; the male priest, the knight, the bard, and one of the girl thieves. Sorkatani was muttering darkly about getting revenge upon Firkraag in a future confrontation but Tazok paid little attention. He had eyes only for Tara._

_She came to him and, to his joy, embraced him. "I'm so glad you did what I said, hon," she told him. "I would have hated it if you'd died. Let's get back to civilization before I give you your reward, 'kay?"_

_Willow sniffed. "What happened to you being gay?" she complained._

"_We broke up, Willow. You don't get a say in this," Tara replied._

"_Fine. Fine. Suit yourself," Willow said, pouting. "Guess I'll go with Viconia. Or, hey, I know what." She turned to Minsc. "I'll be your witch, Minsc. And hey, there might be some fringe benefits in it for you. As long as Boo wouldn't be jealous."_

_Tazok paid little heed to the witch's words. His full attention was on Tara. He held her hand as he accompanied the party out of the fortress almost in a daze. They passed dead werewolves, shattered golems, charred mummies, and countless slain orcs, and emerged into the sunlight._

_The trip back to Athkatla was uneventful. Tazok was no rider and turned down the offer of a horse belonging to one of those incinerated by Firkraag. Instead he walked at the side of Tara's horse and they talked. Once at an inn she insisted that they bathe and eat before anything else and then, at long last, they retired to a bedroom._

_There Tazok undressed her and feasted his eyes upon her radiant beauty. He caressed her smooth skin with his calloused hands. Her soft fingers trailed over his muscular torso and tentatively fondled his shaft. "So big," she murmured. "Will it fit?"_

"_Fit it will, when I have made you ready, beautiful one," he assured her, "and give you great pleasure." He kissed her throat, her nipples, her stomach, and then buried his face between her legs and tasted her sweetness. His tongue penetrated her and her hands clamped on to his head. He explored her with his fingers, opening her up, stretching her gently._

_She moaned. "Take me now," she told him, and he obeyed._

_She was wet and ready for him. He entered her as carefully and gently as he could. She squealed, but in delight rather than in pain, and he slid into her tight quim all the way up to the hilt. Her muscles squeezed him. He slid part of the way out, and then in again. She clutched his mighty shoulders with her hands and sought his mouth with hers. Her legs crossed over his back._

_He moved slowly at first but gradually speeded up. His grunts of pleasure mingled with her ecstatic cries. "I love you," he told her._

"_I love you too, Tazok," she told him. "Fill me with your seed! Give me your children!" Her words dissolved into shrieks and incoherent gasps._

_He pounded into her, all control lost, but she matched his passion and her quim gripped him tightly. Pleasure overwhelmed him. He thrust deep, deep, into her and spurted his seed against her womb. Somehow he knew that she had conceived._

"_Oh, Tazok, hon, I love you," she sighed. "I'm gonna stay with you for ever. Our children will be mighty warriors. Emperors. I love you." She hugged him tightly and pulled his face to her bosom._

_Tazok hugged her in return. "I love you, Tara," he murmured. Sleep was claiming him after the ecstatic release. He sank blissfully into the welcoming dark._

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Sorkatani withdrew her blade from Tazok's throat. She twirled Celestial Fury, sending droplets of blood spattering over the stone flags of the staircase, and slid the katana into her scabbard. "Strange," she commented, looking down at Tazok's smiling face. "I've never seen anyone die looking so happy before. I wonder what he was thinking?"


	27. Chapter 27

**Chapter Twenty-seven**

"It's a pretty neat sword," Willow said. "Not quite up to Lilarcor, I guess, but without that annoying talking feature."

"Hey, I resent that," Minsc's sentient sword complained. "Where would he be without my advice?"

"All you ever do is tell him to hit things," Willow pointed out, "and, hey, he'd do that anyway most times. Not like you're choosy. You tried to get him to hit the dryads, remember?"

"Only at first," Lilarcor said. "Once I caught on to who they were I told him to ravish them, didn't I? Hey, he's a barbarian, if he just sticks to smiting and ravishing he can't go wrong. Oh, and looting. Slay, pillage, plunder, ravish. Works for me."

"Ravishing without an invitation is wrong," Minsc told the sword. His cheeks had gone red. "Boo says you talk too much. Back in the scabbard for you."

"Hey, the clothes they were wearing, or not wearing, were-" Lilarcor's voice was silenced as Minsc thrust the sword into its sheath.

"Okay, where was I?" Willow went back to her description of Tazok's sword. "Yeah, it's not as good as Lilarcor. It's got the same enchantment on the blade as the Sword of Chaos only it can't do that neat healing trick. Another one to sell, I guess. Unless you want a two-handed sword, Spike?"

"Not for me, Red. Think I'll stick to fighting sword and dagger style. I like this one that I'm using now." He flourished his rapier in an extravagant salute.

Willow rolled her eyes. "That's the one you picked up when we were at Nalia's dad's funeral, right? You've been carrying it around in your pack for, like, two weeks and you only just started using it now? Dumb vampire."

"Well, we got a bit distracted," Spike reminded her, "what with…" he glanced around to check that Viconia wasn't within hearing distance. She was twenty paces away, going through the possessions of the female cleric she had slain, and Spike continued in a lower voice. "What with blokes that had been buried alive and all. Didn't remember about it until I lost that other sword."

"That sword was worth three hundred and seventy-five danter," Anya pointed out. "Maybe we ought to start taking the cost out of your share."

Spike pouted. "Not my fault if the bloke did a runner and fell into a chasm."

"If you hadn't let go of the sword so that you could bite the guy it wouldn't have happened," Willow reproved him. "And what about the times you just left a sword sticking in somebody and forgot about it? This was, what, the third one you've lost? I'm with Anya; maybe we oughta start charging you."

"Okay, okay, keep your knickers on, Red. Second thoughts, feel free to take them off." Spike leered at Willow and waggled his eyebrows. He received an eye-roll from Anya and a hard stare from Buffy, who was checking out the late Chief DigDag's gear nearby and who was not amused by Spike's innuendo, but Willow just grinned.

"If you're gonna do bad Groucho Marx impressions you oughta draw on a moustache," she advised. "Hey, why don't I check that sword out now? I'm all charged up with the Identify mojo anyway. If it's got any cool powers maybe you'll take care of it for a change. Or at least we'll know to be really annoyed with you if you lose it."

Spike passed over the sword and Willow ran her hands over it. Her eyes widened. "This is seriously cool. Namarra, the Never Sleeping, the Sword of Silent Death."

"Hear that, Slayer? Makes your poncy 'Blade of Roses' sound a bit wimpish, dunnit?"

Buffy pretended not to hear.

"Sorry to burst your bubble, Spike, but it's not as heavy on the enchantment as the Blade of Roses," Willow told him. "A step down from that, or Lilarcor, or Celestial Fury. A good match for the Sword of Chaos, maybe. It does have a cool power. It can cast Silence spells, and that makes it pretty deadly to wizards, and I guess that's how come it's got the fancy name. You just be careful with the spells around me, 'kay?"

"Sure thing, Red," Spike promised.

"Why can't you just say what plusses it's got?" Xander put in. "All this 'better than this, not as good as that' stuff is kinda hard to follow."

"Well, mainly 'cause I don't know what 'plusses' things have, okay? I don't get a, like, technical brochure when I do this spell. Just feelings. And hey, I never played Dungeons and Dragons."

"You could kinda improvise," Xander suggested. "Just to help me keep things straight, yeah? It's pretty simple. Like, the basic magic swords – like the ones that Spike keeps losing – are plus ones, Sword of Chaos plus two, Blade of Roses plus three, or whatever."

"Hey, ease off on this whole nerdier-than-thou thing," Willow complained. She screwed up her mouth and contemplated Xander's idea. "I guess it would work, just for our reference, right? Hey, I could make a table! Not that I've got any colored marker pens here, kinda short on them in this world, but I could come up with something. Didn't Viconia say something about pastels one time? Let me think. Okay. If we start with what you said then Namarra would be a plus two, so is this sword from that ogre guy – Tazok, right? – and that Dragonslayer sword. Celestial Fury and Lilacor would be plus threes. Dawn and Anya have both got plus twos. That staff with a spear point Giles carries these days would rate plus two as well. Hey, that reminds me; didn't Jon-Tom in 'Spellsinger' have that exact same sorta staff-spear thing?"

"Yeah," Xander grinned. "Coincidence? I think not. Uh, what about Azuredge, Will?"

"I don't know. Maybe plus two, maybe plus three? It's hard to tell 'cause it's got different powers against the Undead, you know?" Her brow wrinkled as she ran through her mental catalogue of the group's store of weaponry. "Viconia's mace is a plus two and the Flail of Ages is plus three. Yoshimo and Jaheira don't have anything better than plus one. No, wait, I'm wrong there. Yoshi's bow would rate plus two, I think, and Jaheira's spear the same. Her sling maybe rates a plus three."

"Is plus three the best we've got?" Xander wondered.

"We've got one thing better," Willow revealed. She raised her chin and adopted an expression of satisfied smugness. "My staff. On that scale it would be a plus four."

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"Tara!" Willow ran to the cage and pressed herself up against the bars. Tara stood back for a moment and then moved forward and took Willow's hand. She was wearing a long silk dress that Willow had never seen before, cut low at the front to reveal a surprising amount of cleavage, and a valuable Laeral's Tear necklace was clasped around her neck. "Oh, baby, are you all right? You're, uh, looking surprisingly good. For a prisoner. Uh, not that you don't always look good."

Tara laughed. "I'm fine, sweetie. I knew you'd come. It hasn't been all that bad." She looked past Willow to the others. "Hi, guys."

Willow released Tara's hand and stepped back to take a look at the cage. She saw a folding table and chair, a cot covered by an embroidered counterpane, and two curtained alcoves. The curtains around one were drawn back to reveal a hip bath tub. A chessboard, a silver fruit bowl, a vase of flowers and a fine porcelain cup stood on the table. Willow raised her eyebrows. "Yeah, I guess it sure hasn't been bad. It looks like you had pretty much a home from home here. And I'd been thinking you were in, like, a smelly dungeon with rats."

Tara's cheeks reddened and she lowered her gaze. "I think one of the guys, well monsters, guarding me sorta fell in love with me. He's been treating me pretty well. He, uh, even brought me chocolate. I didn't even know they had chocolate in this world."

"You've been getting chocolate?" Willow's eyebrows lowered and her lips protruded in a pout. "And hey, new necklace? Are you sure you want to be rescued?"

Tara laughed. "Of course I do, hon. A little chocolate didn't make up for being locked up in this cage the whole time."

"This comfy cage," Willow commented. Her pout remained on her lips. "So who is this guy with the crush on you, and who I'm guessing came through with the jewels and the dress and things?"

"Kind of an ogre-human cross, I think, like the one we fought at the Slaver building who was tag-teaming with a minotaur. He knows Sorkatani. His name is Tazok."

Sorkatani had gone to examine the bars and the construction of the formidable door while the thieves attempted to pick the lock. She looked up for a moment. "He's dead. I cut his throat," she told Tara, and then went back to her assessment of the strength of the cage.

Tara gulped. "That's, uh, kind of a shame," she said. "I mean, he was evil, yeah, but he was pretty nice to me. It would have been a bit, uh, awkward if he was still alive, 'cause I kind of led him on, trying to get him to let me go or not fight you, but I still feel sad that he's dead. Just a little."

"Led him on?" Willow's frown intensified and her gaze was focused on Tara's display of cleavage.

"Well, yeah," Tara said. "I let him think he might, you know, get somewhere with me. Like I said, there would have been, well, problems if he hadn't died."

"If he was good to you then we shall give him a proper burial," Sorkatani said. "Perhaps in the tomb of King Strohm. After we get you out of this cage, of course. That will not be easy. Yoshimo, Dawn, Anya, can you do anything with the locks?"

"Alas, no, Jabbress," Yoshimo replied. "They are magically warded. Only one key can open them."

Dawn tried out a key that had been recovered from Tazok's body. "It's not this one," she reported. "We've seen a door that this would fit, I think, but it's not here. Back in Athkatla. That one down in the sewers near where those guys went all 'stand and deliver' on us." She moved aside to allow Willow access to the lock.

Willow closed her eyes and ran her fingers over the metal. "Did somebody cast a spell with the key in the lock?" she asked Tara.

"Yeah, that's right," Tara confirmed. "They've got this wizard called Conster. I think he's pretty powerful."

Willow bit her lip. "So am I, these days, but this is going to be hard to crack. He used the Law of Relevance to make the key and the lock into a single unit. No other key will work and it can't be picked. I can't even dispel it without having the key here, which would make dispelling it pretty pointless, so I guess we're gonna have to force it open."

"That will not be easy," Sorkatani said. "The bars are of tremendous strength. Perhaps we could lever the door open."

She selected a two-handed sword from their collection of looted weaponry. It was one of the run of the mill enchanted weapons that Xander would have described as 'plus one' and the thick blade, diamond-shaped in cross-section, was magically strengthened. She forced it into the gap between the door and the body of the cage and heaved. Nothing happened. Buffy joined in, as did Minsc, and the sword began to bend. By the time they abandoned their attempts the sword had been bent into an 'L' shape.

"That's three hundred and seventy five danter gone for a Burton," Spike smirked. "Think we ought to deduct it from your share?"

"Five hundred for a two handed sword," Anya corrected him.

Sorkatani scowled at Spike. "Think you that money matters where Tara's freedom is concerned?"

"I was joking, okay?" Spike told her. There had been real venom in Sorkatani's voice and he was rather taken aback. Buffy had glared at him as well, but that was par for the course, and it was only Sorkatani's attitude that surprised him. "'Course I think Tara's more important than any amount of dosh. It was just 'cos of that thing with Willow and Anya getting at me about losing swords, that's all. Didn't mean anything by it." He fumbled for a cigarette, came up with a cigar, and put it back in his pouch.

"Such jests are unwelcome," Sorkatani snapped, and she grabbed one of the bars and tugged at it in frustration.

Willow's eyebrows climbed. Sorkatani's little outburst had surprised her as well. "Spike really didn't mean it, Jabbress, he was just getting a little dig in at me and I don't mind. Hey, maybe I could Dimension Door in, grab Tara, and Dimension Door out again," she suggested. "Well, at least I could if I had two Dimension Door spells ready. I've only got one. It would take a few hours to swap something over."

"A few hours in which anything may happen," Sorkatani said. "And it would take many hours to saw through these bars. The cages in which we were imprisoned by Irenicus were nothing to this." She slammed her gauntleted fist into a bar. "Better to slay this Conster and take the key from his corpse."

"Uh, there's a dragon," Tara said. "Lord Firkraag. He's a huge red dragon. Godzilla size. He's in charge and he might have the key."

"We know about the dragon," Buffy said. She drew a sword with her left hand; not the Blade of Roses, but a more recently acquired weapon. "We've got a few tricks up our sleeve for it. Like this sword. It's a Dragonslayer. And we've killed a dragon since you were last with us anyway."

"Yeah, well, I don't think this one is gonna stand there and let us build a ballista in front of it," Xander cautioned. "The Shadow Dragon was one tough mother and if we hadn't hurt it so bad before it knew what was happening it would have creamed us. Hell, it killed me!"

"Why fight the dragon if we don't have to, Jabbress?" Yoshimo said to Sorkatani. "Let us wait here until Willow changes her spell, and then take Tara and go."

"Evil should get its butt kicked whenever the chance arises," Minsc said.

"I am with Yoshimo on this," Jaheira put in. "Why take the risk?"

"I think so also, Jabbress," Viconia backed Jaheira.

"A dragon is a terrible opponent," Anomen said. "It would be only sensible to free your comrade by other means and to depart from this place without confronting the beast." He clenched his jaw. "Yet it killed my comrades of the Order of the Radiant Heart. I cannot let that go unavenged and still call myself a man. I say we fight."

Spike looked at Anomen with new respect. "I'd go for that. Not that I'm mad keen on taking the bugger on, inflammable vampire here, but the twat who had Tara kidnapped needs to get his head chopped off."

"And his valuable hide removed carefully and taken to Cromwell," Anya said.

"All my instincts tell me that it must be fought," Sorkatani said, "but perhaps I cannot trust my instincts." She sighed. "I am sorry that I spoke harshly to you, Spike. I am on edge. I know that you did but jest."

"Don't worry about it, Tani," Spike said. "Only natural if you get ratty sometimes. Got a lot on your plate, I know."

Giles had been deep in thought. "There is a lot to be said for attacking the dragon right away," he declared. "We would be most vulnerable to its attack outdoors, where it can use its power of flight to the best advantage, and where it can pick its moment to strike. Better to take it out now so that we can go into the fight with all possible preparations ready in advance."

"That is logical," Jaheira agreed. "Perhaps my first thought was in error. I have a spell that could bring even a dragon to the brink of death with a mere touch of my hand, if its resistance to magic failed the creature, but if it was in flight I could never hope to strike it. Caution may betray us in this instance and an action seemingly rash might be the wiser course."

"Rupert Giles speaks words of wisdom," Sorkatani declared. "I will fight. I do not command any to follow me into a combat so perilous, and if any of you wish to stand back I will think no less of you, but I would be glad of assistance."

"I would follow you into the Nine Hells, Jabbress," Viconia said immediately. "I stand with you always."

"As do I," Yoshimo declared.

"I'm in," Buffy said. "Like I'd pass up on the chance to try out this Dragonslayer sword? I don't think so."

A chorus of assent came from the entire group with no abstentions. Sorkatani smiled. "I am well pleased, my friends. Let us make sure that we are well prepared. What Potions of Fire Resistance do we have? Spells to counter the aura of fear? Giles, you mentioned a song?"

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They descended a long and wide staircase and passed through an enormous archway. Beyond it was a vast chamber hewn from the rock. The walls were carved in intricate patterns. Alcoves at the sides were inlaid with slabs of stone in the form of teeth so that they resembled enormous mouths. Pillars shaped like human femurs rose from the alcoves to the vaulted ceiling.

They paid little attention to the décor. Their eyes went to the figure in the centre of the chamber and their gazes stayed there. Mouths dropped open.

The dragon was immense. The Shadow Dragon had been almost as large as an adult Tyrannosaurus Rex. Firkraag was bigger by a full fifty per cent. Perhaps not Godzilla-sized, as Tara had described him, but colossal nonetheless. Minsc stared at the titanic beast, as it raised its head from its pillow of gold coins and opened its enormous eyes, and he gave voice to all their feelings.

"I need a bigger sword."

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There was nothing that Tara could do but wait. She sat at her table, munched on an apple, and tried to keep herself occupied by reading a book that had been brought to her by the late Tazok. 'The History of the Drow'. She was finding it interesting but disturbing. If even a quarter of the material in the book was accurate then it was no wonder that Viconia was the focus of so much hatred simply because of her race.

She heard a sound close at hand. A clink of metal on metal. She looked up from the pages and alarm shot through her. Rascar was standing at the door of the cage.

"I knew that if I stayed hidden long enough I'd get you alone," Rascar gloated. "Your friends are off to throw their lives away against Firkraag. He won't have any further use for you, and Tazok's dead, so you're expendable."

Tara laid down the book. "So, what, you're going to stand outside the cage and make faces at me?"

Rascar grinned and held up a heavy brass key. "I picked Conster's pocket. Oh, you can forget about playing tricks on me like you did last time. I've been preparing for this for a long time. I'm warded against every spell you could possibly throw at me." He inserted the key into the lock and turned it. "Most of Firkraag's people are dead now. I was just hired for this one job. Now that it's over I'll be heading back to Athkatla to work for Bodhi again. There are just a couple of loose ends to tie up first." He pulled the door open, stepped into the cage, and leered at Tara. "Like paying you back for making a fool out of me. I'm going to make you scream."

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Sorkatani frowned up at Firkraag. "Then your grudge against me stems from something that Gorion did to you long ago? He is dead, dragon. Is your revenge not hollow?"

"I can torment his spirit by tormenting you," Firkraag explained. "Yet I might have let it pass were it not for the other part of your heritage. It amused me to test you, godling. The game has proved less entertaining than I expected, alas. I had intended to rid you of some of your hangers-on and leave you weakened for when you confront Irenicus. They have proved more resilient than I expected, sadly, and robbed me of my triumph. Ah, well, my followers will be easy to replace. Go. The game is over. I shall let you live – for now. Your confrontation with Irenicus might be interesting."

Conster was standing at Firkraag's side. He visibly relaxed at the dragon's words.

"You are releasing Tara?" Sorkatani frowned. It seemed too easy.

The dragon boomed out a great laugh. "I am not. I shall hold on to her for a while. She shall serve to compel you to return to me if you survive Irenicus. Until then, godling, I bid you farewell. Go. Before I change my mind."

"I will not leave without Tara," Sorkatani told him.

"Do what he says, Bhaalspawn," Conster urged. "I will see that your friend is well treated."

"Do not try my patience, foolish child," Firkraag growled. "I could crush you like an insect. Leave while you have the chance."

"First let us sing you a song that may persuade you otherwise," Sorkatani said. "Giles, if you would?"

The dragon raised an eyebrow the size of a man's arm. "If this bores me I will eat you, bard."

"Oh, I very much doubt that you will be bored," Giles said, and the corners of his mouth quirked up as he unslung his guitar. He blasted out the opening chords and then began to sing. It was a Georgia Satellites song, but with the lyrics subtly warped to suit his purposes, and hastily amended again on seeing the sheer size of the dragon.

_I've got you tied down with battleship chains_

_Fifty foot long and a ten ton anchor_

_Tied down with battleship chains_

_Fifty foot long and a ten ton anchor_

_You can't move your arms_

_To hold nobody_

_Hold nobody but you_

_You can't move your legs_

_To chase nobody_

_To kick nobody but you…_

The air around Firkraag formed itself into massive steel chains, each link the size of a truck tire, ending in an anchor that would have completely filled the front room of 1630 Revello Drive. The dragon roared in rage and tried to rear up. The chains hampered his movements and, although the anchor briefly rose from the ground, Firkraag could not support the weight for more than a couple of seconds before being forced to return to all fours. The chains tightened. His wings were held close to his body and his legs were bound.

Willow hit Firkraag with a Lower Resistance spell. Viconia cast a Miscast Magic in an attempt to cripple the dragon's ability to retaliate with spells. Anomen brought forth a pair of skeletons and sent them forward to engage the dragon. Jaheira held back her spells, for the time being, and contented herself with hurling a slingshot at the huge creature. Anya and Dawn took up sheltered positions in alcoves and began to fire their crossbows, as did Yoshimo with his short bow. Giles headed for an alcove too, strutting rather than walking, and belting out Southern Rock as he went. Sorkatani, Buffy, and Minsc charged with swords, heading for the hindquarters of the dragon, well away from the deadly jaws. Xander threw Azuredge and then ran forward; not to attack Firkraag but towards the mound of gold and jewels from which the beast had arisen.

Spike drew no weapon but instead hurled himself bodily at Conster. The wizard had already protected himself with a Stoneskin and other protective spells kicked in as the conflict began. Spike ignored them and seized the mage in his arms. He ran for the cavern wall and slammed Conster into the rock. "Try doing your mojo with this going on, sunshine," Spike challenged. He began to bash the mage's head against the wall over and over again. Conster struggled helplessly against the vampire's overwhelming strength. The Stoneskin protected him from damage but, as Spike had predicted, casting spells in the circumstances was impossible. Eventually the Stoneskin would give way and Conster would be at Spike's mercy. Spike grinned happily as he bashed away.

Firkraag inhaled. He couldn't turn enough to get a clear shot at the Bhaalspawn and the other irritating humans who were hacking at him with swords. They were doing him no immediate harm, as a Contingency spell had activated as soon as he was attacked and a Stoneskin now backed up his natural armor, and he planned on removing some of their allies before he turned his attention to them. He had only three viable targets for his flames; the skeletons who were advancing with maces, who posed little threat to him; the armored man who had run to his treasure horde, who had obviously been overcome by greed and could be ignored for the time being; and the inhumanly strong and fast human, probably the vampire he had heard about, who had neutralized Conster. The decision was a no-brainer. Firkraag took aim at Spike and exhaled a gout of incandescent flame.

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Tara stood up. For a moment she had been scared that Rascar would stand outside the cage and shoot her with a crossbow. She had experimented during her captivity with an attempt to improvise a sling from her bra, with the chess pieces as ammunition, but it had been a dismal failure. If he was really warded against spells he could have shot her with impunity and her only option would have been to take shelter in the bathtub. Now that he was in the cage, however…

"Mielikki, kimmoisuus we kesto – lta esitaistelija," she chanted, and picked up the fruit bowl.

"That's not the 'pear' I'm interested in," Rascar said, leering. He put his arm up to block as she swung the bowl at him.

His arm was swept aside and the silver dish smashed into his face with force enough to break his nose. He reeled back with blood pouring down his face. "Bitch!" he grunted, and swung a punch. Tara moved the bowl into the path of his blow. He knocked it from her grasp but snatched his hand back and yelped. The impact had broken two of his fingers.

"What? How?" Rascar gasped. His uninjured hand left went to the hilt of his short sword and he began to draw it; awkwardly, as the scabbard was positioned to place the hilt for a right hand draw.

"Champion's Strength," Tara informed him. "I'm stronger than you are now." She turned to take hold of the chair. Rascar abandoned his attempt to draw the sword and jumped forward to throw his arms around her. She drove her elbow back hard into his stomach and he released her. Tara snatched up the chair, whirled around, and brought it down upon his head. He didn't go down and so she hit him again and again until he fell. She hit him once more for luck and tossed the chair, now cracked and splintered, aside.

She knelt beside him. He was unconscious. She seized his left hand and pulled a ring from his finger, and then repeated the process with his injured right. He yelped and moved as she did so; she made sure that he wasn't going to return to consciousness by bouncing his head off the stone floor. She slipped the rings onto her own fingers and tugged his leather jerkin off over his head. His body lifted up as she pulled and then flopped down as the jerkin came free. His head thudded down onto the flagstones yet again. Blood began to trickle from his ears. Tara ignored it. She was more interested in the amulet at his neck that had been revealed once the leather armor was out of the way. She found the clasp, removed it from Rascar, and fastened it around her own neck. She pulled on the leather jerkin over her silk dress and left the cage.

Tara turned the key in the lock, pulled it free, and tossed it to the other side of the room. She chanted a phrase and a war hammer materialized in her hand. She grasped it firmly, ran out of the room, and set off down the stairs to help her friends.

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Dawn screamed out a warning to Spike with all the power that her lungs could provide. Other warnings rang out from Jaheira, from Yoshimo, and from Anomen. Viconia's gaze swung to Spike as she heard the shouts and her eyes opened wide in horror. Giles began a new verse of his song but knew that he would be too late to have any influence on the dragon's attack:

_Can't use your fire_

_To burn nobody_

_To burn nobody but you_.

Xander snatched up a sword from the middle of the pile of gold. A two handed weapon with an ornate gilded crossguard, a hilt bound with gold wire, and a pommel of solid gold set with a ruby the size of a pigeon's egg. He pulled it free of its richly decorated scabbard with desperate speed.

Spike heard the warnings and spun around. He flattened himself against the wall and held up Conster as a shield against the jet of fire. It splashed against the mage, set his clothes and hair ablaze, and burned through flesh to the bone. Tongues of flame licked around Conster and played over Spike. His pants caught fire. Viconia emitted a shrill wail of anguish.

Xander swung the shining sword and connected solidly with the dragon's jaw. The Stoneskin vanished and a three-foot gash opened up in the scaly hide. Firkraag's head was knocked aside and the rest of the flaming blast played out harmlessly against the stone wall.

Buffy thrust the sword Dragonslayer through the hole in the middle of one of the chain links and pierced deep into Firkraag's leg.

Sorkatani replicated the move at the other side, weakening Firkraag further, although Celestial Fury did not penetrate as deeply as did the sword specially forged to be the bane of dragons.

Minsc, whose native strength was augmented by a Frost Giant Strength potion, drove Lilarcor all the way through Firkraag's tail and into the stone floor, pinning the appendage in place.

Anomen ran to Spike and beat out the flames that were threatening to engulf the vampire. Viconia had also started to run towards Spike but she had started from much further away. She halted when she saw that Anomen had beaten her to Spike and she turned back to face Firkraag once more. Her face was distorted by a snarl as she uttered an incantation.

Willow sent a volley of Magic Missiles hissing through the air. They fizzled out against what remained of the dragon's resistance to magic.

Viconia brought down a Holy Smite upon Firkraag. This penetrated the resistance and the dragon shuddered under the impact.

Jaheira had been waiting for evidence that Firkraag was not protected by Spell Turning; her spell was so devastating that to have it reflected back upon her would mean almost certain death. Now she rushed forward, pressed her hand to Firkraag's tail, and spoke a word of command. The dragon screamed in agony.

Another Stoneskin flashed into existence. An arrow from Yoshimo and a crossbow bolt from Anya bounced off the magical protection only seconds later. The Blade of Roses glanced harmlessly from Firkraag's leg and Buffy grimaced in frustration.

Xander swung again with the sword from the dragon's hoard. This time the blade did not penetrate.

Firkraag gasped in a huge breath of air. He could not turn towards the priest who had injured him so direly and so he focused on the man who had laid open his face; no greedy fool, the dragon now realized, but someone who had somehow spotted and recognized the sword of awesome power, and who had the necessary qualifications to wield the dread blade. A paladin. Fear filled the dragon for the first time in decades. He was badly injured, bound in place, and the Holy Sword could destroy him at a stroke. He managed to cast a spell of healing upon himself, undoing most of the damage that he had suffered, and his panic eased. He flared his huge nostrils and opened his mouth to exhale another blast of flame.

Nothing happened.

Firkraag roared with frustration. It was the bard's song, he realized. '_Can't use your fire to burn nobody, to burn nobody but you_.' He swung his head around and breathed out fiercely at the chains that entangled him. The metal began to glow cherry red.

Anomen's skeletons, ignored by the dragon, began to batter on Firkraag's front limbs with their morning stars. Their blows were feeble compared to those from the mighty warriors at the rear, and they could not understand that they needed to avoid the chain links that entangled the dragon's legs and so many of their strikes were wasted, but each successful hit stripped away a layer from the dragon's second Stoneskin. So did each arrow impact, each crossbow bolt, each blow from the swords of Buffy and Sorkatani, each of the magical sling bullets that Viconia was now bombarding him with, and a Melf's Acid Arrow spell from Willow.

Minsc was leaning on Lilarcor, embedding the point even more firmly into the floor, rather than withdrawing it and striking again. Neither the Stoneskin nor the healing spell had affected that wound, held open by the sword blade, and blood was pouring out. More importantly, perhaps, Firkraag could not use his tail as a weapon without inflicting even greater injury upon himself.

Jaheira laid her hand upon the dragon once more and cast a lesser variant of the spell that had affected him so catastrophically earlier. The Stoneskin did nothing to impede the spell and pain seared through him. It injured him as badly as if it had been a blow with a two-handed sword.

Firkraag's eyes were wide and rolling like those of a panicked horse. His flame breath was a natural ability and required no concentration; he cast a spell of Fireball even as he tried to burn himself free of the chains, which were by now glowing brilliant orange. It was centered on himself; he was immune to the effects and he hoped to drive back the attackers who were imperiling his life so gravely.

The spell failed. Viconia's Miscast Magic spell had frustrated Firkraag's intent.

The chains parted. Firkraag roared in triumph and crushed the miserable skeletons under one mighty claw. His head swung around towards Xander and his mouth gaped wide. Fangs like scimitars gleamed in his maw. He struck out with a wing and knocked Sorkatani from her feet. The Perfect Warrior was thrown through the air and landed heavily on the stone floor. Her helmet fell from her head and she lay still. Viconia dropped her sling and raced for her fallen leader.

Xander thrust the sword into Firkraag's mouth and hit the massive tongue. The Stoneskin failed and Firkraag recoiled.

Buffy struck upwards at Firkraag's belly in a double blow with Dragonslayer and the Blade of Roses. The two weapons sank in deep.

Firkraag tried to rise into the air. Minsc kept tight hold of Lilarcor and the blade ripped through the flesh of the dragon's tail as the mighty creature moved. Blood gushed from the dreadful wound.

Firkraag howled. He dropped back onto all fours and swung his head towards the warriors who were cutting his rear quarters to ribbons.

Xander had a perfect shot at the side of the dragon's neck and took it. The gleaming blade sliced through hide, through flesh, and into bone. Firkraag's legs buckled under him and twelve tons of reptilian monster crashed to the ground. One final gout of flame spewed forth from his nostrils, passing just over Sorkatani's head as she lay stunned, and washed over Viconia. The flames were feeble and Viconia was well protected. She emerged from the fire virtually unscathed.

The dragon's body twitched once and was still. His eyes glazed over and stared sightlessly at the ceiling. Firkraag the Great, the ancient terror, was dead.

Tara raced through the archway, hammer held high, and came to a halt. She stood still, surveyed the scene, and panted for breath after her sprint down the stairs. "I guess … you didn't need… my help after… all."

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"They took Firkraag like Grant took Richmond," Jonathan reported. "No sweat at all. Spike was the only one who even got hurt."

"Spike got hurt?" Andrew turned around in his seat.

"Not bad hurt," Jonathan reassured him. "He got flamed some, but he was buffed up with a Fire Resistance potion. Nothing a Cure Serious won't fix."

"That's great, dude." Andrew turned away again and went back to reading Jonathan's revisions to his draft script for the pirate game. He had to concede, reluctantly, that they had improved things a lot. Jonathan had tightened up the plot, sharpened the dialog, and his new alternate scenario with a female player character read very well. Andrew would have liked to find fault with it but so far he hadn't succeeded in spotting more than an occasional typo.

"They took out Firkraag without losing anybody? I'm impressed," Warren said. "I wouldn't have thought they could pull it off. I mean, it's not hard with the Setting Traps cheat, but there's no way the game would let them get away with that under Firkraag's nose now that it's being all logical."

"Giles did a song that tied Firkraag up in fifty feet of battleship chain," Jonathan told him. "Then basically they just beat the crap out of him. Jaheira did a Harm spell on him and had him down to 'near death' for a while but they couldn't finish him off that time. He healed himself back up – it's always kinda rankled with me when he does that 'cause when you check him out in Shadowkeeper he doesn't have any Heal spells, so he shouldn't be able to do it – but they just blitzed him again. Man, the damage Buffy was doing with that Dragonslayer sword was just totally awesome. And Xander pulled Carsomyr out of the heap of gold and totally whacked the hell out of Firkraag with it."

"Heap of gold?" Warren was intrigued enough to go over and look for himself. "Wow. A real dragon hoard. Neat. That will look good in the mod. And you can pull Carsomyr out of it before Firkraag's dead? Cool."

"It was just great, dude. They're all working together like a real team." Jonathan smiled. "Like us, dude."

Warren smiled back at him. "Yeah, we're doing pretty good, short stuff. The script's pretty much ready, unless Andrew spots anything that I've missed, and we can start getting some voice acting done pretty much any time. We're still missing some of the sailing stuff but I've come up with a neat algorithm for cannon fire. All my own work too. Want to help me do some playtesting?"

"Yeah, that'd be cool," Jonathan agreed eagerly. "I'll just leave these guys to it for a while. It's all going to be, like, skinning the dragon and sharing out the treasure and stuff for a while now. It's not like they're going to get into any more fights that tough until they start mixing it with Bodhi. We won't miss anything."

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"Oh, baby, I've missed you so much," Willow murmured. "Are we, you know, good now?"

"We're good," Tara confirmed. "I've missed you a whole lot, sweetie. And you've come on so much. You're what I always knew you could be." She touched her lips lightly to Willow's cheek. "If you want to get back together, well, so do I. I love you."

"Oh, Tara, I love you too," Willow gasped. Her mouth sought Tara's and the two girls clung together. Arms wrapped around bodies, hands explored, and clothes began to come off. The two girls sank down onto the bed together. The last pieces of underwear were tossed aside and their naked bodies were revealed. Willow kissed her way down from Tara's throat to her breasts, down her belly, and onwards. Gasps, moans, and whispered words of love were uttered, growing louder as their pleasure and excitement grew.

They didn't bother to get under the bedclothes; after all, nobody was watching.

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Disclaimer: lyrics from 'Battleship Chains' by the Georgia Satellites are used without permission and with no intent to profit from their use.


	28. Chapter 28

**Chapter Twenty-eight**

The upper floor of Nalia's keep was more home-like than most of the places Buffy had seen in this world. There was a sitting room with comfortable armchairs and a fire that was kept burning in a hearth even in the middle of the night. Burning 'cheerily' in the hearth, Buffy thought, that was the way they always described fires like that in books. She pushed open the door and walked in.

None of the candles were lit but the room wasn't empty. Sorkatani was occupying one of the armchairs, sitting curled up with her arms wrapped around her knees, staring into the fire. She was wearing a long flannel nightdress and her feet were bare.

"Uh, sorry," Buffy said. "I didn't know anyone was here."

"That's… okay," Sorkatani said. "Couldn't you sleep either?"

"Uh, I woke up," Buffy said. "I was so tired, after all the work Anya had us doing skinning the dragon, that I thought I'd pretty much sleep for a week, but it didn't work out like that." She wasn't really in the mood for company, and even if she had been Sorkatani so wasn't the companion who she would have chosen, and she considered walking out again.

"A bad dream?" Sorkatani enquired.

"Yeah." Buffy shivered despite the room's warmth. The dream had not been pleasant, very much the opposite, and the worst thing about it was that she had a feeling that it might well be a Slayer dream.

"Me too." Sorkatani glanced briefly at Buffy and then went back to staring at the flames. "I dreamed of Imoen."

The young witch had been snatched away from the group only a few hours after Buffy had met her and she could barely bring Imoen to mind. Buffy remembered Sorkatani's missing friend as a pleasant enough girl, somewhat reminiscent of Willow both in looks and in manner, but who seemed to have been traumatized by her experiences in captivity and who had periodically lapsed into moods of dark depression. Imoen had made an appearance in Buffy's dream, but only on the sidelines, and Buffy hadn't taken a great deal of notice. Other aspects of the dream had been far more compelling of attention.

"I guess you weren't dreaming of happy times back in Candlekeep, huh?" Buffy ventured. She set down the candleholder that she was carrying.

Sorkatani shifted in the chair so that she was facing in Buffy's direction. Her change of position revealed that she had Celestial Fury tucked at her side. "Your guess is correct," Sorkatani confirmed. "I dreamed of Imoen in captivity, in a place that I take to be Spellhold, but being tormented by Irenicus again. I hope that it is not a dream that shows the truth, in the manner of prophecy, but I greatly fear that it is. 'You will come too late', she said. And yet I am convinced that Spellhold is a trap and that if we go too soon we shall just fall into Irenicus' power once again. I seek weapons of might, armor of proof, wards and charms of potency, before we face him."

"I didn't understand my dream," Buffy said. "But hey, Imoen was in it, and I think we must have rescued her. So don't worry about your dream, 'kay? We'll make it in time." She decided to keep the disturbing, even terrifying, aspects of her own dream to herself for the time being. There was no point in scaring Sorkatani out of her socks. Even if she wasn't actually wearing any right now.

"You saw Imoen? Was she well?"

"Seemed to be, and she was with us. But she was just, like, there. It wasn't like she was doing much. The rest of it, well, I kinda don't want to talk about it right now." Buffy went to the other armchair, pulled the Blade of Roses from the sash of her nightgown, and sat down. She followed Sorkatani's example and tucked the scabbard of the sword into the side of the seat. "Maybe it was all big with the prophecy but, hey, no use if it doesn't show me anything I can understand. Maybe Giles can work it out."

"Sometimes I dream of dying," Sorkatani told her. "Those dreams make no sense at the time but later I will find myself in a situation that I recognize. I make sure that I do not do what I did in the dream, I do something else instead, and I live. It scared me at first but now those prophetic dreams are almost a comfort. It is weeks since I had such a dream. The dreams I have had lately are not like that. I fear that they are false. Lures sent to trap me. Irenicus appears in them and tries to tempt me to take my father's power, or so it seems, yet if that is the purpose of the dreams then they are badly chosen. They offer me nothing that I would want."

Buffy raised an eyebrow. "Wrong kind of temptation?"

Sorkatani nodded. "They offer power. Power through magic. Power to gain things for myself, and also to protect my friends, yet the protection aspect is unconvincing and it seems to be almost an afterthought. As if the sender of the dreams thinks only of selfish motives and cannot really comprehend that someone could really care deeply for friends. And, hey, me and magic? So not mixy things."

Buffy burst out laughing.

Sorkatani's mouth turned down and her forehead creased. "Did I use the idiom incorrectly?"

Buffy bit back her laughter. "Hey, I wasn't laughing at you. I thought you were, like, joking. 'Cause that was totally Sunnydale."

"I am not good at jesting," Sorkatani said. She shifted in her chair as if nervous.

Buffy frowned. "Could have fooled me. And, hey, aren't you supposed to be good at everything?" She glanced quickly aside at the fire. The jealousy and resentment of Sorkatani, that she still felt a lot of the time, had flared up as she spoke and she hoped that it had not come through in her voice. It made her feel like a total bitch, Cordy or Viconia style, especially after what she had seen in the dream. "I mean, I'm pretty sure that you can do magic anyway," she said, trying to cover.

"I can perform some lesser clerical spells," Sorkatani admitted. "I can heal minor injuries, and charm animals, and I can Draw Upon Holy Might to give me strength perhaps as great even as yours for a short time. I can slow down the effects of poison, and that is the power for which I am most thankful, for without it I would have died in the Harpers' Hold." Her mouth twisted briefly. It was obviously still a painful memory. "The arcane magic of wizards and witches is a mystery to me." She fixed her eyes on Buffy. "There are many things at which I have little skill."

"I don't see it," Buffy said. "Hey, you're the Perfect Warrior, right?" She heard that note in her voice again and flushed. "Sorry. I guess I'm just a little jealous of you."

"Jealous of me?" Sorkatani opened her eyes wide. "I struggle to control my jealousy of you."

"You're kidding, right?" Buffy's eyes widened to match Sorkatani's.

"I do not jest." Sorkatani's mouth twitched into the beginnings of a smile. "You are stronger than me."

"Spike's a little stronger than you too, I think," Buffy pointed out, "although there's not much in it."

"He is not a girl," Sorkatani said. "I am not used to girls who are stronger than me. You are faster as well. More skillful with a sword, even. I know that it is wrong for me to resent this but sometimes I cannot help myself."

"I've met super strong little girls who aren't me before," Buffy revealed. "I got over it." A hint of a smile began to appear on her face too. "Of course, beating the hell out of Glory with a troll hammer helped one whole lot."

"I shall remember that if we ever find a troll hammer," Sorkatani said. The smile on her face was broader now and robbed her words of any sting.

Buffy smiled back. "Hey, you can tell jokes. I hope. Anyway, I'm jealous of you, I admit it. Everybody loves you."

"Except for those who want to kill me."

"Well, yeah, but I mean all of us lot. Willow's been my best friend since we were sixteen and I sometimes kinda think she might choose you over me if it came down to it. Spike treats you like a princess. Giles has pretty much adopted you. Once in a while I even get the feeling Dawn would rather you were her sister instead of me. And your own guys, well, they worship the ground you walk on."

"I think you overstate the case," Sorkatani said. "Jaheira's tongue can be as sharp with me as with any." She sighed. "But yes, they do care for me, and this pleases me, but it is a worry as well. I greatly fear that I will disappoint them. You quarrel with your friends sometimes. You do things that they think are wrong. You treat them harshly on occasion."

Buffy felt annoyance building up inside her and her smile faded away.

"And yet," Sorkatani went on, "they love you nonetheless. And I envy this. To wonder every moment if I am doing the right thing, if I will lose their respect, if I will offend them or cause them to desert me if I allow myself to give way to my impulses, is wearying."

Buffy's annoyance disappeared. "Well, I just wish I could do as good a job as you do."

"I try. But I have failed greatly. Khalid and Dynaheir are dead, and I miss them very much, and Imoen is a captive far away. My fault, I know, and I fear lest Jaheira and Minsc will realize that the blame is mine and turn from me."

"Now you're just being silly," Buffy said. "You do the best you can and sometimes things go wrong. That's just the way life is. Nobody is going to blame you."

"That is easy for you to say," Sorkatani said. "You have not lived since you were fifteen with the knowledge that you are the child of the god of murder."

"When I was fifteen I found out that I was the Slayer," Buffy told her. "One girl in all the world with the strength to face the vampires, the demons, yadda yadda. The Chosen One with a duty to protect everyone. Try living with that kind of responsibility sometime."

Sorkatani lowered her eyes. "I am sorry. I did not realize."

"Oh, for God's sake stop being so damn anxious not to offend," Buffy said. "I like you a hell of a lot more when you're being honest about things."

Sorkatani's eyes widened further. "Then you know?"

"Know what?"

"I told a lie." Sorkatani's voice lowered as she spoke as if she was revealing a deep dark secret.

"A lie?" Buffy frowned. Was this something important?

"I misquoted the prophecy," Sorkatani revealed. "Deliberately."

"Can I say, huh?"

"The Prophecies of Alaundo talk of the Children of Bhaal and say 'Chaos will be sown in their passage'. There are monks at Candlekeep who recite the Prophecies every day and I know every word. Yet when Galvarey was questioning me I pretended that the Prophecies spoke of only one child and went 'Chaos will be sown in _his_ passage. I was feeling very nervous, for his questioning was hostile, and I sought to deceive him to protect myself."

"Oh, Sorkatani, come on," Buffy said, shaking her head. "As lies go that's not even Little League. It's about on the same scale as Dawn pretending that she hasn't been borrowing my clothes without asking. Lighten up. Didn't you ever, like, cut class or anything?"

"Cut class?"

"You know. Say you were sick to get out of lessons and really go shopping or, well, I guess you didn't have a mall or anything in that Candlekeep place, but, hang out with your friends, go fishing, whatever."

"Imoen would do that," Sorkatani said. "I did not. Gorion would have been disappointed in me."

Buffy rolled her eyes. "Get a life. Compared to you Willow back in High School was the Rebel Without A Cause. Didn't you go dancing or anything? Ever have boyfriends?"

"Durlyle kissed me once," Sorkatani revealed. "That is all." She sighed again. "Another reason for me to be jealous of you. I would like to have a man who would dance with me. Hold me in his arms. Kiss me. And perhaps do," she lowered her eyes, "other things. I hear Xander and Anya and it seems that what they do brings Anya great joy."

"And she makes sure that everybody knows about it. Hey, don't go jumping into bed with some guy just to get that feeling," Buffy cautioned Sorkatani. "I've been there, done that, and that way lies badness."

Sorkatani nodded. "I know. But to have a man who loves me…"

"It's nice, yeah." Buffy settled herself down deeper in the chair. "There are still a lot of things that can go wrong. Remind me to tell you about Riley some time, and Angel, well, let's not even go there. But I guess you can't get anything if you don't take any risks."

"It matters not for the moment," Sorkatani said. "There is no man who has any interest in me anyway. Unlike you. Two men vie for your affections. Another reason why I have felt jealousy towards you."

"I'm guessing it's not Anomen you're thinking about," Buffy said, "although I don't get why you guys all have such a down on him. But hey, if you're interested in Spike, don't let me stop you."

"I do not want either of your men," Sorkatani assured her. She tilted her head back, narrowed her eyes, and smiled. "Although if I did it would be Spike. I admit that I recognize that he is attractive and there was a time when, had he paid court to me, I would not have been unreceptive. It did not arise."

"It sounds like you have somebody else in mind," Buffy deduced. "It could be Hendak, I guess, but I'm betting on Yoshimo."

Sorkatani's blush answered for her without the need for words.

"So what's the problem?" Buffy leaned towards the other girl. "If ever I saw a guy who worships the ground a girl walks on, it's Yoshimo with you."

"He says nothing to show it," Sorkatani complained. "I could be a sister to him. He treats me in the same way as does Spike, or Minsc."

"Yeah, well, when a guy steps in front of a dragon's breath for you, I kinda think it means he's plenty interested. Trust me on this. I'm not saying that Spike or Minsc wouldn't have done the same thing, but Spike's kinda weird that way, he'd have done it for Dawn and no way does he want to boink her – eww – and Minsc's just, well, Minsc. If you let Yoshimo know you're interested you'll be getting snugglies in no time."

"You really think so?" Sorkatani unclasped her hands from her knees and slid her legs forward until she was in a normal sitting position. "I would welcome 'snugglies'. I have had little chance to live a normal life. It would be nice to have some fun for a change."

"Yeah, I guess being brought up in a library by monks, maybe not so big with the whole fun factor, and then there's the people trying to kill you all the time thing," Buffy commiserated. "But hey, I had the constant death threats thing too, and I crammed in a fair piece of fun along the way. Although I missed out on the library and monks part. Hey, girls just wanna have fun, right?"

"I do. I yearn to wear a dress instead of armor, to wear a necklace because it is pretty and not because it carries wards against spells, and for someone to bring me chocolate." Her hands began to wave in the air as she became more animated. "Sometimes I feel like telling Viconia to sod off when she fusses, and it is only because I worry lest I offend her that I do not."

Buffy grinned at Sorkatani's choice of epithet, undoubtedly absorbed through association with Spike. "Hey, Jaheira calls Viconia every name there is, and I totally thought they hated each other, but they're about as good friends as it gets. I think you could throw a 'sod off' at her once in a while. The dress thing, well, with people trying to kill you all the time armor is definitely of the good, but you could wear a dress around here. We so have to go shopping together. Willow just doesn't have the touch and Anya's all with the saving money first and style comes second. I'm the champ."

"I would like that," Sorkatani said. Her hands sank back into her lap and she sighed. "If we have time. Always there is some new task that I must carry out. How long will it take us to have Nalia released from custody?" She pursed her lips. "I don't even like Nalia. And yet I cannot let her down."

"Anya seems to think that getting Nalia out won't take too long," Buffy reassured her. "And then, hey, we can hit the mall. Waukeen's Promenade, anyway."

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"I had a dream last night," Buffy began.

Giles put his hand to his glasses. "A Slayer dream, I presume, as you wanted to discuss it in private. That's interesting. If I am not mistaken it is your first Slayer dream since we found ourselves in this world."

"Yeah. Like maybe they took time to catch up with me," Buffy said. "I could have done without it."

Giles pulled off his glasses and held them by one arm. "It carried, then, dire portents?"

Buffy cocked her head to one side. "I can't work out if you've gone native with the talky or if it's just that your British speak fits right in. You know, I was talking with Sorkatani last night, having some, you know, girl talk, which same made me get to liking her a lot more than I had done, and, where was I going with this?"

"I shudder to think," Giles commented.

"Oh, yeah. Sorkatani said 'me and magic? So not mixy things' and I just cracked up, you know? We're kinda infecting her. And I think you might be going the other way."

"Yes, quite. Your dream, Buffy?"

"Right. The dream." Buffy flopped down into a chair and gripped hold of the arms. "It was about Sorkatani, pretty much. I mean, we were all there, or I think we were, I didn't exactly do a head count. You were there, and Willow, that's for sure. And hey, Imoen was there, at least I'm pretty sure it was her, and that's of the good 'cause rescuing her is definitely on the agenda, right? There was something struck me as pretty weird. None of us were wearing any armor and I don't think we had any weapons."

Giles raised his eyebrows. "That's rather worrying."

"Yeah. None of us seemed to be hurt, but it wasn't right. And something bad had happened to Sorkatani. She was kinda zonked out, you know? Her eyes were all wide and stare-y but it kinda seemed that she couldn't see anything. And everybody was all fussing around her and it was like she just wasn't reacting. And I heard Willow say 'I think she's gone all catatonic. The way you did when Glory took Dawn, Buffy. And hey, with what's happened, I'm kinda not surprised.' And Spike was saying 'But you can fix it, right, Red? Like you fixed Buffy?' and then everybody kinda looked at Willow."

"Ominous," Giles remarked. He took out a piece of cloth, made as if to begin cleaning the lenses of his glasses, and then looked down at what he was doing, frowned, and put the cloth away again.

"Willow wasn't looking too confident," Buffy went on. "She was saying things about magic not quite working the same way here, and it wasn't that simple. Which didn't go down well with Viconia, I can tell you. So then you started to sing a song. It went 'Don't give up, you got friends, don't give up, you're not beaten yet,' or something like."

"Don't give up, 'cos you have friends, don't give up, you're not beaten yet, don't give up, I know you can make it good," Giles sang.

"That's it," Buffy confirmed.

"And did it work?" Giles took out the cloth again. This time he went through with the action and began to polish his lenses.

"I don't know. That was pretty much the end of the dream. Any idea what it means?"

"I was just about to ask you the same question. A warning, no doubt, but of what?"

"Well, I'm thinking not getting caught without armor and weapons is a good start. Always have somebody on guard even if we think that we're in a safe place."

"Eminently sensible," Giles agreed. "I deduce that in the dream Sorkatani had received some traumatic shock akin to what you experienced when Glory abducted Dawn. Were any of us missing?"

"Like I said, I didn't exactly do a head count," Buffy replied. "I didn't notice Dawn in the dream, or Minsc come to that, or Jaheira."

Giles went rigid.

"I think Jaheira must have been okay," Buffy hastened to assure him, "'cause it was only Sorkatani that seemed to have been hit real hard. I mean, we were all looking pretty shook up, but it was definitely like it was Sorkatani who we were most worried about. My guess is that something had happened to Yoshimo."

"Yoshimo? Is there something between them, then?"

"I said we had some girl talk last night. It came out that there isn't, but Sorkatani would really like there to be." Buffy leaned forward in her chair. "If something terminally bad happened to him it would break her up, yeah. I'm voting that we don't let it happen."

"Prophecies, even Slayer dreams, are open to misinterpretation," Giles mused, "but I am inclined to agree with you in this case. Do you have any suggestions as to what we should do to prepare ourselves?"

"Well, like I said, Imoen was in the dream, so maybe there's no need to press the panic buttons until after we get her back," Buffy said. "I'm gonna make sure I watch Yoshimo's back. And we make sure that he has plenty in the way of armor, magic rings, that sort of stuff. Maybe a better sword. Give him the best chance we can."

"I concur. Not that we wouldn't have done so in any event, of course." Giles replaced his glasses. "As an insurance against a worst case scenario I will consider what songs might be of most use in helping someone to recover from a, shall we say, tragic loss. Was there anything else about the dream that may have been in any way significant?"

Buffy shook her head. "That's about it. I didn't recognize the place. None of us were wounded. I can't think of anything more. Sorry."

"If you have any more dreams," Giles began.

"Yeah, sure, I'll tell you right away," Buffy assured him. She stood up. "I'm gonna get back in there and get some breakfast. Riding on an empty stomach, so not my thing." She grinned. "I prefer riding on a horse."


	29. Chapter 29

**Chapter Twenty-nine**

"It's no good," Jonathan moaned. "I've gone back to the save six times now and Anya gets squished every time. They were right on top of the trap when I saved and there just isn't time for them to do anything different. She dies every time, dude. Absolutely pulverized. There's nothing left of her to Raise."f

"So go back to the save before that," Warren suggested. "Okay, so they'll have to do some things over, but that's no big deal." His gaze sharpened as he noticed Jonathan squirming in his seat. "Uh, just how far back is the previous save, short stuff?"

"Way, way, back," Jonathan admitted. "At Nalia's castle on the way back to town just after they killed Firkraag. That was somewhere around Christmas time."

"You didn't save for _three weeks_?" Warren clutched at his hair. "I can't friggin' believe it!"

"Hey, I saved plenty of times," Jonathan defended himself. "Only, I kept saving over the past saves. They were doing okay, you were keeping me pretty busy, and I didn't bother coming up with new names for the files. I did a save right before they set off for Spellhold. Only I overwrote it just now so that I could give you a save with all the sea voyage and Pirates of Brynnlaw stuff on it. Hey, I didn't know that Anya was going to walk straight into that crushing walls trap ten seconds later."

Warren gritted his teeth. "Okay, okay. I guess I could have thought to do a save myself once in a while, and yeah, I have been keeping you pretty busy. I'll let it pass. But, oh, man. This just sucks. Anya flat as a pancake. Irenicus smart enough to take all their gear before he dumps them in the labyrinth. Sorkatani friggin' catatonic. They are so dead. I guess we'll just have to go all the way back to that old save."

Jonathan passed the mouse back and forwards between his hands and looked glumly at the screen. "They're gonna have to do the whole Mae'Var thing, the Planar Sphere, the Druid Grove, the battle with Bodhi, all over again, and then get back into Spellhold."

Warren perked up slightly. "I guess maybe there's a bright side to this snafu. I missed out on all that stuff. It's been pretty much all work and no play for me lately. Maybe I'll get a chance to watch some of it next time round. It's not a game but it's pretty damn good as a movie."

"Yeah, there is that," Jonathan said. "Maybe they'll meet Haer'Dalis this time around. They missed out on that, which was a shame, and they never got round to fighting the Mind Flayers and getting the Hammer of Thunderbolts. Although maybe things will just repeat themselves, they'll still miss that stuff, and the game will just run through the same loop until Anya gets killed all over again. There's nothing I can do to change things. I can't remember if I could still control Anomen way back then or not but, even if I can, it won't last long."

"Chaos theory should make things work out different enough that they don't end up in quite the same place next time. But hey, this time we save every day, dude, without fail, and we rotate the save files so that we don't end up in another loop with them too close to the thing that's gonna kill them to get any chance to do things different. Make it so."

"Does…" Andrew began, and then he saw Jonathan and Warren turn their gazes on him and he faltered. Whenever he said anything about it not mattering if the Scoobies in the game died, because they weren't even real, Warren and Jonathan both shouted at him and that sucked. He thought fast and covered himself. "Does the save game from Spellhold give you the things you needed to get the sea and ships all super-detailed for the pirates?" he asked instead.

"Yeah, I guess so, dude," Warren said. "I'll take a look at it later. They've done the voyage to Brynnlaw, and met the pirates there; I should be able to get all the stuff I need. And I'll be able to get the Baldur's Gate mod moved on a whole lot. I just don't have time to do it right now. I'm meeting up with Alex in an hour and no way am I going to cancel. I'm going stir crazy after all the time I've spent in here lately." He held up his arm and sniffed. "And I've been skimping on personal hygiene. I'd better go shower." He turned back to Jonathan. "You sure you don't want to come?"

Jonathan screwed up his eyes and hunched his shoulders for a moment. He let his shoulders fall and then spoke. "I kinda want to, but I don't think it's a good idea. Two guys have a better chance of picking up chicks than three and, dude, I just suck at that kinda thing. I go all stammer-y. And they're always taller than me and I just feel, uh, kinda intimidated. I'll pass." He gave a wry smile. "When we sell the game and make a million then maybe they'll beat a path to my door and I won't have to try."

"You deserve better than a gold-digger," Warren said. "You can be all kinds of smart and funny once you get a groove going. The script you did for the girl PC was just ace. Maybe you should try on-line dating. Get a chick hooked with your writing before you meet her face to face."

Jonathan frowned and sucked in his bottom lip. "That's a thought, dude, but I dunno. She'd have to meet me sooner or later. And suppose she turned out to be a dog?"

"Just think about it. Anyway, I'd better get going." Warren headed off towards the shower. Hardly had the door closed behind him when it reopened and he stuck his head back into the room. "If we meet up with three chicks I'll tell the spare one that I have a friend who looks just like Elijah Wood in 'Lord of the Rings'. I just won't mention that I mean in character as Frodo."

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"Hi guys. Left anything for me?" Buffy wandered up to the breakfast table and smiled as she saw that there was indeed plenty of food remaining. "Where's Sorkatani?"

"She is with the Steward," Jaheira informed her. "Another minor crisis with one of the household staff."

"Isn't there always?" Buffy helped herself to food. "I met up with her last night. We both had trouble sleeping and we sat up talking for, like, ages. I thought she might still be in bed."

Giles sat down. "I'm glad to see that you have not devoured all the food," he remarked.

"We got kinda distracted," Willow said. "We were wondering, well Xander was, if it's right to make armor out of the dragon hide seeing how Firkraag was kinda a person. What with him talking and everything."

"Hello, Firkraag, evil, kidnapped Tara," Buffy said. "The whole dragon being a person thing? See me not caring."

"Good," Anya said. "I refuse to let all our hard work go to waste."

"After we spent fifteen sodding hours on the job, including turning something the size of a sodding bus over so that we could do the other side, I should just bloody think so," Spike agreed.

"You're not usually so concerned with moral issues, Xander," Giles remarked.

"Yeah, well, I'm taking this paladin gig seriously, Giles," Xander said. "Like Spiderman says, 'with great power must come great responsibility', and I got the cool powers and the Holy Sword and stuff so I guess I have to start doing some thinking."

"It still amazes me that one so base-born should be granted the status of paladin whilst I, son of Lord Cor Delryn, could not achieve it," Anomen commented.

Buffy's head swiveled towards him in the manner of a battleship's gun turret. "You don't get to speak like that about Xander," she said coldly. "He's a paladin. You're not. Deal with it."

Anomen flinched. "I meant no disrespect. Xander is a true knight, even if he has never been received into the Order. He is a hero, and a dragonslayer, and the Holy Avenger would not suffer him to wield it were he not worthy. Yet all my life I have been taught that it is only the nobility who are fit for such high destiny. It is hard for me to acknowledge that those teachings might be false."

"The nobility are just blokes whose ancestors were good at hitting other people with swords," Spike said. "Or who had steel swords before anyone else. Biggest bastard gets to be king, oppresses the poor, sets his pals up as lords and knights. Few centuries down the line and half of them are bloody useless chinless wonders like those toffs who hang out at the Mithrest Inn, half of the rest of them are stuck-up twats like Nalia's bloody annoying aunt, and others are right bastards like Isaea sodding Roenal. 'S who you are that counts, not who your bloody granddad was."

Willow nodded approvingly. "Tell it like it is, Spike."

"Yet our ancestors established codes of conduct and high ideals for us to strive towards," Anomen said. "There are many within the Order of the Radiant Heart who are of noble birth and who are true knights. Sir Ryan Trawl is everything that a knight should be." He stroked his beard. "There are portraits within the High Hall of the Radiant Heart that show knights of the past wearing armor of dragon skin. It can be no sin to make such use of the hide of an evil dragon."

"Okay, that settles it," Buffy declared. Her tone made it clear that she would brook no further argument on this issue. "We take it to Cromwell as planned. I want everybody to have the best gear we possibly can. We beat the dragon, yeah, but that doesn't mean that there aren't gonna be tough fights ahead. Rule number one, people; stay alive." She looked directly at Yoshimo as she said that and wondered why he turned his head so that he did not meet her eyes.

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"The naval combat side still needs work," Warren told Alex, as they walked into the bar, "but we've made a breakthrough today, and I think tomorrow we might make some real progress."

"If you want any more play-testing done I'm your man," Alex volunteered. "What I've seen of it so far totally rocks."

"You're first in line, Alex," Warren promised. "You'll get to hear yourself doing all that 'scurvy knave' stuff."

"As Third Crewman, yeah," Alex grinned. "Randy gets to be the hero, Rupert is the Governor of Jamaica, and I swab the decks and get keelhauled. I guess I won't get to have my picture on the box." His gaze fell on a voluptuous brunette in a low-cut dress. "Ay, caramba! That's a picture I wouldn't mind having on my box."

"We still need more female voices," Warren mused.

"Hey, this is a relaxation night, remember? You said you were starting to go stir crazy, shut up inside working on the game the whole time, and you needed a break. So, take that break. Forget about the game for one evening. Just check out the girls and if we get to talk to some pretty thing, well, bonus."

"I guess you're right," Warren said. "So, what are you drinking?"

"I'll get them," Alex offered. "Tonight's on me. You can pay me back when the money starts rolling in." He ordered drinks and leaned back against the bar. "Wow, is that girl in the leather skirt hot or what?"

"She's not bad," Warren conceded. "I bet she's taken, though. We'd have a better chance with that redhead and blonde pair over there, or…" His eyes widened and his voice tailed off.

"Or what?" Alex asked, trying to follow Warren's gaze. "I don't see anything special."

Warren turned his wide-eyed gaze upon Alex for a moment and then his head swung inexorably back towards a girl who sat alone. She had long hair, light brown with fair highlights, framing a face that Alex would have described as fairly interesting rather than pretty.

"Not special? You're kidding, right?" Warren's voice took on a note almost of reverence. "It's Katrina."

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"I am not worthy of her," Yoshimo told Buffy. "She is pure and innocent, gentle, kind, and good. I am a bounty hunter. My trade is death."

"And the Perfect Warrior's isn't?" Buffy treated him to a medium grade eye-roll. "She's been killing people just to stay alive since she was fifteen, Yoshi. If you're thinking of her as some shrinking violet who'll get shocked by a little blood, well, you must have been kinda wandering around with your eyes closed."

"She kills to stay alive and to protect the weak. I do it for money, Buffy. Yes, I kill only those for whom the law is offering a reward, but I have never concerned myself with whether or not the accusation is just. I have done shady deals with thieves. Dragged people who had killed to escape abuse, or persecution, back to face a law framed by those who endorsed that abuse. If I had not met Sorkatani, and had Nalia fled from the warrant that declared her mentally unfit, I might well have accepted a commission from Isaea Roenal to track her down and return her to him to be incarcerated."

"That's what you did in the past, Yoshi. It's not what you are now. Is it?"

Yoshimo bowed his head. "It is not," he admitted. "She has changed me. I will never accept an unjust commission again."

"So what's the problem?"

"I have nothing to offer her," Yoshimo said. "I am just a humble soldier under her command. I am willing to die for her. Let that be enough."

"That's another thing," Buffy frowned. "What's with this death wish? And you being all big with the mopeyness? You used to be a fun guy, Yoshi. All with the wisecracks, you know, 'the tourists love that stuff' and all that. Only ever since the Harpers tried to kill Tani you've been gloomy silent guy. What's the story?"

"That was when I realized that she holds my heart," Yoshimo confessed. "I cannot hope to win hers. To die in her service is all that I could wish."

"This is some crazy Kara-Tur thing that I don't understand, right? Sorta like this world's version of Kamikaze or Hara-Kiri or whatever? Hey, Yoshi, I got news for you. You can hope to win her heart. She's pretty stuck on you already. You shall go to the ball, or whatever."

"But…" Yoshimo began.

"But me no buts. I don't think Sorkatani's had all that much happiness in her life and she for sure hasn't had much in the way of fun. She seems to think that you can give her some and, if you go back to acting the way you used to, I kinda think that she's right. So if you really do have feelings for her do something about it."

A smile seemed to fight its way onto Yoshimo's face against his will. "I make no promises, but I will try to recover my good humor. And I may venture some small approaches to my Lady. Perhaps I can indeed give her some small measure of happiness in the midst of our troubles. For a while, at least."

"I hope so," Buffy said. "And a good start is trying not to get killed. That wouldn't do anybody any good."

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"Hello, Katrina." Warren stood a few paces away from the girl and fidgeted with the cuffs of his suit. Alex hovered a few paces behind him.

Katrina turned a smiling face towards him but the smile died as recognition hit. A cold scowl took its place. "What the hell are you doing here?"

"I, uh, I live in Sunnydale again these days," Warren told her. "I'm just, uh, having a night out."

"I thought I was pretty clear about never wanting to see you again," Katrina snapped.

"I know. I know. But, uh, I was in here anyway, and I just, I couldn't not speak to you. I thought maybe, if you let me, I could, uh, try to tell you how sorry I am."

"When it comes to your wind-up little slut trying to choke me to death, well, sorry just isn't going to cut it."

"I made a mistake," Warren said. "I was wrong, and stupid, I admit it. I just want a chance to try to make it up to you. There isn't a day goes past when I don't regret it."

"And there isn't a day when I don't regret ever lowering myself to be with a jerk like you," Katrina told him. She had a small amount of wine in her glass. She drank it quickly and pushed the glass away.

Alex's brows began to lower in a frown directed at Katrina.

"Don't say that," Warren pleaded. "I know I never deserved you. Just give me a chance to explain. To apologize."

"You expect to just waltz in here and sweep me off my feet with some cheesy lines and a fancy suit?" Katrina stood up.

"No. I ju-just thought, maybe, we could, uh, talk. Maybe work something out. I, I didn't really think. I just saw you and I had to say something. There's never been anyone else that I cared about but you, Katrina."

"There is nothing to work out." Katrina gathered up her purse. "What you did was sick. And just looking at you makes me want to vomit."

"No. look, I'll go. You don't have to leave because of me, Katrina." Warren's face was pale and his eyes glistened with faint traces of tears. "Come on, Alex. We'll go somewhere else."

Alex glared at Katrina. "Look, lady, I don't know who you are, or what there might have been between you and Warren in the past, but what you just said to him went way too far. He's a nice guy. He doesn't deserve that."

"Leave it, Alex," Warren urged. "I deserve anything she calls me. More. Let's just go, okay?"

"The bar is big enough for both of us," Alex said stubbornly. "I don't see why we should have to leave 'cause of some crazy psycho ex of yours."

"Crazy psycho ex?" Katrina repeated unbelievingly.

"Don't speak to Katrina like that!" Warren snapped. "Uh, sorry, Alex. Look, you don't know the full story. It's me that's in the wrong here. Really. I did some bad things before we met. I hurt Katrina. Well, I was responsible for her getting hurt. The last thing I want to do is ever to hurt her any more." He turned away, leaving his untouched drink forgotten on the bar, and headed for the door.

Alex stood for a moment longer staring at Katrina. "Okay, sorry. I don't know the background and maybe I got some things wrong. But I know this, lady. I don't think I've ever seen any guy look at a girl with more love than Warren looks at you. If you have an ounce of compassion in you then at least give him a chance to talk." He spun around and followed Warren out of the bar.

Katrina stared after them for a long moment and then put down her purse and resumed her seat. Her brows were furrowed in a thoughtful expression as she ordered a refill for her wine and sat sipping at it.

"Hi, sorry I'm late." A pretty dark-haired girl sat down across from Katrina and smiled. "No guys been hitting on you yet? I'm surprised."

"Actually one has," Katrina said. "Warren Meers. My ex."

"Oh, yeah," the other girl said. "I remember him. He was kinda cute. For a geek, that is. I never did work out why you guys broke up."

"It's a long story," Katrina said. "Long and not interesting. Forget about him. Let's just order, okay? And talk about something pleasant."

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"I did some bad things," Warren confessed. "I built a robot girlfriend."

"That was you?" Alex's eyebrows shot up. "I guess it must have been you that built the robot Buffy too?"

"You know about them?"

"Rupert found his Watcher's Diaries," Alex explained. "There was stuff in about the Buffy robot. I should have guessed it was you. I mean, it had to be a computer genius."

"No genius," Warren said. "I was a total idiot. I thought a robot could be as good as a real girl. Then I met Katrina and I learned otherwise. Only I'd done too good a job on April. I left her in Dutton only she tracked me down here and, well, she tried to kill Katrina. If Buffy hadn't turned up maybe she would have done. Katrina dumped me. Well, who wouldn't, man? I can't blame her. I was so stupid."

"I guess Randy, Spike, found out and got you to build him a Buffy robot?"

"That's right," Warren confirmed. "I did some bad things, like I said."

"According to the diaries if we hadn't had that robot helping out then Glory might have won and destroyed the world," Alex said. "Plus, it acted as a stand-in Slayer for five months while Buffy was, well, wherever she went after the fight with Glory. Some other dimension, I guess. Anyway, you might have been thinking dumb when you made the robots but I guess it worked out for the best." Alex fixed Warren with a piercing stare. "Were you dating Katrina when you made that first robot?"

"Of course not," Warren said. "If I'd known Katrina I'd never have wanted to make April."

"So what's she so disgusted about?" Alex wondered. "Okay, if it tried to kill her I can see that she'd be mad at you, but that 'want to vomit' line was out of order." He shook his head. "Okay, I guess there's nothing that we can do about it. Women, huh? Let's find some other place. Not that Sunnydale's exactly overflowing with them, but there must be somewhere."

"I've kinda lost my enthusiasm for a night out," Warren said. He looked down at his shoes. "The robots weren't the only bad things I've done. I robbed the Sunnydale Museum."

"Well, yeah, I know that," Alex said, "seeing as how you got me to return the diamond for you. I guessed that maybe it wasn't quite as much of a prank as you said but, hey, you giving it back worked for me. I'm not a cop. As far as I'm concerned you're a good guy now, even if you might have made some mistakes in the past."

"Thanks, man," Warren said. "You're a good friend." He met Alex's eyes, heaved a sigh, looked down at his shoes again and then raised his gaze to Alex's face once more. "Too good for a guy like me. I can't go on keeping this from you. I know what happened to your memories. I know where they are. And if you want them back you can have them. And your friends can have theirs back too."


	30. Chapter 30

**Chapter Thirty**

Corgeig Axehand rolled up the scrolls that Anya had given to him. He handed them to a clerk and then turned cold eyes on Isaea Roenal. "You are suspended from your post pending further investigation. Nalia shall be released immediately. It appears that her distrust of you is hardly proof of mental incompetence. Very much the reverse, in fact."

"How dare you speak to me like that?" Isaea protested. "I am the son of Lord Farthington Roenal. You can not treat me as if I were some mere peasant."

"Were you not the son of Lord Roenal you would have been thrown into jail to await trial," Corgeig growled. "Tempt me not."

Isaea averted his eyes from his commander's contemptuous gaze and turned towards Anya and Yoshimo. "You think you've won, peasant scum? Well, gloat over your petty triumph for now. This isn't over."

"You wouldn't be threatening me, would you?" Anya's eyebrows arched upwards. "I really don't think that's wise. Xander _Dragonslayer_ wouldn't like that at all."

"Without your position you are nothing, lordling," Yoshimo said, with a hint of a sneer. "Just another villain in armor for Sorkatani to cut down as easily as if you were a _yuan-ti_ or a _troll_."

Isaea flushed. "I object to your implications. I had nothing to do with the attack on the De'Arnise hold."

Anya's eyebrows quirked upwards. "Did we say that you had?"

"Ah, the prickles of a guilty conscience," Yoshimo commented.

"Such insolence!" Isaea spluttered. "To imply that someone in my position would stoop to dealing with such trash is ridiculous."

"You deal with smugglers," Corgeig pointed out. "And take money from the Slavers to look the other way, or so it seems. Your position? You will never again hold any position of authority within this city. Even if you are not banished or jailed." A cold smile flickered across his stern face. "As for your claim to the De'Arnise hold, there is an easy way that you could settle it. Challenge Sorkatani to single combat." The cold smile grew broader as the veteran warrior detected fear in his corrupt subordinate's eyes. "She is known throughout the Sword Coast as the Perfect Warrior, true, but that should not worry an Amnian noble. Should it?"

"I do not brawl like a common ruffian." Isaea averted his gaze rather than face Corgeig's contemptuous stare.

"And you do not duel like a nobleman either? Yet you claimed to carry out the duties of an officer in the army of Amn. Get out of my sight, Roenal."

Isaea Roenal took a step backwards, turned, and walked away with as much dignity as he could muster. He cast one quick, hate-filled, glance over his shoulder at Anya and Yoshimo. Anya gave him a broad but tight-lipped smile and drew a finger across her throat. Isaea turned to stare straight ahead again and accelerated his pace.

"You have made an enemy today," Corgeig Axehand warned Anya and Yoshimo. "He will not forget your part in this affair."

"He was already Sorkatani's enemy, and I stand at her side," Yoshimo said.

"Me too," Anya added. "I don't think my part in breaking up the Slaver ring endeared me to him either. But now it's all out in the open. Much better. We know where we stand. And, when it comes to vengeance, he's playing on my turf."

"Ah, the others have come to collect us," Yoshimo commented. His forehead furrowed. "Strange. They wear expressions of sadness."

"Xander!" Anya yelped, and spun around. Her face twisted with alarm, which cleared up as she saw her fiancé safe and apparently well in the midst of the group. "I have to go," she told Corgeig Axehand. "Farewell." She shot off to join Xander. Yoshimo followed at a more restrained pace.

"Hey," Anya greeted her comrades. "What's up?"

Xander came to a halt. "Uh, we had some kinda bad news, Ahn. Anomen's sister is dead. She was murdered while he was off with us fighting the dragon."

"Oh," said Anya. On a scale of one to ten of importance this would rate about a two at most, but Buffy seemed fond of the annoying priest, and so some expression of sympathy or regret was probably appropriate. "That's a shame. Uh, why does this mean everyone had to come here? Why doesn't he, or Tara or Viconia, just raise her?"

Xander grimaced and glanced at Anomen, who had kept on walking, to check that the cleric had moved out of hearing range. "Because his father is an idiot and a jerk," he explained. "You think my dad's bad? Lord Cor Delryn makes him look like, I don't know, Mister Nice Guy. He's had the girl cremated. No money to pay for a resurrection, he said. Well, that's probably because he drank it all."

"But Anomen could have done it for free," Anya pointed out.

"Well, yeah, I know that, you know that, but Lord Cor either doesn't know it or just got so damn drunk he forgot. Or he doesn't believe that his son has that kind of power, which I guess would kinda serve Anomen right for the tall tales about the twenty giants and stuff, but it was, well…" Xander shook his head. "I still think he's a jerk, but I can see how he got that way."

"Yes," Anya agreed. "But why come here?"

"The old guy wanted Anomen to kill the guy he thought had done the murder," Xander began.

"Sounds fine to me," Anya said.

"Well, yeah, Ahn, except there's no proof. Lord Cor says it must have been this business rival guy who made him go bust. Just because. Well, I'm not seeing the logic there. The other guy won out. Why would he want to kill the girl? The other way round, maybe, but the winner's not gonna be the one carrying a grudge. So Buffy told Anomen no way, he should go to the magistrate, and he could see the sense in that. It got him thrown out of the house and disinherited. Not that there's anything to inherit, unless empty bottles are worth money here, but he's kinda broke up about it."

"I suppose this means that Buffy's going to be depressed again?"

"Well, she didn't know the girl, so I don't think she's gonna set any moping records, but she's being all supportive girlfriend so I don't think she's gonna be doing any happy dances either." Xander shrugged. "Hey, I just tagged along 'cause I guessed you'd still be here. We might as well split. I'd say let's go home, only we don't really have one here. Just rooms at the inn."

"Yes," Anya agreed, "but at least they're rooms with double beds."

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"Will you sing tonight, zra'ha?" Viconia asked Giles. "I desire to perform the 'Sunshine' song. The rivvin lusted after Tara when she sang of Home Alabama. To cause the same effect would amuse me. Should it arouse Spike then the benefits might be more than mere momentary amusement."

"Perhaps it would not be advisable for me to sing on this occasion," Giles replied. "It might appear that I am making light of Anomen's grief."

Viconia's upper lip curled. "Huh. You care no more about him than do I."

"Buffy cares," Giles said. "Anyway, it just wouldn't be polite. I assure you, Viconia, I am eager to see you putting my lessons into practice. Tomorrow night, I promise, unless some adventure comes up to make that impossible."

Several of the nearby tavern patrons, who had been listening in the hope that Giles would be swayed into giving a performance, turned back to their drinks.

"It is a shame that we have no drummer," Giles mused. "The original song relies heavily upon a drum beat. It may seem somewhat, ah, insubstantial without it."

Korgan the dwarf rose from his chair at the next table and came over to stand beside Giles. "Ye seek a drummer, ye said? That'd be me, ye ken."

"You're a drummer?" Giles raised his eyebrows. "I had no idea that you were a bard."

"Ah'm nae a bard," Korgan grinned. "Ah like hitting things, that's aye there is tae it."

"As long as you can hit them in the proper rhythm," Giles said. "A drummer. Excellent. That would open up a great deal of possibilities. We would need a certain amount of rehearsal, of course. Hmm." He drifted away into happy musings about songs that would become viable with the addition of a drummer to his acoustic guitar. 'White Room'. 'Beat the Drum'. 'Fireball'. The Gary Moore song called 'Over the Hills and Far Away' rather than the Zeppelin number that shared the name. Yes, there were some intriguing possibilities.

"Ah'm nae sayin' ah'd dae it for nothin'," Korgan went on. "Ah want somethin' in return."

"Of course, of course," Giles said. "An equitable share of the proceeds would be yours, certainly."

"That's nae it," Korgan said. "Ah had this contract, ye ken. Ah was tae retrieve the Book o' Kaza frae a crypt, guarded by fierce beasties o' course, an' ah'd get paid in gold. Ah gathered a team o' tomb robbers, an' the expedition was aye ready, an' then the gutless bastards let me doon. Lost their bottle, the craven jessies."

"Ah," said Giles. "I take it that you propose an alliance."

"Aye. We split the treasure frae the tomb, ye ken, but the book is aye mine. An' then ah play the drums for ye."

Giles looked at Korgan through narrowed eyes. A scarred face, a prominent hooked nose, and a ragged beard bound into ringlets. Heavy-lidded eyes that gave nothing away. Xander had detected that Korgan was evil, nothing in the dwarf's appearance gave the lie to that assessment, and Giles pondered the question of whether Korgan could be trusted.

"Any such agreement must be approved by Sorkatani," Viconia said, pre-empting Giles' reply. "I expect that she will be in favor."

Korgan's brows had started to lower as Viconia spoke but rose again at her concluding words. "Aye, the wee lassie should be. Ah'm a bonny fichter, ye ken."

"I'm sure you are," Giles agreed. "No doubt we can come to some arrangement. Subject to Buffy's approval, of course."

"Is it aye the lassies whae are in charge wi' ye lot?" Korgan asked.

"Of course," Viconia said. "As it should be."

Korgan scowled. "Ah'm nae accustomed tae takin' orders frae wee lassies. Aw weel, ah suppose yon Perfect Warrior's a braw fichter, an' the same wi' the Slayer o' the Vampires. Ah can put up wi' it for a wee whiles."

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"Did you hear that? He called Buffy the Slayer of the Vampyres," Andrew commented.

"Yeah? That makes two people out of the whole universe and one of them is a psycho dwarf in a computer game." Warren raised his eyes towards the ceiling. "You can be one strange dude some of the time, Andrew, you know that? With the weird names for Buffy, and your thing for Spike, and especially with you being the only guy in the world who thinks that Timothy Dalton was the best James Bond."

"Dalton was the most like the way Bond was in the books," Andrew pointed out. "Ian Fleming would totally have voted for Dalton."

"I am so not going to get involved in that all over again," Warren said. "Anyway, we have work to do. This place kinda… smells."

"You never minded before," Andrew said.

"Well, it's not like anyone ever came over before," Warren said. "When it was just us it didn't matter all that much if everything smelled like socks and old pizza. Alex and Randy didn't seem to mind, I guess, but there are girls coming this time and girls notice that kind of thing. I don't want them thinking we're a bunch of slobs. Even if we are."

"It's our hideout," Andrew whined. "Why did you have to tell Alex and ask them to come here? And suppose they're mad at us?"

"If there's any heat I'll take it," Warren declared. "It was my idea. You weren't even involved in the game thing, anyway. That was all me and Jonathan."

"Hey, it was my imp that found the crystal," Andrew reminded him. "And what about the rest? I summoned the demon to rob the bank, and we all worked on the freeze ray, and there was the whole test thing. If you're gonna tell them everything they are so gonna be pissed." Andrew cringed and his shoulders curved forwards and inwards. "I don't want them to be pissed at me. Joan might hurt me."

There wasn't any way of looking higher than at the ceiling but if there had been Warren would have managed it. "What part of 'I'll take the heat' didn't you understand, dude? It was me who spilled to Alex. I didn't ask you guys first so I don't expect you to suffer any consequences. I just expect you to help me clean the place up and make nice when they come over."

"Okay, okay," Andrew agreed. "I guess I can do the vacuuming."

"Yeah. Maybe I'd better move the furniture out. I got a feeling that some pizza went down behind something and is kinda rotting. We'd better hope that Jonathan brings back some pretty powerful air freshener to cover it up if I don't get rid of the source." Warren moved the couch away from the wall and then went to one of the computer stands. He took hold of it but paused and watched the screen for a minute.

"What's so interesting?" Andrew asked. "It's not like they're fighting or boinking or anything. Just talking."

"Bernard's just suggested that Giles should try to get a gig at the Five Flagons Inn," Warren explained. "That means that they'll meet up with Raelis Shai and get the Haer'Dalis quest, and do the Planar Prison. That didn't happen last time through before we reloaded."

"Cool!" Andrew abandoned his search for the vacuum and scurried over to join Warren. "Maybe Haer'Dalis will make a play for Buffy. He is just so much cooler than Anomen."

"Well, yeah, but who isn't?" Warren reached for the chair and moved as if to sit down but then stopped himself. "Anyway, it's not like it's gonna happen right away. First things first." He pushed the 'off' switch on the monitor. "We'd best not get distracted. Clean-up time. Work first, and then play."

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"I can't work with a guy who's evil," Xander said. "Uh, no offense meant, Korgan, it's just one of those Paladin rules."

"Bunch 'o jessies," Korgan grunted, but his expression didn't convey any particular animosity towards the young man.

"So we split up again," Buffy suggested. "It's not like we'd all fit into a crypt anyway. We're all one big happy family now, which is of the good, but the trouble is the 'big' part."

"Indeed," Giles agreed. "Dividing our forces could have certain advantages. Perhaps one group could investigate that mysterious doorway in the sewers whilst the other is, ah, looting crypts."

"I'm good with that," Buffy said. "And hey, Giles, I want you to be Research Guy again. I'll talk with you later. It's about that thing I mentioned at Nalia's Keep."

"That thing?" Giles gave her a look of blank incomprehension.

"You know. That thing about making sure that something doesn't happen, right?"

"Ah, yes. I take it that you have a plan?"

"Yeah." Buffy turned her head and saw that Sorkatani was approaching the table, accompanied by Yoshimo and Nalia. "We'll talk about it later, 'kay? For now, let's just work out how we're gonna work this split. At least it's not so much like that old puzzle about getting the fox, the chicken, and the corn across the river. We can all work with each other these days. Xander goes in one team, Korgan goes in the other, and the rest is just making sure that we both have a good mix of skills."

"You propose to divide our parties again?" Sorkatani asked. She pulled out a chair, spun it around, and sat down straddling it with her arms resting on the chair back. "Nalia has offered us her services on an occasional basis. I think that she craves a little adventure. She is a competent mage, although not as skilled as Willow, and has some ability with locks and traps. If we take up her offer she could fill in slots that otherwise we would lack in the two halves of our party."

"Yeah, that could be useful," Buffy said. "Maybe we'll take her up on it. Tell Tani what we're planning, Giles."

Giles explained the situation clearly and concisely.

Sorkatani nodded. "In a mausoleum the most likely opposition would come from the Undead. Our most powerful weapons against them would be Buffy, Spike, Viconia, and, rather inconveniently, Xander."

"There could be anything at all behind that door in the sewers," Buffy said. "Maybe nothing, but I don't think so. We'd have to be ready for anything. Including Undead. So, a good mix, like I said." Her lips formed into a pout. "This is all book-worky stuff. I kinda suck at it." She looked meaningfully at Giles. "More your scene, right?"

"Perhaps," Giles agreed. "However I think that the person best suited for this organizational task is Anya. Perhaps with assistance from Xander. His Dungeons and Dragons experience may be of some relevance in this situation."

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"Bloody hell, mate, you've gone too far with the sodding air freshener," Randy remarked, screwing up his nose. "Liked it better when the place smelled like a Turkish wrestler's jock-strap."

Rupert raised an eyebrow. "Ah, yes, Randy. Thank you for that fascinating glimpse into your activities during your pre-Sunnydale years."

"We, uh, were a bit too caught up in our work to think about keeping the place clean," Jonathan explained. "Sorry."

"Well, I think it's nice that you made an effort," Tara told him. "Although, yeah, I'm with Randy on you overdoing it with the freshener. Maybe you should open a window."

"I can do that," Andrew volunteered.

"Whatever." Joan ignored Andrew and fixed Warren with a hard stare. "Okay, let's see the other versions of us. And you have some explaining to do."

"I know." Warren stared intently at the floor as if there was something fascinating about the shape of a pizza stain on the carpet. "I'm sorry."

"Save the sorry until after you've made with the explainy," Joan told him.

"Hey, you came clean, Warren. That's like halfway there with the sorry already," Alex said.

"Uh, right." Warren managed to drag his gaze up from the floor. "I could put on some coffee. That would kinda cover the air freshener smell, I guess."

"Coffee would be nice," Tara said.

Umad bounced on the balls of her feet. "I just wanna see us in the video game. I think it sounds all kinds of cool."

"I want to know how you did it," said Willow.

"Uh, I'll show you the game," Jonathan offered, "only I think maybe you'll understand better if you take a look at the vanilla version first."

"I'll get with the coffee," Andrew said.

"Thanks," Joan said. "Uh, sorry, I didn't get your name."

"I'm Andrew." He sighed at the blank look on Joan's face. "Uh, Tucker's brother."

Joan frowned. "Who's Tucker?"

A beaming smile spread across Andrew's face and he punched the air. "Yes!"

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Buffy slammed the Blade of Roses through the abdomen of the last of the Sword Spiders and pinned it to the floor. The legs of the man-sized arachnid curled up as it died. "I hate these things," she snarled.

"I also," Anomen agreed. His nose wrinkled in disgust as he cleaned green spider blood from the head of his mace.

Viconia shuddered. "Spiders are creatures of ill omen to me since I abandoned the goddess of my people."

"Ah, if I still but had Spider's Bane," Minsc reminisced. "I slew giant spiders from one side of the Cloakwood to the other. Right, Boo?"

"Okay, guys, let's make sure that there aren't any more of them. That way." Buffy pointed towards the web-shrouded archway through which the creatures had emerged.

"The crypt is the other way, lassie," Korgan complained.

"We'll get there, don't worry," Buffy said. "I just don't want to come back out, maybe already hurting, and run into another bunch of spiders. Always cover your rear, that's one thing I've learned in this place."

"An' a bonny rear it is," Korgan said. "Aye, ye've a point there, lassie."

Buffy rolled her eyes. "Oh, great. Another evil guy with a thing about my ass."

Korgan's bushy eyebrows lowered and his forehead creased up. "Ye hae a donkey?"

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"I like this not," Sorkatani frowned.

"You said it," Xander agreed. He stared at the corpses that lay on the stone steps. "I can sense evil up ahead. Major evil, I think, but pretty much at the edge of my range. It looks like this is gonna be a tough nut to crack. Maybe we ought to go back, link up with the Buffster again, and come back mob-handed."

"Yet a single spell could have slain all these adventurers," Sorkatani mused. "I shall not retreat until we know more." She raised her eyes to Spike. "Scout ahead, if you would, abbil?"

"Usstan dosst." Spike inclined his head towards Sorkatani and then turned to Willow. "Disappear me, Red."

"Asanque," Willow confirmed. She gestured, uttered an arcane phrase, and Spike vanished.

"I wish you'd stop with the creepy Drow words," Xander grumbled. "It's not like Viconia's even here."

"It's just our thing, Xan," Willow said. "Like we had our own Scooby words back in Sunnydale. You should try learning some. You know 'abbil', right? 'Usstan dosst' is 'I am yours to command', and 'asanque' means 'as you wish'."

"And 'vith'os' is 'fuck you'," Anya put in helpfully.

"Uh, language, Ahn," Xander said, gesturing towards Dawn.

The teenager had been pouting in disappointment at not having been selected for the scouting duties. Now she gave Xander an eye roll. "I've heard the word before, Xander," she said. "I'm not a kid."

"Okay, okay," Xander said. It really wasn't a big deal, not without Buffy around anyway, and he turned back towards where Spike had been standing. "Okay, not-so-evil dead, go do your voodoo that you do so well." There was no answer. Xander stood for a moment and toyed with Azuredge. "Uh, has he gone?"

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The chamber was filled with spider webs. Dozens of the creatures scuttled over the silken curtains. Cat-sized tarantulas, rather than the massive Sword Spiders or Phase Spiders, but still potentially deadly. The web-encased human corpses in the center of the chamber were grim confirmations of that.

Although the spiders might not have been the primary cause of death. A drow woman stood over the bodies. She was looking down at them with an expression that might have been satisfaction but she looked up sharply as the adventurers entered. Her eyebrows shot up as she saw Viconia and she began to talk in a rapid stream of words. Her voice was high and shrill, in sharp contrast to Viconia's deep and sultry tones, and none of Buffy's party other than Viconia understood a word of it.

Viconia spoke briefly in reply. "Qu'ellar De'Vir."

"Dobluth!" the other drow spat out viciously. "Ulu z'hin maglust dal qu'ellar lueth valsharess zhah ulu z'hin wund lil phalar."

Viconia smiled mirthlessly. "P'luin dos." She flicked the Flail of Ages into an attacking position and the other drow screamed out a command to the spiders.

Buffy jumped forward. Her speed caught the drow off balance and a chanted spell was cut off short as the Blade of Roses slashed a bloody line across the dark skin. Nalia fired off a Cloudkill spell, aiming for the other side of the chamber, to wipe out as many of the tarantulas as possible without endangering the party. Viconia ran to join Buffy and began to rain blows down upon the wounded drow.

Minsc stamped upon one spider and impaled another with his sword. Anomen smote one with his mace. The blow was far too hard for the purpose and pieces of spider splattered in all directions. Giles jabbed a tarantula with his staff. Another spider jumped onto the staff and began to run up the pole towards Giles' hands. Nalia used her Cloudkill wand to knock the spider from his staff and onto the floor. Yoshimo stamped on it but was attacked by yet another spider as he did so. Its fangs failed to penetrate his dragon-skin boots and it started to climb up his leg. Anomen raised his mace but hesitated, unwilling to risk a blow that would probably injure the bounty hunter in the process of killing the spider, and then Korgan seized the tarantula in a mailed gauntlet and crushed it.

Within a couple of minutes all the spiders had been impaled, gassed, or squashed. The drow woman lay dead amongst her strange pets. Only one of the party had suffered any injury; Buffy, who had failed to notice a spider on her leg and who had been bitten on the thigh. The venom seemed to be having little effect on her, perhaps due to her Slayer constitution, but Anomen cast a neutralization spell and a minor cure just to be on the safe side.

"Ah, that was the first time that I have ever been glad to feel the hand of a bearded dwarf upon my leg," Yoshimo commented.

"Ye're nae mah type, laddie," Korgan grunted. "Ah wonder if the drow lassie had any loot?"

"You know the drill, people. Check for traps, search the place, move out," Buffy called. She was quite pleased with the way the fight had gone. Yeah, the opposition hadn't been all that tough, but it was good that they'd all worked together smoothly, especially as she didn't know some of this group all that well. Getting a work-out against small stuff before they came up against any heavy hitters was definitely of the good.

The way that Anya and Xander had divided them into two parties wasn't the way that she would have done it, but then she had opted out of the discussion herself, and she couldn't really object. It was kinda weird being away from Dawn, and she couldn't help worrying about her sister, even though she knew that Spike would put Dawn's safety above his own. Yoshimo probably felt a bit iffy about being away from Sorkatani, although he hadn't said anything, and Viconia was no doubt feeling pretty wigged at being away from her Jabbress and her best friend. That thought reminded Buffy of something.

"Hey, Viconia," she said. "What was all that talk about before the fight started? Anything important?"

Viconia looked up from the body that she was searching. "Drow politics," she said. "It would be of no interest to rivvin." She turned back to her task but then her forehead creased and she looked up once more. "Perhaps it would. I think that at first she took me for our leader, for it is hard for a drow jalil to take any lower station, but when I told her that I was of House De'Vir she called me an outcast. That is true, for I was driven out even before the fall of House De'Vir. But then she quoted the saying that 'to walk apart from House and Queen is to walk into the grave'. My first thought had been that she was outcast too but, if that was the case, then her taunt made no sense. She must have been here at the behest of her Matron Mother. We must beware, for there may be other drow in the vicinity."

"Ah'm quakin' in mah boots," Korgan sneered.

Viconia bridled. "Think not that all drow would fall so easily, hargluk. We were eight on one, remember. Things might have been different indeed on level terms."

Buffy took a deep breath. Just when she'd been congratulating herself on everything going so well. "Drop it, both of you," she said, trying to keep her tone light. "We have a tomb to raid."

"It's not going to help the performance if the drummer and the lead singer are at loggerheads," Giles put in.

"True, zra'ha," Viconia said. The intensity of her glare diminished slightly.

"Aye, there is that," Korgan said. "If we're aye finished here, let's get on tae mah crypt."

"Are we finished?" Buffy asked those members of the party who had been searching the chamber.

"I think so," Yoshimo reported. "We have found some useful items."

"Some scrolls that I can use," Nalia expanded. "An obsidian spider figurine that can summon a monster to do the wielder's will. And an Ioun Stone."

"A what?" Buffy frowned.

Nalia held up a pale green gemstone. "A magical gem. It circles around its owner's head and bestows protective or enhancing enchantments upon her. I will need to cast further spells to determine the exact nature of this one's abilities."

"It isn't going to help anyone if it's sitting in a pouch," Buffy said. "Do the spell now, 'kay?" She turned to Yoshimo. "One more sweep while Nalia's doing that, and then we're out of here." She shot a quick glance towards Viconia and Korgan, who were still exchanging unfriendly glances, although at least they no longer seemed to be on the point of exchanging unfriendly blows. '_I so don't need this_,' she thought. '_I bet Sorkatani's doing better with her group_.'

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The eyes that stared at the screen were wide with alarm. "What's going on?" Joan demanded. "How come Dawn's attacking everybody? And, hey, how come she's kicking their asses?"

"She's been confused by an Umber Hulk," Jonathan explained. Alex gave a grunt of understanding, but the rest of the Scoobies merely turned their baffled stares on Jonathan. "Uh, it had a kinda magical weapon in its eyes," Jonathan continued. "Dawn got hit and she's gone kinda crazy. She's attacking the guys now but in a minute she might suddenly run away. Or just stand doing nothing. Don't worry, it'll wear off in a few minutes. All the Umber Hulks are dead now. At least those in that part of the complex."

"So why doesn't somebody just grab her and hold her until she snaps out of it?" Joan asked. "It's not like she could stop them."

"Hey!" Umad protested. "I can too kick ass."

"It's not that easy," Jonathan said. "She's wearing a Girdle of Hill Giant Strength. They gave it to her because she's the weakest, except maybe for Tara and she can do spells to make herself strong, only it's kinda backfiring on them now. Dawn's stronger than anybody except Sorkatani and Spike, and Spike's kinda busy right now."

"What's that ugly bugger that I'm fighting?" Randy asked.

"A Mind Flayer," Jonathan said. "They have psionic powers. They can do sorta psychic blasts, knock people out, take control of them, you know? And they eat brains. But their powers don't seem to work on the undead."

"Why am I just standing doing nothing?" Anya asked. "Am I confused too?"

"You, well the other you, got mind-blasted," Jonathan told her.

Anya frowned. "Well, un-mind-blast me," she ordered. "Her."

"I can't," Jonathan admitted. "I can't control any of them. It's like Warren said. Your memories, your personalities, are in control. I can reload from a save and hope things work out differently the next time but that's all."

"They look to be losing," Alex observed. He gave Warren a hard stare. "I thought you said you'd gotten them past this point before."

"Well, last time they didn't split into two groups," Warren said. "They had plenty in reserve. And the way to fight Mind Flayers is with the Undead. Viconia's the best at that. Tara doesn't seem to have thought of it this time."

All eyes turned to the Tara who sat in the room. "It's n-n-not my f-fault," she said. "I can't d-do anything. She's not m-m-me."

"A little help here," the Spike in the computer yelled. He was now fighting three Mind Flayers and getting the worst of it. "Red, can't you do any bloody spells?"

"I'm trying," Willow shouted back. "But they're kinda resistant, Spike." She jumped away as the berserk Dawn charged towards her. "And I daren't come any closer. They're kinda better at the mind stuff than I am. Hang on in there. I'll work something out."

"Fascinating," Rupert muttered. "So unlike the picture of our relationships that I'd deduced from my diaries."

Sorkatani rushed Dawn from behind, seized her sword arm, and applied a lock. Her other arm went around Dawn's throat and squeezed.

"That girl is hurting Dawn," Joan protested. "Make her stop."

"No, no, Sorkatani would never hurt Dawn," Jonathan assured her. "She's just trying to stop Dawn from hurting anyone else. They're good friends."

"It's kinda wigging me out," the flesh and blood Willow muttered. "But it's all kinds of fascinating. I so have to know what hardware you're running."

"Well, I've just upgraded the processor to an AMD Athlon XP1900+ running at 1.6 gigahertz," Warren began.

Randy held up a hand and frowned. "Not now, mate," he said. "Shush. Want to hear this. Looks like the other me's in deep shit."

Two giant bears appeared in the monitor, summoned by Jaheira, and lumbered towards Spike's opponents. One froze rigid in mid-stride as a psychic blast paralyzed it. The other struck out with a mighty paw and carved a bloody gash through a Mind Flayer's robes. The octopoid-headed creature turned away from Spike and began to battle the bear. "You made a bear!" Spike shouted. It was hard to make out expressions on the tiny avatars but he seemed to be grinning widely. "Bloody brilliant. Ta, Jaheira."

The Tara on the screen was chanting. Two dead bodies, slaves of the Mind Flayers who had been slain by Sorkatani's party earlier in the battle, rose to their feet and shambled towards their former masters.

"I w-worked it out," the other Tara smiled. The smile faltered. "I, uh, I made zombies."

"Yeah, go you," Willow applauded. "I knew you could do it."

"Uh, but zombies aren't good," Tara said. "It's not, uh, natural."

"The other you is as good as they come," Warren assured her. "But she'll do what it takes to save her friends."

"See? You're a hero," Willow said.

Spike killed one of the Mind Flayers. The bear fell dead and Spike was again facing two of the hideous creatures but then the zombies entered the fray. They attacked the injured Mind Flayer, who seemed to be at a loss as to how to cope with the undead opponents, and battered it to the ground. Spike rammed his sword through the remaining Mind Flayer and it collapsed.

"Is that it?" Alex asked. "Have they won?"

"Uh, not exactly," Jonathan said. "There's another chamber and it's where the toughest of the Mind Flayers are. But they should be okay."

"I don't get how come I wasn't there," Joan remarked. "Why would I go off somewhere else and leave Dawn?"

"I missed the part where they split up," Jonathan confessed. "I don't know how it happened."

"Xander and Anya organized the division," Warren explained.

Anya squirmed in her seat and squeezed Rupert's hand. "That sounds just weird," she muttered.

"They tried to balance it up so that both groups had a good mix of everything and that's the way it came out," Warren went on. "It's not a big deal to them. They're all good friends by now. I mean, really. It's not like there's a Sunnydale gang and a local gang. Except that most of the guys don't like Anomen and Buffy's kinda dating him."

"With Spike right there?" Joan's eyebrows made an ascent that would have done credit to a hot air balloon crewed by a duck, a sheep, and a rooster and appearing in front of an audience including King Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette. "I don't get it."

"Looks like the other version of you missed out on the good taste," Randy smirked.

"We know you weren't together before I did that spell," Willow pointed out. "I guess whatever issues were keeping you apart here ended up there. But hey, me and Tara are a couple there, and I think we were splitting up here back then, so they must have worked it out. So, still hope for the other you, I guess, Randy."

"It's so strange seeing the other me with Alex – I mean Xander," Anya said. "Oh, I know we were engaged here, but it was almost like reading about something that had happened to someone else. This makes it more real somehow. How does the other Rupert cope?"

"I suppose that he doesn't realize what he's missing," Rupert said.

"Uh, that Giles is interested in Jaheira," Warren told them. "It went kinda wrong when she took it bad that he was trying to get back to this world, but I think they're getting back together. Taking it slow, 'cause she lost her husband not long ago, but it seems pretty serious."

Rupert took off his glasses and began to polish the lenses. "Remarkable. They are us, or at least our memories and personalities? Are you sure? I must confess that I don't understand how a computer could possibly deal with something as complex as a human mind."

"Yeah, it shouldn't be able to, but the magic makes the difference," Warren said. "It turns out that there's a lot more magic involved than we thought when we started this thing off." He swallowed hard. "It's kind of a long story, but I've given you the basics, and you've seen where they, that's you, are. So I guess you'll want your memories back now."

There was a long moment of silence in which heads turned and each Scooby looked at every other one. Joan was the first to speak. "Uh, it's gonna take a lot of talking before we make any decision," she said. "Can we take a look at the other me now?"

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

Isaea Roenal scowled at his visitor. "What do you want? I no longer hold a position with the City Guard. You will have to seek out someone else to grant whatever favor it is that you seek."

"I am well aware of your dismissal," the other man said. His clothes were as well-cut as Isaea's own and his voice held the same cultured drawl. "Let me be frank, Roenal. You were a disgrace to your office and in other circumstances I would be only too pleased to see you cashiered and even imprisoned. Slavery is an abomination in the eyes of my organization."

"There is no proof," Isaea spluttered. "Sheer malicious lies. Calumnies. Slanders." He drew in a deep breath.

"Enough," the visitor said. "I care not. I have more important business. We have a mutual enemy."

Isaea released the air that he had drawn in and he sagged slightly in his chair. "A mutual enemy? You speak, perhaps, of that despicable barbarian Sorkatani?"

"I do indeed," the other man confirmed. "You want to be rid of her. I want her dead. You have money and men-at-arms. I have other resources available to me. Can we do business?"

Isaea smiled. "I think that we can. Let's talk. Over a drink, perhaps, Galvarey?"


	31. Chapter 31

**Chapter Thirty-one**

The severed head of a Mind Flayer looked remarkably like an octopus. Spike kicked one along the floor. "Eng-er-land, Eng-er-land, Eng-er-land," he chanted. "'Ere we go, 'ere we go, 'ere we go, 'ere we go 'ere we go 'ere we go-oh." He chased after the improvised ball and kicked it again.

Xander sat on the floor and rummaged through his pack. "Donuts, donuts, donuts," he muttered. "Want donuts. Mmmm, donuts."

"Donuts?" Anya echoed. "There is treasure here. I think that's a little more important than donuts."

"Treasure? D'oh!" Xander smacked himself on the forehead. "Ow!" He pouted. "Treasure, donuts. Treasure, donuts. Donuts!"

"Two pints of lager and a packet of crisps, mate," Spike said. He kicked the Mind Flayer head between two of the sculpted columns that adorned the walls of the chamber. "Goal! We are the champions, my friends. And we'll keep on fighting 'til the end. We are the champions, we are the champions, no time for losers, 'cos we are the champions, of the world. Eng-er-land!"

"No donuts," Xander moaned. "Uh, anybody got any beer? I got, uh, beef jerky. That's, uh, maybe we could go fishing."

Spike began to kick the Mind Flayer corpse. "Up jump turn around, kick him in the bollocks, up jump turn around, kick him in the head," he sang. "Bugger! Dunno if the pillock's got any bollocks, but he hasn't got a head. Can't wear a hat, then, can he?" He giggled and then broke into song. "'Ere we go, 'ere we go, 'ere we go, 'ere we go 'ere we go 'ere we go-oh. Come on you Reds!"

Anya raised her eyebrows at Spike but concentrated her attention on Xander. "Xander, get up," she ordered. "What is wrong with you?"

"Maybe it's a guy thing," Willow said.

Tara raised her eyebrows. "Another reason why I'm glad I'm a lesbian."

"They have had their intelligence drained by the Mind Flayers," Jaheira explained. "Do not feel superior. Had you been struck by the facial tentacles you would have suffered the same fate. Although the effects might well have manifested themselves in a slightly different form."

"What?" Anya's eyes became huge circles. "Cure Xander! Cure Xander!"

"Yeah, cure Xander," Willow urged. "And Spike."

"It will wear off," Jaheira assured them. "I have healed their physical injuries. Their minds will return to normal in time. I do not think that it lasts for long. Overnight at the worst."

"It had better not last for long," Anya said. "I'm not going to get any worthwhile orgasms from, well, Homer Simpson there."

"Spike's turned into an English soccer fan," Dawn observed.

"He always was an English soccer fan," Willow pointed out. "But yeah, he's like one of the ones that they didn't want to come to the World Cup when we had it in the States." She wrinkled her nose at Xander. "And our representative doesn't exactly fill me with American pride."

"Yeah. It's lucky nobody else got hit," Tara agreed.

"Ow!" Sorkatani yelped. She dropped Celestial Fury on the floor. "Cut myself. Sword sharp."

Dawn rolled her eyes. "Well, duh."

Willow raised her eyebrows and Tara's brow furrowed. "I think I spoke too soon," Tara said.

Jaheira strode quickly to Sorkatani's side. "Were you struck by the Mind Flayers, Jabbress?"

"Icky things," Sorkatani pouted. "All squiggly and slimy." She turned away from Jaheira and craned to look at her own backside. "Does my bum look big in this armor?"

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

"That's a relief," Randy said. "Was beginning to think that the other me is a complete idiot. Good to know it's not his fault."

"I know how you feel," Alex said.

"My son the football hooligan," Rupert commented. Randy laughed.

Warren's brow creased deeply. "Uh, you do know you're not really father and son, right?" He swallowed. "Oops! Uh, maybe I shouldn't have said that?"

"I assure you that we are father and son," Rupert said, his eyes twinkling, "and I have documents to prove it. Rupert and Randolph Giles."

"Git," Randy muttered. "Had to stick me with that name long-term, didn't you?"

Rupert raised one eyebrow. "Would you have preferred 'Desperate for a Shag' Giles? I must admit that I was rather tempted, following your quips about Rupert Bear, to have you christened 'Paddington'."

"Paddy," Joan cut in, grinning widely, "can we stop watching the other you acting like a total dumbass and take a look at the other me?"

"And, ah, the other me," Rupert said.

"Sure thing," Jonathan agreed. He scrolled down the icons at the side of the screen and paused at Yoshimo. "Huh? Red border? What's happening?" He clicked on the icon and the view changed. Buffy's party was in a large room, with a dozen alcoves and doors along the walls, and a floor that was decorated with a mosaic portrayal of someone who looked like an Egyptian pharaoh. A battle raged throughout the room. Minsc battled a wraith, Viconia and Anomen fought giant skeleton warriors, Giles used his staff-spear to fend off the attacks of a shadow fiend, Nalia was firing off spells from the rear, and Korgan slashed and hacked his way through a mass of zombies and ghasts.

Buffy was fighting Yoshimo.

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

Buffy brought up Dragonslayer to block Yoshimo's slash and began to make a cut with the Blade of Roses at his exposed side. She held back the blow and gritted her teeth. "This sucks," she moaned. She swung up a leg in a kick. Yoshimo blocked with an elbow. The impact rocked Yoshimo but it hurt Buffy more. He struck once more with his katana.

Buffy was faster than Yoshimo, more skillful, and much stronger. Winning the fight wouldn't have been a problem for her. Winning without killing or seriously injuring him, however, was more difficult. The two swords in her hands were hampering her. Taking time out to sheath one wasn't really feasible, however, as Yoshimo was too dangerous to present with such a good opening. Buffy feinted and sidestepped. Her gaze fell on the vampire who had charmed Yoshimo. The vampire was lurking back at the far side of the room, out of harm's way, no doubt hoping that the less powerful undead and the enthralled party member would weaken Buffy's group significantly before he entered the fight.

Buffy's eyes narrowed. She saw that the vampire was standing in front of a door. Heavy timber, but not stone. Her right hand whipped back and then forward. She threw the Blade of Roses as if the heavy sword was a knife. It blurred through the air and struck the vampire in the stomach. He was slammed back against the door and pinned like a butterfly.

Yoshimo flinched as if he had been struck, but only for an instant, and then he drove his katana forward at Buffy's heart. Buffy deflected the strike with Dragonslayer and brought her empty right hand around in a palm-heel strike to Yoshimo's jaw. She continued on with the movement, turned her body, and seized Yoshimo's sword arm. She reversed direction, jerking his arm upward, and slammed her elbow into his chin. He went limp and would have fallen to the ground if her grip on his arm hadn't kept him upright.

Buffy drew back her other hand, ready to hit him with the pommel of Dragonslayer if another blow was necessary, and something seized her arm in a vise-like grip. A second vampire had raced out from one of the alcoves and attacked while Buffy's attention was concentrated on Yoshimo. She released Yoshimo's arm and grabbed for his katana as it fell from his hand. The hilt seemed to writhe in her grasp and it slipped away and clattered on the floor. The vampire bared its fangs and lunged forward towards Buffy's exposed neck.

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

"Eep!" Joan yelped as she saw her computer counterpart in peril. "What happened? The sword…"

"It's enchanted so that only Yoshimo can use it," Warren explained. On screen Buffy had punched the vampire hard in the face and sent it flying backwards. It sprawled on the ground near Korgan. The dwarf had just disposed of the last of his zombie opponents and he fell on the vampire with a series of brutal axe blows. "Interesting," Warren mused. "There's only supposed to be one vampire in that room. The game's definitely upgrading the opposition to compensate for the larger party."

"They could get killed," Joan complained. She watched as the avatar Buffy charged at the first vampire, who was struggling to free himself from the sword that pinned it to the wooden door, and slashed its head off. The vampire turned into a cloud of white vapor and drifted away. Buffy pulled the Blade of Roses free from the wood and turned to look for other opponents. "Yay, go me! Uh, her," Joan enthused. "Hey, what's with the turning into mist or whatever? That's not what vampires do."

"It is in that world," Warren told her. "They return to their coffins like that and then they regenerate. You have to find the coffin and stake the body for them to stay dead."

"Bummer. That must make a Vampire Slayer's job a lot harder," Joan commented. "I'm glad it's not like that here."

"Indeed," Rupert agreed. "Our counterparts seem to be managing quite well, however." He shot a glance at Randy. "They've destroyed their opponents without any of them being turned into moronic hooligans."

"Oi, leave it out," Randy protested. "Your lot didn't have to fight any of those octopus-headed gits."

"The Mind Flayer lair is much tougher than this crypt," Jonathan confirmed.

"Although much peril still lies ahead," Andrew declaimed in portentous tomes. "Yet Buffy the Slayer of the Vampyres shall no doubt prevail."

"I hope so," Joan said. Her eyes narrowed and she focused an intense gaze on Warren. "And when she has prevailed, we can have a little talk about just how she came to be there in the first place."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

"Ye bastard," Korgan grunted, aiming a futile swing of his axe at the vampire mist as it drifted away. "Shouldnae hae tried tae sneak behind ma back, should ye? Serves ye richt, ye scunner."

Giles sensed that Korgan's animosity was personal rather than merely being directed at an opponent. "You know that vampire?"

"Aye, ah ken him fine, though he wisnae a vampire then. He wis wi' the bunch whae ah gathered tae loot this place," Korgan said. "They must hae cam' here wi'oot me, cuttin' me oot o' ma ain deal." He hawked and spat onto the eye of the mosaic pharaoh. "Hope they were aye eaten by yon beasties an' ghoulies. Ah hope their _goolies_ were eaten by thae ghoulies."

"Your neck is bleeding," Anomen said to Buffy, who was kneeling beside the unconscious Yoshimo.

"It's just a scratch," Buffy said. "It's healing up already. A vampire jumped me when I had both my hands occupied."

"And it drew blood?" Anomen's brows creased up. "The vile creature will have drained your life energy. I shall perform a spell to restore you."

"You waste your time, waela jaluk," Viconia said. "Buffy has taken no harm."

"So you say," Anomen said skeptically.

"The naut-elghinyrr have no power over Buffy." Viconia raised her chin and curled her top lip. "But waste your meager power on futile spells if you wish, Anomen. I care not." She turned away and began to check the dismembered bodies of the undead for any items of value.

"She's right," Buffy assured Anomen. She twirled the Blade of Roses and spun it into the scabbard all in one smooth motion. "It's supposed to be that their touch drains away your skills, yeah? Well, Sorkatani only taught me that move a couple of days ago. I don't think I've lost a thing."

"You are immune, it seems. Your abilities are remarkable," Anomen said. He frowned down at the prone Yoshimo. "I wonder if we shall have to fight our comrade once more when he awakes?"

"I am already awake, cleric," Yoshimo announced. He opened his eyes. "Although with this headache I could wish to still be unconscious."

"Uh, healing spell here?" Buffy prompted Anomen, who obliged.

"Thank you," Yoshimo acknowledged, and climbed to his feet. "Ah, how humiliating for the great Yoshimo to have been merely a pawn for a vampire."

"Yeah, vampire pawn's no fun," Buffy agreed. "Except maybe for the Anita Blake books."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

"Okay, that's convinced me," Joan said. "I was thinking that, hey, they couldn't really be, you know, us. It's pretty hard to believe. I thought that it must just be clever programming so that they sorta seemed like us. Only she has my style."

"Yeah, she's just as bad with the puns," Umad said.

"Hey, that one was good," Joan protested. "Okay, nobody laughed, but hey, I'm betting Anita Blake isn't exactly on the bestseller list in Asscattle."

"Athkatla," Jonathan corrected her.

"Whatever. Anyway, I believe it now."

"I can get them back," Warren said.

Joan frowned and chewed on her bottom lip. "I don't know. I mean, I know what I want, and I would say no right away, only maybe there's more to think about now than just what I want."

"We all voted to stay this way," Randy said. He frowned as he looked at her. "Don't tell me you've changed your mind?"

"You voted to stay without your memories?" Warren's gaze flitted back and forth between Joan and Randy.

"We did indeed," Rupert confirmed. "I found a spell that I believed would restore them. Perhaps it wouldn't have worked after all, in these circumstances," he jerked his head towards the monitor, "but we thought that it would. We all decided that we were happier as we are." He raised an eyebrow and looked at Joan. "You were most persuasive in arguing in favor of rejecting the spell," he reminded her. "Surely you're not having second thoughts?"

"No way have I changed my mind," Joan said. "It's just – there are those other versions of us trapped in that place. If they really are people, well, maybe we should be thinking of getting them out. Rescuing them. We have to think about more than just ourselves. That is, the ourselves who are us. Us here and now."

"Well, I only have one body, and I'm very attached to it," Anya said. "I don't want to hand it over to anyone else. Even if it is me."

"I would be adamantly opposed to anything that would jeopardize my relationship with Anya," Rupert stated. Anya beamed at him.

"Got to say I'm dead against it," Randy said. "I mean, that other you isn't even sha- going out with me, Joan. Prefers that toffee-nosed git of a priest, for some bloody weird reason, don't she? Unless half-pint here was kidding me."

"Buffy won't date Spike in that world," Jonathan confirmed.

"See? S'ppose you get the memories back and you dump me?"

"I wouldn't," Joan said. "Would I? I couldn't."

"Yeah, well, I don't want to bloody risk it," Randy growled.

"It would be cool to remember all that stuff," Umad said, gesturing at the screen. "But hey, I can live without it. It's you guys who are the important ones."

"I know," Joan said, "but we can't just leave them there."

"They seem happy enough," Tara said. "I d-don't think we should do anything."

"Yeah," said Willow. "We know there was badness all round, Joan. Maybe they've worked through it, but if we suddenly remember it then everything might go all wobbly again. And hey, think of Randy. And Rupert and Anya."

"Yes, think of Rupert and Anya," Anya said. "I don't want to be all confused about who I'm engaged to. And I don't want Rupert remembering having feelings for some stupid elf."

Jonathan was unable to restrain himself from correcting her. "Half-elf." he said.

Anya gave Jonathan a scornful eye-roll. "Her race isn't exactly the point. What matters is that she isn't me."

"I don't think that the other me has any sort of physical relationship with, ah, Jaheira," Rupert said. "On the other hand, the Anya in that infernal machine is, ah, well…"

"Shagging Alex's other persona stupid as enthusiastically as you two go at it here?" Randy suggested.

"Not quite how I would have put it myself, but, well, yes," Rupert said. "It is rather, ah, disturbing."

"It's not exactly filling me with the joys of spring," Alex put in. "I mean, Anya's a great girl, don't get me wrong, but there's zero sparkage, you know that. If the sparkage comes back, and I remember her being my fiancée, but I know she's been, uh, boinking you like crazy for the past three months, uh, I don't think I'm going to be a happy bunny."

Anya squirmed. "I can't even imagine being with someone who uses such horrible expressions. I don't want to even think about not being with Rupert."

"Yeah. Let's not do this," Alex said.

"I don't want to do it either," Joan said, "but we can't just leave them there. Not if they're real people."

"They seem t-to be happy there," Tara said.

"But they're having to fight all the time against horrible monsters!" Joan protested.

Randy raised an eyebrow. "And your point would be?"

"Okay, so maybe not that different from Sunnydale," Joan conceded.

Rupert smiled. "But so unlike the home life of our own dear Queen," he said, and caused Randy to chuckle.

"Huh?" Joan was thrown off her stride for a moment but then decided just to ignore the comment. "Okay, okay. I want to see more of them when they're not actually fighting, but okay, I'm good with not bringing them back for now. If there was some way of doing it without handing over our bodies…"

"I thought of making them robot bodies," Warren said.

"Robot bodies?" Willow sat bolt upright. "You can do that? Well, I guess yeah, 'cause of the Buffy robot. Maybe that would solve everything."

Umad bounced in her chair. "Wow! Way cool."

Tara frowned. "I wouldn't want to have a robot body."

Anya's eyes became very round and the corners of her mouth turned down. "Certainly not! How could a robot body have orgasms?"

"I seriously doubt that I would be content as a robot," Rupert said.

"Bloody right, dad," Randy agreed. His mouth twisted and his hand went to his crotch. "There are a few things that just wouldn't be the same."

"It's not feasible anyway," Warren admitted. "I, uh, kinda requisitioned a lot of things from the College when I made April, and I re-used most of them when I built the Buffybot." He detected a reproving expression on Rupert's face and raised his outspread hands defensively. "Okay, I kinda stole the parts for April, but it started off as a legit experiment for my course. I just took it too far."

"Hmm." Rupert looked sternly at Warren over the top of his glasses. "I suppose we can let it pass. My diaries indicate that the Buffy robot was invaluable to us in Buffy's, ah, absence, and may have played a significant role in preventing the destruction of the world."

"Uh, thanks. Anyway, I can't get parts the same way again. I looked at some costs and, well, it would cost way more than a hundred thousand dollars to build a robot from scratch. Just for one, and we'd need eight. A million bucks at least. The only way I'm ever gonna have that kind of dough is if the Pirate game is a totally huge hit. Maybe in a couple of years."

"That reminds me, I have to see that game," Willow said. "I was thinking you were getting your hopes up too high, 'cause these days the hit games are produced by great big development teams, and you just don't get a couple of guys writing one in their bedroom any more. Well, that's what I thought. Maybe I was wrong."

"I hope so," Warren said. "We've been working our asses off on it. Some days we start in the morning and work right through until bed. We're getting by on pizza for lunch, pizza for dinner, even cold pizza for breakfast sometimes." He clenched his teeth. "I never thought I'd ever say this, but I'm getting sick to death of living on pizza."

"See?" said Jonathan. "We totally would have been better off working for Google."

"Maybe," Warren admitted, "but if we make a million bucks it will have all been worth it." He went to his own PC and clicked on an icon. The Pirate game began to load.

"Even a few thousand," Jonathan said.

"Well, a few tens of thousands," Warren said, breaking into a grin for the first time since the visitors had arrived. "Oh, what the hell. I can probably count myself as coming out ahead of the game if Buffy – I mean Joan – doesn't break my nose for pulling the stunt with the memory crystal."

Joan's eyes were fixed on the monitor display. Nalia had just cast a fireball into a corridor. Two mummies lurched out of the flames, their bandages smoldering, and advanced towards the party. Buffy met one of them with her twin swords. The other came up against Korgan, fighting low with his axe, and Minsc, smiting it over Korgan's head with his blade Lilarcor. "Maybe I ought to," Joan said to Warren, without looking aside from the screen. "But hey, it worked out okay. If we'd gotten our memories back straight away we'd have kept on the way we were before Willow cast the spell and I think it was kinda bad."

"I guess it was," Warren agreed, "from what we saw anyway. Before they went into the game, and the first few days they were there, they were hardly talking to each other. Willow and Tara were fighting all the time, and when the group split up Tara wouldn't be in the same party as Willow, and you wanted to stake Spike when you found out his chip didn't work there."

"I did?" Joan's jaw dropped. "She is so not me."

"Think I got the better end of the deal for sure, love," Randy said. He stood behind her and put his hands onto her shoulders.

Joan leaned back onto Randy's hands. "She's bound to realize what she's missing eventually. Isn't she?"

"Dunno, pet," Randy said. "Know I'm not worthy of you. Still seems like a bloody miracle that you took up with me. The other me hasn't had that miracle. Maybe he won't."

"The other me must have a heart a lot harder if she can resist lines like that," Joan smiled. "She'll come round. She has to."

"You know, I really think that we ought to be going," Rupert pointed out. "It is getting rather late."

"He's right, sweetie," Tara said to Willow, who was gazing raptly at the screen of the other computer as Warren explained the character creation system. "We have morning classes."

Willow glanced at her watch. "Oh, poot! I guess time does fly when you're enjoying yourself. Is it okay if we come back tomorrow, Warren?"

"Yeah, that would be great," Warren said. "I guess there isn't going to be any nose-punching or anything? Are you guys all cool with this?"

"I can hold back on the nose-punching," Joan told him. "I'm coming back tomorrow too, okay? I want to see what they're like when they're not all getting with the monster-fighting. You're sure there isn't any way of giving Buffy and Spike a kind of nudge to get them together?"

"Afraid not," Warren said.

"Crap. Okay, guys, see you tomorrow."

"This has been absolutely fascinating," Rupert said, as the group stood up and started to gather up bags and jackets. "Quite remarkable. Almost unbelievable." His eyes twinkled. "We have met the avatars, and they are us."


	32. Chapter 32

**Chapter Thirty-two**

"Hey, Giles, you got a minute?"

Giles made a slight adjustment to the tuning of his guitar, strummed a chord, nodded with satisfaction and put the instrument down. "Ah, yes, Buffy. You had some idea that you wanted to discuss with me, I gather?"

"Yeah. I almost forgot about it, and then we did that book hunt with Korgan the Barbarian, and it reminded me." Buffy sat down and rested her elbows on the table. "There's something we did back home that we're kinda skipping here. Research."

"Well, we rarely seem to get the opportunity," Giles said. "We come upon enemies unexpectedly in most instances. There simply isn't time to research the best methods to slay them. We must merely rely upon trial and error. The only prophecy that seems at all relevant to our situation would appear to be the Prophecy of Alaundo the Wise and we are traveling with perhaps the foremost expert on that prophecy." He permitted a small smile to come to his lips. "If she sometimes misquotes it, well, I think we can forgive her. Her situation cannot be easy."

"I guess, but that's not what I'm thinking about. Although it wouldn't hurt to try to find out as much as we can about that Irenicus guy, the one who snatched Sorkatani in the first place, 'cause I'm betting that we're gonna have to fight him eventually. No, I'm thinking that maybe we could be a bit more organized about getting hold of weapons and magic and stuff."

Giles adjusted the position of his glasses and looked at her over the rims. "Organized? In what way? We seem to be acquiring quite a selection as it is."

"Yeah, we are," Buffy agreed, "but we could do better." She glanced around to check that none of the others were in hearing range. "I'm thinking about that dream that I had that I think means that Yoshimo's gonna die for good. I want to make sure he gets the best chance we can give him, 'cause he's an okay guy and it would break Tani up pretty bad, and that means getting him some good stuff. And yeah, the rest of us too. I want to know where the best stuff is, Giles. Like, you know that Lich thing that Tani keeps thinking about busting in on, down near the city gates, does it have anything worth the fight? And, if it does have some neat stuff, what's the best way of fighting it?"

"Hmm, yes," Giles said. "That would seem to be a suitable subject for research. As would the crypt that we discovered on our quest to defeat the Unseeing Eye. It had a guardian rumored to be formidable, I recall, and we had no wish to battle it for no good reason. Yet a sufficiently valuable prize might make it worthwhile. Yes, a visit to whatever libraries and archives are available in this city would certainly be in order. There might be some information about the contents of those crypts. Or some clue as to where we might find the remaining two parts of the Crom Faeyr hammer." He adjusted his glasses once more. "Of course Sorkatani herself would be of enormous help in such research. She was, after all, brought up as librarian."

"As long as you don't mention the Yoshimo thing to her," Buffy said. "I don't want to worry her. But yeah, good idea." She quirked an eyebrow at Giles and smiled. "Hey, you're a librarian and all with the demon slaying and stuff. Tani's a librarian and, hey, Perfect Warrior. Is there something about being a librarian that I didn't know? Like, could it have been the right career choice for me if I'd stayed in college?"

Giles smiled back. "That is certainly possible. It would, of course, have required you to acquire some actual familiarity with the books."

"I knew there had to be a down side," Buffy said. She gave Giles a broad grin.

"And there is always the chance," Giles warned her, "that you would have suffered the most dreaded occupational hazard of being a librarian. Although I'm told that one gets used to it."

"Paper cuts?" Buffy hazarded a guess.

"No. Being transformed into an orangutan."

Buffy wrinkled her nose. "This is some British joke, right?"

Giles sighed. "It is indeed. Although I think that Willow would have understood. Very well, I shall consult with Sorkatani about research." He turned his head and scanned the room before continuing. "I presume that you wish me to seek also for anything relevant to returning us to our own dimension?"

Buffy closed one eye and tilted her head to one side. "I guess. But hey, if we don't ever get back, it's maybe not the worst thing in the world. Everyone I care about is right here with us, 'cept for Angel, and hey, it's not like we were close any more. And I'd miss the people we've met here. I know the rest of the guys aren't all that struck on Anomen but I like him, and hey, I'd miss Minsc. I think everybody would. And Tani, and Yoshi, and Jaheira, and hey, I'm even getting to like Viconia."

"And you mustn't forget Boo," Giles said.

Buffy chuckled. "Yeah, we'd all miss Boo. So, yeah, staying here wouldn't suck. I'm not saying that you shouldn't look if you see a, whatchacallit, Grimoire of Traveling to Other Planets, or a map saying 'to the portal that leads to Earth', but hey, the priority is finding where the good stuff is. Stuff that will give us the best chance of not getting killed. 'Cause, hey, even if we do find a way home, I don't want to go until we've rescued Imoen. And kicked that Irenicus guy's ass."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

"Your idea has much merit, Buffy," Sorkatani agreed. "There is much knowledge that would be of use to us within the volumes written by learned men. In truth I would enjoy spending time in the company of books once more. The feel of their bindings, their very smell, is a comfort to me."

Giles nodded appreciatively. "I feel the same way," he said.

"And yet it seems that there is always some more pressing task," Sorkatani continued. "I owe Renal Bloodscalp of the Shadow Thieves a debt of honor, and I must repay it by carrying out a task for him soon, and now a message has come from Mazzy Fentan. She seeks our aid against a peril that threatens her village."

"Does this peril dwell in the wilderness?" Jaheira asked.

"She believes so," Sorkatani confirmed.

"I would welcome an expedition into the wilds," Jaheira said. "We spend too much time in the city for my taste."

"So maybe we should split up again," Buffy suggested. "Only, I'm not so good at the wilderness thing."

Sorkatani frowned. "It is I who must repay the Bloodscalp," she said.

"Hey, I can get by in the woods if I have Jaheira with me," Buffy said. "And Minsc, 'cause hey, Ranger. They can tell me what mushrooms not to eat and stuff."

Sorkatani sucked in one cheek, and then the other, and tilted her head to one side. "I agree. I shall stay here and carry out the task for the Bloodscalp. Yoshimo must be with me, for he too is indebted to the Shadow Thieves, and his skills will be of great value to me."

"I take it that you intend to investigate the libraries after you have completed this task?" Giles enquired.

"Indeed. Also there are libraries within the Thieves Guild, of a specialized nature, and my service to the Bloodscalp would gain me access to them." Sorkatani pursed her lips and nodded.

Giles raised an eyebrow. "A specialized nature?"

"Guides to the locations of treasures and the guardians that protect them," Yoshimo said. He grinned widely. "Exactly what you seek."

"Hmm. Yes." Giles pushed his glasses firmly home on the bridge of his nose. "That does sound particularly relevant. I suggest, then, that I should be part of Sorkatani's group." He raised his head and looked directly at Jaheira. "Much as I would like to spend more time in the company of certain other members of our band."

Jaheira lowered her eyes briefly and then lifted her head and met Giles' eyes. "There will be time enough on future adventures," she said.

A smirk spread across Spike's face but he refrained from comment. "Think I'll tag along with Tani, if that's okay," he said. "Not really a wilderness sort of bloke. More of a city boy."

Giles pursed his lips and muttered to himself. "Hmm. Yes. 'Just a city boy'. Unfortunately 'born and raised in South Detroit' won't really have any resonance for a local audience. Perhaps I could come up with an alternative."

"Uh, Giles, you're making the kind of sense that's not," Buffy said.

"Oh, sorry, my dear. I was woolgathering. I am still planning future performances and Spike's comment triggered a thought. I must try to fit in some rehearsal time into our schedule."

"I shall be of this group, then," Viconia announced. "Shall we invite the hargluk to accompany us?"

Sorkatani nodded. "I have no objections. A mission for the Shadow Thieves is likely to be more to Korgan's taste than to that of our paladin."

"Okay, so Xander comes with me," Buffy said. "And I guess Anya will want to be with him, which gives me one thief-type, and I think I should have Dawnie this time, 'kay? Anomen will want to be on my team. Okay, now we're cooking with, uh, charcoal?"

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

Joan turned away from the screen and looked across at Willow. She was gazing in rapt fascination at the screen of the other computer as Warren, Andrew, and Jonathan showed her the Pirate game in action.

"That is totally cool," Willow enthused. "I wasn't expecting it to be like this. See, I know the games companies have hundreds of people working for them, and budgets of, like, millions of dollars, and I thought, well, something that three guys put together in a basement is going to, uh, suck. But hey, this is just fantastic. I guess it's the magic, huh?"

"Yeah, it is," Warren admitted. "Without that, well, this would be pretty basic. Not much more than stick figures moving on a flat background. We could do it all ourselves, I think, but to get it this good would take us ten years. Maybe longer." He glanced across the room and noticed Joan looking at them. "How are your other selves getting on?"

"They seem to be pretty content where they are," Joan replied. "Even me. Buffy." She grinned. "It is just totally confusing there being two of me."

"Hey, worse for me," Willow said, "seeing as there's just the one name for the two of us. Of me."

"It was pretty much only Buffy who wanted to come back," Jonathan said. "If she's okay with being there now maybe we don't need to do anything."

"I guess," Joan agreed. "Only, Buffy is talking about taking on more dangerous monsters just to get cool stuff. I hope they'll be okay."

"They're pretty tough," Jonathan said. "They should be able to handle anything they come up against. At least until they get to Spellhold."

"Spellhold?"

"It's where Irenicus has Imoen prisoner," Warren said. "There's a maze there that is pretty dangerous. And Irenicus pulled a move that caught us by surprise when they made it there the last time."

"The last time?"

"We had to reload," Jonathan said. "Anya kept getting killed and we had to go back three weeks to give them a chance to do things differently."

"Anya kept getting killed?" Joan's mouth turned down at the corners. "I don't like the sound of that. Maybe we ought to pull them out after all."

"But we only have the one set of bodies," Willow reminded her. "I guess it wouldn't be so bad for me, 'cause the other Willow and Tara are together just like we are here, but you would have some pretty different memories to handle. It might be, uh, you could end up being like a completely different person."

Joan sighed. "Well, yeah, I don't want to do that, but I don't want the other set of us to end up dead either."

Jonathan looked down at his shoes. "I'm sorry," he mumbled.

"Hey, there's no call to panic," Warren said. "We can leave things alone for now. As long as we have saved games to go back to then there's still time to change things."

"I guess." Joan stood up. "I gotta go meet Randy for patrol. I'll see you Saturday at the party, guys."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

"My name is Cernd, and I am a representative of the Council of High Druids," the good-looking young man introduced himself. "The Council heard of the attacks upon Trademeet and sent me here to investigate."

"Pleased to meet you," Buffy said. She turned to High Lord Logan Coprith, the governor of the city, and frowned. "So, how come you put this guy in jail?"

"For his own protection," Lord Logan explained. "Feelings among the townsfolk are running high, as I am sure that you have noticed for yourselves, and there was a danger that Cernd would have been lynched. If you could get him out of the city you would be doing me a great service. I am sure, also, that he could be of great help to you in your mission."

"I concur," Jaheira said.

"Yeah, you're right, but getting him out past the mob is gonna be the tricky bit," Buffy said. "Couldn't you just, like, order them to let him pass?"

"I doubt if the mob would disperse at my request," Lord Logan admitted. "I would have to use forceful methods, and I am loath to do that against my own people unless in the direst of need."

"Yeah, I guess." Buffy looked out of the window. "But getting Cernd out through that lot isn't gonna be easy. And Jaheira might be in danger too if anyone catches on that she's a druid."

A mob of citizenry filled the town square. Blazing torches were being held aloft, pitchforks were brandished, and an ominous chant was on their lips. "Burn the druids! Burn the druids!"

"Damn it," Buffy muttered. She turned and looked back into the room. "They're all around the place. I don't know how we're gonna get through them without Cernd, and maybe Jaheira, getting attacked. An invisibility spell, maybe, Will?"

Willow shook her head. "Kinda crowded out there, Buffy, and somebody would be bound to bump into them. That would attract attention and maybe things would go all wrong. I could get myself out with Dimension Door," she mused, "but I'm not up to taking anyone with me yet. Give me a minute to think." She chewed on her lower lip for a moment and then a smile spread over her face. "Hey, I got an idea. I can do this. You and the other guys go on ahead, Buffy, and wait at the city gates. I'll follow with Jaheira and Cernd and meet you there."

"You're sure? Okay, Will," Buffy agreed. She gathered the rest of the party together and they left the government office. The company shouldered their way through the crowd, attracting some hostile and suspicious looks, but also some approving smiles directed at the adventurers whose obvious competence offered hope that the siege of the town would be ended. At the gates Buffy halted and waited.

Willow, Jaheira, and Cernd walked out into the square. The chant rose to a roar. The torch-waving grew frantic and several pitchforks dropped into offensive positions. Buffy groaned. Then the torches stilled, the pitchforks rose, and the cohesion of the mob broke. The townsfolk began to mill around in apparent confusion. One large fellow, who appeared to be in self-appointed command of the lynch mob, could be heard bellowing above the din. "You can go about your business," he said. "Move along." Willow and the two druids walked on unmolested.

"Way to go, Will," Buffy greeted her friend at the gate. "How did you do it?"

"An old mind trick," Willow said, smiling. She wiggled her fingers. "These are not the druids you're looking for."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

"Clem's a movie actor," Willow explained. "It takes six hours in make-up to get the costume and prosthetics done, and he's on set tomorrow afternoon, so he's keeping it on tonight."

"Cool." The pretty girl student nodded appreciatively. She was shorter even than Buffy, probably less than five feet tall without her heels, and she tilted her head back as she looked up at the demon's face. "It looks totally real. What's the movie?"

"Uh, 'Men in Black 2'," Clem told her. "I'm one of the aliens in the Arrivals lounge."

"Wow, way cool. You're working with Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones. Awesome."

Clem shrugged. "I don't get to meet the stars. But yeah, it's cooler than a lot of jobs, and it pays okay considering that mostly I just stand around waiting. I did get to talk to Rip Torn for a while the other day."

Andrew's mouth dropped open. "Oh, that is so cool," he sighed. "He'd be totally great as one of our voice actors. You think that maybe you could…"

Warren dragged him away before he could finish his sentence. "Are you nuts?" he hissed. "First, Rip Torn is a pro actor. He's not gonna do a voice gig for a few bucks just 'cause an extra asks him. We can't afford pro prices. And second, Clem's a demon, remember? The whole 'movie extra' thing is just a cover for him looking like, well, a demon, 'cause some of the people here don't know about the whole demon deal."

Andrew pouted. "He still might be working on the movie."

"Yeah, maybe, but just shut up about it for now, okay? Doofus." Warren ran his fingers through his hair. "It was totally cool of Joan to invite us. We don't pay her back by making waves, okay?"

"Okay," Andrew mumbled.

Jonathan gazed at the girl, who was still talking to Clem, and drew in a deep breath. "She's really pretty," he said. "And she's not that tall. You think maybe she might speak to me without just giving me the brush-off right away?"

"Yeah, go for it," Warren urged. "She is kinda tiny. I wonder if that's why the girls invited her? I haven't noticed her hanging out with them before today. Okay, we don't know all the people they know at college, but it's a thought."

"You mean, for me?" Jonathan shuffled his feet.

"I don't see a boyfriend with her," Warren said. "It could be. Go talk to her. What do you have to…?" His voice trailed off as he saw a pair of arriving guests being greeted by Joan at the door.

One of them was Katrina.

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

Buffy wrenched the druid's arm up behind his shoulder with force enough to bring a gasp of pain from her captive's lips. "I don't like killing people," she hissed, "but you guys are kinda making it hard for me not to. And hey, druids, I thought you were supposed to be the good guys? All peace and harmony with nature, like Tara and Jaheira, sorta thing. So what's with the trying to kill everyone who comes through this place? And the whole sending animals to attack the town gig? 'Cause, let me tell you, so not the way to gain friends and influence people."

"Your so-called civilization corrupts everything that it touches," the druid snarled. "All who trespass in the glade must perish. This has been decreed by our leader Faldorn. The pristine wilderness must be preserved at all costs."

"Pristine wilderness?" Buffy rolled her eyes. "The place is crawling with trolls! Like, that great big troll mound, with the bone struts and the oh-so-tasteful skull motif, is supposed to be some place of outstanding natural beauty? And hey, not seeing the whachacallit, ecological soundness, of creepy monsters that can't be killed without fire. That kinda seems unfair to the bears as far as I'm concerned."

"Faldorn?" Jaheira raised her eyebrows. "Faldorn of the Black Raven Uthgardt? I know her. She is of the order of Shadow Druids."

"Shadow Druids?" Buffy's eyebrows climbed in an apparent attempt to gain an altitude advantage over Jaheira's. "Somehow that doesn't make me think of hugs and puppies."

Cernd drew himself erect and spoke in the manner of a lecturer. "The Shadow Druids have a distorted picture of the Balance. They would see all revert to wilderness. No cities, no towns, no farms, no mines. Humans would exist only as nomads. They will slay a man for felling a tree. They cannot accept that without human civilization all Faerûn would fall to orcs, ogres, dragonkind, or even the Drow, and their wilderness would be despoiled by mines and burnings and cities in any event. Humans can see reason and exercise restraint, if arguments are put to them in proper form, whereas the evil races know no restrictions. Faldorn is a heretic in our eyes."

Buffy sighed. Cernd was amazingly good looking, and she'd been briefly interested enough in him when they met to have brought a few dark glowering frowns to Anomen's face, but he was such a total wilderness nerd that he made Giles on the topic of books seem fascinating by comparison. "So, are we gonna have to fight her, or what?"

"Her views are extreme," Jaheira said, "but I have spoken to her on friendly terms. I think that we may be able to reason with her."

"The attacks on Trademeet must stop," Mazzy put in. "I would prefer that it be through persuasion but, if we must fight, then so be it."

"Yeah, that goes for me too," Buffy said. She slackened her grip on the druid's arm. "Okay, druid guy. Take us to your leader."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

Sorkatani scowled at the Red Wizard. "I like this not, Edwin," she said. "I am no assassin."

Edwin shrugged. "Your scruples are no concern of mine. Rayic Gethras is a threat to my life. Mae'Var has commanded that you obey me. If you are truly loyal to the Shadow Thieves then you must carry out this assignment. I can't see why slaying a member of the Cowled Wizards would be a problem for the Perfect Warrior."

"Warrior, not assassin," Sorkatani stressed. "But you are right that I have no love for the Cowled Wizards. Yet I have no love for you either, Edwin, for you were an enemy of my friend Dynaheir."

"She is dead, and not at my hand. What matters it now if I sought her death a year ago?" Edwin stroked his beard. "You have your orders. Obey them."

"Whit's yer problem, lassie?" Korgan grumbled. "Death an' plunder. That's whit adventuring is aw' aboot, ye ken."

Sorkatani sighed. "It is not my custom to attack those who have done me no harm. Yet I have no choice. Very well, Edwin, we shall slay this wizard for you." She turned and led her followers from the room.

Once outside Giles drew close to Sorkatani. "Are you really going to kill this man? In cold blood?"

"No," Sorkatani told him. "I will not do murder. I shall confront him and see what transpires. Perhaps he could be persuaded to leave the city for a time and let it seem that he is dead. There may be some other solution."

"We should just kill Edwin," Viconia suggested.

"It may yet come to that," Sorkatani said. "But we have not yet found proof of Mae'Var's treachery. Renal Bloodscalp cannot act against Mae'Var without that proof, lest he should start a feud between the two factions, and if we act precipitately we would make things worse." She shook her head. "It will be long before we can settle down to browse peacefully through books of knowledge, I fear."

"And before I can stand before the rivvin and sing," Viconia said. "_Sunshine on a rainy day, makes my soul, makes my soul, trip trip trip away_…"

Giles grinned. "By George, I think she's got it!"

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

The smile on Katrina's face froze as she saw Warren. She turned her head and directed an angry gaze at Joan. "This is a set-up, right? I should have guessed, seeing as how we've met exactly once and have hardly any friends in common."

Joan gave her a weak smile. "Okay, you got me. I'd kinda hoped to get you inside and sitting down with a drink before you saw Warren. But hey, come on in anyway. Stephanie knows Willow and Tara, so it's not like you're total strangers."

Katrina spotted Alex over beside a table helping himself to a slice of pizza. "What is it with you people? What part of 'I never want to see Warren ever again' don't you understand?"

"The part where you won't even let him say 'sorry'," Joan told her. "I know he screwed up. I know he did something wrong. I can understand if you won't ever get back together with him. But he's our friend and he's hurting. We have to try to help. At least let him apologize. Maybe he can get some kind of closure if you don't just throw his words back in his face and shut him out."

Katrina's friend Stephanie was alternating her gaze between the party host and Katrina. Her forehead was creased in a frown. "What's going on, Katrina?" she asked.

Tara had witnessed the altercation and hastened to the door. "Hi, Stephanie," she greeted the girl, who had one class in common with her at college. "Come on in. Let me take your coat." Stephanie, the bemused frown still on her face, handed her coat over by reflex.

Katrina turned her angry glare on her friend. "Well, I'm not staying here. Take your coat back, Stephanie."

"Huh? I don't see the problem, Kat," Stephanie said. "I'm not going to insult Tara by walking out on her friend's party ten seconds after we get here."

At the other side of the room Rupert had observed the activity at the door. He picked up his guitar and slipped the strap over his neck. It was time to see if he could work something of the same magic as his other self in the computer world. A shame, he thought, that he was unable to call upon any actual magical assistance. He would have to rely upon the power of music and words alone.

"Hey, everybody," Anya called out. "Rupert is going to entertain us with a song. You probably haven't heard him play at the Espresso Pump but he's a big favorite there. A little quiet, please."

"Come on, Stephanie," Katrina urged again. "Don't make me walk out on my own looking like a loser."

"Hey, hush up," Stephanie said. "I've heard people talk about Rupert Giles. We don't want to miss this." She walked forwards. Tara smiled sweetly at Katrina and held out her hand for her coat.

Rupert's fingers danced over the strings. The tune was familiar to many of the guests, even if only from their parents' record collections and 'I love the 80s' on VH-1, and the buzz of conversation died away. Then Rupert began to sing.

"_A love-struck Romeo sings the streets a serenade,  
Laying everybody low with a love song that he made,  
Finds a convenient street lamp, steps out of the shade,  
Says something like, 'you and me babe, how about it?'…_"

Katrina passed her coat to Tara without even realizing that she was doing so and took a step further into the room.

"_Juliet says 'hey, it's Romeo, you nearly gave me a heart attack'  
He's underneath the window she's singing 'hey la my boyfriend's back  
You shouldn't come around here singing up at people like that  
And anyway what you gonna do about it?'…_"

Katrina wrenched her gaze away from Rupert, clenched her teeth, and looked around for her coat. Tara had vanished.

"_Juliet, the dice were loaded from the start  
And I bet that you exploded into my heart  
I forget, I forget the movie song  
When you gonna realize it was just that the time was wrong?  
Juliet…_"

Katrina's mouth twitched. She sighed, shook her head, and a trace of a smile crept onto her lips. Joan tapped her shoulder and pointed to the table on which a selection of drinks was laid out. Katrina rolled her eyes but then shrugged and helped herself to a glass of white wine.

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

"Rayic Gethras?" Sorkatani called. "I would speak to you."

No voice answered. Only two stone golems charging to the attack.

"Call off your guards, wizard," Sorkatani shouted. "I wish only to talk." She ducked under a swinging stone fist. "If you would save your creations then call them off."

There was no reply. The other golem struck out at Korgan, who blocked the blow with his shield, and then struck out with his axe. Sorkatani gave up her attempt to call the wizard and drew Celestial Fury with her right hand and a mace with her left. Nalia sheathed her short-sword and took a two-handed grip on her staff. Giles struck out with his staff-spear, keeping the blade retracted, and hit Korgan's opponent across the head. Viconia swung the Flail of Ages and dealt a golem a powerful blow. Spike and Yoshimo stood back and took no part in the fight.

Sorkatani didn't need their help. Celestial Fury's edge could do little damage against a stone golem but its magical stunning powers were fully functional. The golem froze in place and she hit it with the mace, sending a chip of stone flying, and then struck it again on the back-swing. Nalia hit it with her staff and Viconia belabored it with alternate blows from her flail and the Mauler's Arm mace. Sorkatani pivoted, hit the other golem with Celestial Fury, and stunned that golem too. She returned her attention to her own opponent and left Korgan and Giles to pummel their helpless foe.

The shock effect wore off the first golem and it struck out once more. Sorkatani swayed aside from the blow and slashed Celestial Fury across its torso. There was no shock this time, but it mattered little, as a strike from Viconia's mace had cracked an arm almost all the way through. The golem rocked under the hail of blows. Sorkatani smote it across the damaged arm and the crack widened. Viconia's flail lashed down again and the golem's arm parted company from the torso and fell to the floor. Seconds later the whole golem was nothing but rubble and the three women turned to join in the assault on Korgan's opponent. It lasted mere moments against the whole party.

"This Gethras is no inviting host," Sorkatani commented. "The door was open but there is no butler to receive guests. Instead there are mephits in the vestibule, golems on the second floor, and no response to our calls."

Giles frowned. "The first floor, surely? Ah, your usage is the same as that of Americans."

"Maybe this Gethras bloke has just popped out to the shops for a pint of milk," Spike suggested. There had been no invisible barrier preventing him from entering the house without an invitation. The invite rule in this world seemed to operate somewhat erratically. Occasionally he would come up against it and slam into the mystical wall but every time he really needed to enter a dwelling the barrier was absent. It was puzzling, and he hadn't yet worked out a rationale behind the variations to the rule, but he was more than happy to take advantage of it.

Sorkatani raised an eyebrow. "A wizard who has golems as servants would not go out himself on trivial errands. No, I suspect that he would find it amusing if an innocent visitor blundered into deadly peril. That he threatens Edwin proves nothing, for I would threaten Edwin myself if our mission did not preclude it, but this reception causes me to believe that Gethras is no innocent. At best he is negligent."

"You barge uninvited into my home and you presume to criticize me?" The voice that came from the staircase was almost a sneer. "Leave now and perhaps I shall spare your miserable lives." The wizard began to descend the stairs as he spoke. He wore the traditional brown robes of a Cowled Wizard and bore a quarterstaff. "Or perhaps I shall take payment for my destroyed golems out of your hides." He halted a few steps short of the bottom of the stairs and looked down upon the room.

"Rayic Gethras, we must speak with you," Sorkatani said. "We called out as we entered but you did not answer. We do not seek conflict. Your golems attacked and we did but defend ourselves."

"I care not," Gethras said. His facial expressions were obscured by the cowl but his sudden indrawn breath was clearly audible. "Is that armor of dragon scales that I spy? I shall take it as payment for my golems."

"You can take it only from my dead body, yeunn rivvil," Viconia snarled.

A sardonic smile was visible under the cowl. "That can be arranged." His fingers moved and a shimmering veil obscured his body. "Vuur–" He began to utter an arcane phrase but it was chopped off short as powerful hands closed on his ankles and jerked hard. Spike popped out of invisibility as he dragged the wizard from the staircase. Gethras yelped in pain as his head collided with the steps and then the floor.

Sorkatani raced forward and slashed with Celestial Fury. The enchanted blade bounced from the wizard's body without piercing his skin. Korgan's axe fared no better.

"Protection from Magical Weapons," Nalia deduced. "I can pierce it but it will take time."

"No need, pet," Spike assured her. He released the wizard's ankles and seized Gethras by the arms instead. "I've got it covered."

"Stay invisible, Yoshimo," Sorkatani ordered. "Yield or die, Gethras. You have earned your death but I will spare you if you give me information about Spellhold."

"I yield," Gethras gasped. "Release me."

Sorkatani nodded to Spike. The vampire released his grip and stepped back slightly.

The wizard's hand darted to a pouch and he started an invocation. "Adumbrat–" was as much as he managed to say before Spike shot forward with unexpected speed and seized him by the throat. The crushing grip held the wizard immobile and able only to gurgle incoherently and scrabble at Spike's arms with feeble fingers.

Spike lifted Gethras up until his feet came clear of the ground. "Got any further use for this wanker, Tani?"

The Perfect Warrior stared at Gethras with eyes that held no mercy. "Faithless one, you yielded and then recanted. The offer of quarter is withdrawn." She nodded to Spike. "Kill him."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

"Hey, Clem, are you really in 'Men in Black 2'?" Jonathan asked. "I, uh, know about the demon thing."

Clem's droopy ears twitched upwards and then flopped limp once more. "It was all true except for the part about shooting tomorrow," he revealed. "The shooting's finished, as far as I know, and it's in post-production."

"Wow, cool." Jonathan took a sip from a can of beer. "Uh, Clem, you were a friend of Spike before they, uh, lost their memories, right? How come it didn't all go wrong? I mean, the Slayer might have, uh, staked you without figuring out that you're one of the good guys."

The ears twitched up and down again. "I guess that could have happened," Clem said. "Brrr! Not a good thought. I bumped into them when they were on patrol and I noticed they were acting kinda strange. Well, I just thought maybe they'd had a quarrel or something, and I asked Spike if he wanted to watch the 'Knight Rider' marathon that was gonna be on later, and then he said something like 'Uh, do we know you?' and I knew that something was wrong. But it worked out okay. I showed Spike where he lived, and later I helped him out when he had a bit of trouble with the Slayer, and we got to be friends all over again. And the Slayer's a great girl when you get to know her." He glanced around and then lowered his voice slightly. "In fact Joan's nicer than Buffy ever was, you know?"

"Maybe," Jonathan said. He had admired Buffy from afar for a long time, and she had saved his life more than once, but he had to admit that being an actual friend of Joan was pretty cool. He took another sip from his beer and then moved on to the topic that really interested him. "Uh, that girl you were talking to earlier? The, uh, short one?"

"Lisa? Nice girl. Her skin is too tight, of course, but that's the same with all your species."

"I guess. Uh, did she say how old she is? I mean, she looks like she's around my age, but it just struck me that maybe she's one of Dawn's friends. Umad. Whatever."

Clem opened a can of beer and poured some out into a paper cup. "You know, 'dawn' isn't really 'umad' if you turn it upside down," he digressed. "That necklace she has now, well, if she reads that one upside down she'd end up calling herself 'pawn', and that could be sorta misconstrued. Oh, yeah, Lisa. No, she's a student at UC Sunnydale. Are you, well, interested?"

"I might be," Jonathan admitted. "Uh, did she say what she was doing? I'd kinda like to try to talk to her, only, well, it would be nice to have something in common other than just, uh, being short. Like, hi, I'm short, I see that you're short too, maybe wouldn't go down too well."

"Mostly we talked about movies," Clem told him. "The 'Men in Black' movies, of course, and 'Galaxy Quest', and 'Pitch Black', and the 'Star Wars' series. Only she thinks that 'The Phantom Menace' kinda sucked."

Jonathan smiled. He scanned the room to locate Lisa and stood up. "Thanks, Clem, nice talking to you," he said. "I think I'm in love."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

Faldorn didn't look like a villain. She was an attractive woman probably in her mid twenties, with black hair and blue eyes, and there were laughter lines at the corners of her mouth. She reminded Buffy slightly of Jenny Calendar, at least as far as looks went, but as Buffy listened to the hatred that spewed forth from the druid's mouth she became extremely glad that Giles wasn't there to hear it.

"You are just plain nuts," Buffy told Faldorn. She shook her head. "You think you can wipe out the towns by making animals attack them? That is just dumb. Come on, when we arrived in Trademeet we saw an attack in progress, and the animals killed, like, two of the guards, but there were animal bodies up to here. Call that protecting nature? I call it being a whacko nut-job."

"You need help," Tara said. "There's something wrong with your aura."

"Silence!" Faldorn snapped. "Only druids have the right to speak here."

"Then I shall speak," Jaheira spoke up. "My comrades are right, Faldorn. We knew each other once, and you were not like this. Your war in the Cloakwood was just. What you do here is not just at all. It is misguided to the point of insanity. You will bring death and destruction to these glades and to your comrades."

"They are my followers, not my comrades," Faldorn said. "They may die in my service, but it will be a worthy death, for a true cause. Nature must be preserved."

"Not at the cost of many lives," Jaheira said, "and not on a fool's quest that has no hope of success. Abandon this deluded battle. The High Lord of Trademeet is a reasonable man. I am sure that he would bar his citizens from intruding on this grove in exchange for an end to the war. Otherwise you will all perish."

"So you say, false druid," Faldorn sneered. "You have forgotten the power of nature."

"I have forgotten nothing!" Jaheira snapped. "You know not what you face, Faldorn. We alone could slay you all with little difficulty. Buffy the Vampire Slayer is more than a match for any ten of your druids."

"I don't want to kill anyone," Buffy said. "I will if I have to but, hey, I'm a _Vampire_ Slayer. Let's just call the whole thing off, okay? Stop the war." The corner of her mouth twisted. "I wish Sorkatani was here. She can talk to people better than I can, I guess."

"Sorkatani? The Perfect Warrior?" Faldorn snorted. "A creature of evil. I should have killed her in the Cloakwood."

"Hush your lying mouth, woman," Minsc rumbled. "Do not call Sorkatani evil or you will have Minsc and Boo to deal with."

Willow bit back her own angry retort. "Good thing Spike and Viconia aren't here," she muttered to Tara, "or the fighting would start right here and now."

"Oh, I'm trembling in my boots, oafish excuse for a Ranger," Faldorn said. "I shall not back down. While I am the Great Druid the attacks upon the corrupt city of Trademeet shall continue unless all of us are slain. And only another druid can depose me, by defeating me in combat, according to the ancient ways. No armor, no weapons but a simple staff and our wits." She stared at Jaheira. "Will you challenge me, then, Harper? To the death?"

"I do not seek your death unless there is no other way, Faldorn," Jaheira said.

"Oh? Is it not that you fear to face me without the protection of your dragon scales and your shield and weapons of steel?"

Jaheira flushed. She opened her mouth to utter a reply but Cernd preempted her. "That is why I am here, Shadow Druid," he declared. "The Council of High Druids has sent me to remove you. If your death is necessary for that purpose then so be it. But first let me warn you that you cannot hope to win against me in the battle circle. Relinquish your position and there is no need for you to die."

"Insolent puppy!" Faldorn snapped. "I shall face you in ritual combat. Prepare yourself for death." She turned and walked away towards a sunken pit surrounded by a stone circle.

Buffy frowned. Cernd had fought alongside them as they had made their way to the grove and he had not impressed her all that much. Neither his combat skills nor his spell-casting had struck her as anything special and she had assessed him as much less formidable than Jaheira. "Are you sure about this, Cernd?" she asked. "Uh, you're not exactly Conan the Barbarian. Not that he'll mean anything to you, I guess. What I mean is, uh, are you that good in a fight?"

Cernd looked into her eyes and nodded calmly. "Oh, yes, Buffy the Vampire Slayer. In such combat, with no weapons but a plain wooden staff, I cannot lose."

Jaheira frowned. "She will turn into a panther or bear, I guess, for that is what I would do in her place. How are you so sure that you will win?"

"It is simple," Cernd revealed. "I'm a werewolf."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

Lisa cocked her head to one side. Her eyebrows creased. "How come I look at you and I think 'The Matrix'?" she asked.

Jonathan licked his lips nervously. "I, uh, I was an extra," he said. "I was just in a couple of crowd scenes. Only, uh, when Keanu Reeves was beside me it made him look, well, really tall, so a couple of shots with me in them were on some of the publicity stills. I guess it kinda stuck in people's minds, 'cause a lot of people say that."

"Oh, that is so cool," Lisa enthused.

"Not really," Jonathan said. He was pleased that his explanation for the lingering after-effects of his self-enhancement spell had been accepted, but didn't want to become involved in any complicated lies that would inevitably end in humiliating exposure. "It was only two days, I didn't get to speak to anybody famous, and I cut class to do it and got into trouble. I don't even remember much about it any more. Tell me about yourself. That's bound to be more interesting."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

"Gethras is dead, Edwin," Sorkatani told the Red Wizard.

Edwin raised an eyebrow. "No tokens of proof?"

"I do not lie," Sorkatani said.

"Could stick my fingers down my throat and puke his blood up over your shoes," Spike offered.

Edwin wrinkled his nose. "That will not be necessary. I know that the Perfect Warrior is no liar." He rummaged in his pocket and produced a key. "I also know that she would not work for vermin such as Mae'Var unless compelled by dire necessity. You seek to prove that Mae'Var is disloyal to the Shadow Thieves, do you not?"

"My loyalties lie with the Shadow Thieves and not to Mae'Var himself," Sorkatani said.

"An admirably cautious choice of words. But have no fear. I have no loyalty to him whatsoever. He offered me protection from Rayic Gethras, that is all, and now I have no need of that protection." Edwin held the key out to Sorkatani. "This is the key to Mae'Var's document chest. If there is proof of his deeds it will be there."

Sorkatani accepted the key but frowned. "What do you ask in return, Edwin?"

"Nothing," he replied. "I know that you always repay your debts. Having you indebted to me will suffice very well." He twined a strand of his beard around a finger. "I would be willing to join your little band, oh warrior. I believe I shall shortly be unemployed and in need of a position. You have need of a wizard like me, well, not that there is any other wizard like me. Certainly this dilettante noblewoman dabbling in thievery and magic is a completely inadequate substitute."

"Dilettante? Dabbler?" Nalia glared at Edwin. "How dare you?"

"Perhaps you may be more skilled than Nalia," Sorkatani conceded. "Or you may not. You will not be more skilled than Willow. I have no need of you, Edwin, and I have better things to do that to waste my time and energies on preventing Minsc from killing you. Leave us."

"Very well," Edwin said. "Remember, though, that you owe me a debt. And, if you ever come across documents called the Nether Scrolls, call me. I would regard them as full payment."

"An unpleasant man, I thought," Giles remarked, after Edwin had departed.

"Aye, a sleekit bastard," Korgan agreed.

"Indeed," Sorkatani said. "I hope that our paths do not cross again. But perhaps it has been worthwhile." She held up the key. "If the box does indeed contain the proofs that we seek then we can kill Mae'Var and go home. We may yet get a chance to investigate the libraries, and for you to practice your songs, before Buffy returns from Trademeet."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

Warren sat alone. Not that he'd been alone for very long, but just at this moment Andrew was talking to Clem, Jonathan to Lisa, and Alex was engaged in animated conversation with Katrina's friend Stephanie. Umad was giggling in a corner with a couple of her school friends, Randy and Joan were bickering over the music, Willow and Tara were talking to a couple who Warren didn't know, and Rupert was flipping through a song book while Anya hovered over him and glowered at any female who came close. Warren leaned over to deposit his empty plate onto the floor beside his chair and when he sat up again he found himself looking straight at Katrina.

"Hello, Warren," she addressed him. There was no smile on her face but her tone was neutral rather than hostile.

"Uh, h-hello," he replied. He started to rise to his feet, almost spilled his beer, and sat down again. "Katrina."

Her eyebrows twitched and a crease appeared in her forehead. "Considering the effort that your friends put in to get me here, and to stop me walking out, I'm surprised that you haven't even spoken to me."

"The last time we met you made it quite clear that you didn't want to ever speak to me again," Warren said. "I didn't know they were going to do this, Katrina. I would have told them not to. I… seeing you, knowing you hate me, it just hurts too much."

"Joan – and just what is the deal with that, anyway, I thought her name was Buffy? – said that all you want is a chance to apologize. Well, okay, Warren, you can have that chance. Staying away from me tonight has earned you that much."

Warren lowered his glass to the ground and clasped his hands together. "I can't. I got you hurt. I was stupid and dumb and I wish I hadn't, and yeah, I'm sorry, but I can't apologize enough." His brow furrowed as he strained to remember words from the Dire Straits' song that Rupert had performed when Katrina arrived at the party. He couldn't get them exactly right but he improvised. "I can't do the talk like the talk on the TV. I can't do a love song like, uh, Rupert can. I can't do what it takes but I'd do anything for you. I can't do anything except be in love with you. And all I do is miss you and the way we used to be. If I could sing it I would, Katrina. But I know that it wouldn't do any good."

Katrina's eyes opened very wide. She raised her glass to her lips and gulped at it. "That was, uh, that was totally stolen from Dire Straits," she said.

Warren spread his hands. "You got me, but then, words aren't my thing. It says what I want to say."

"And the end?" Katrina challenged him. "Were you going to go on to say '_You and me babe, how about it?_', Warren?"

Warren folded his hands again. "I don't have the right. I know that."

Katrina's eyebrows climbed. "You have changed. And you never used to have friends like these. The way they back you up, and, well, they are pretty nice. I don't think anyone would have gone out of their way for you before, not the way they have. I, well, maybe the 'never' might not be a total 'never'." She raised her hand with the palm towards him. "Don't say anything else. Not now. Let me think about things. I'll e-mail you. Goodbye, Warren. For now."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

Dawn's grin was so wide that it seemed almost to split her face in half. "Statues of us! That is just so awesome. Saviors of the town. Cool to the max. I so have to show Spike. Hey, if only we could have brought a camera!"

"Uh, I think it's kinda, well, tacky," Buffy muttered.

"Me too," Tara said in an equally low voice.

"Ah, we are all heroes," Minsc boomed out happily. "It is good that our great deeds have received such recognition. See, they have even shown Boo! There is his little nose peeking out."

"Yeah, it's pretty cool," Xander agreed.

"Yes, but the financial reward is more practical," Anya said. "I think a visit to the local shops would be in order."

Buffy gazed at the statues and frowned. "Hey, there isn't one of Mazzy."

"I told the High Lord to omit me," the halfling warrior explained. "I live here. It would be a little embarrassing to have my statue in the town square."

"Yeah, I get what you mean," Buffy said. "Okay, guys, the shops are calling our names."

"Excuse me, your ladyship," a townswoman addressed her, "I implore you to help me."

"And the shops are gonna have to wait," Buffy said. "A hero's work is never done. Okay, lady, what's your problem?"

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

Disclaimer: the characters in this story do not belong to me, but are being used for amusement only and all rights remain with Joss Whedon, Mutant Enemy, the writers of the original episodes, and the TV and production companies responsible for the original television shows. BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER (c) 2002 Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation. All Rights Reserved. The Buffy the Vampire Slayer trademark is used without express permission from Fox. I don't know who currently owns the copyright to Bioware's game 'Baldur's Gate 2: Shadows of Amn', but it isn't me, and characters and dialogue extracts are used without permission and with no intent to profit from their use. Lyrics performed by Rupert Giles in this chapter, and paraphrased by Warren Mears, are taken from _Romeo and Juliet_ by Dire Straits and were written by Mark Knopfler. Lyrics sung by Viconia are from '_Sunshine on a Rainy Day_' by Zoë Pollock. Giles also quotes from _Don't Stop Believin'_ by Journey.


	33. Chapter 33

**Chapter Thirty-three**

"It would seem as if numbers would be no advantage," Sorkatani mused. "The crypt cannot be large. We would hamper each other and be vulnerable to spells."

Giles put a finger to the bridge of his glasses and adjusted their position. "Are you suggesting that we take on the lich without waiting for Buffy's return? Without Willow, without Xander's Holy Sword and Azuredge, and with only one cleric?"

"I am," Sorkatani confirmed. "I feel that it is a task within our capabilities." She reached out and touched Giles' hand. "I will take your counsel on this, zrah'ha. If you advise against it then we shall delay."

"Ah, hmm, yes." Giles was thrown slightly off balance by Sorkatani's affectionate gesture, and by her use of the drow term 'zrah'ha' meaning 'mentor', and he removed and replaced his glasses as he gathered his thoughts. "Hmm," he mused. "The sword Daystar is a tempting prize, and I agree that there would be little point in our whole force crowding into a confined space, but I think that I must recommend that we wait. I can't think of any songs that would be relevant to fighting an undead wizard. We need Willow, I think, and Xander."

Sorkatani nodded. "You are wise, Giles, and I shall take your advice. The quest for the Ring of Gaxx must wait too, for its defenders are likely to be of no less power than the lich at the Crooked Crane, and I had thought to use that lich as practice for those that we would face later."

"An excellent idea, my dear," Giles agreed, "but only after Buffy returns."

"I tire of these books," Sorkatani confessed. "I have been too long on the road of adventure and become too used to action. The calm and tranquil contentment of sitting and reading is not the pleasure that it was. I could totally use a break."

Giles smiled at her use of California idiom. "I am sure that you could. I suggest that we pay a visit to the Five Flagons Inn in the Bridge district. Bernard tells me that there is a playhouse there that would be an ideal venue for a musical performance. The acting troupe is experiencing some problems, he says, and their audience is declining. It may well be possible to come to some arrangement."

"Ah, yes, the Five Flagons," Yoshimo said. "It has the widest selection of drinks in the city and it is also renowned for serving excellent food."

Giles raised an eyebrow. "It is? Then let us go there without delay."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

Darsidian Moor gestured towards the body that lay on the flagstones of the courtyard. "There he is," the bounty hunter told Buffy's party. "The Skin Dancer. I have disabled him but my arm was injured in the fight. Finish him before he awakens."

A girl stood behind Darsidian. "Yes, kill him quickly," she urged.

Buffy guessed her to be Raissa, the missing girl who the party had been asked to rescue, and she smiled at the girl. "You're safe now, Raissa," Buffy assured her.

Anya's smile was wide and a light seemed to dance in her eyes as she drew her sword. "Well, look who it is. Rejiek Hidesman. I've been waiting a long time for this." The serial killer was at most semi-conscious, apparently wounded, and helpless to resist. Anya stepped forward with her sword poised for a thrust but she halted before reaching the body. "The magistrate would probably prefer him alive so that he can be hanged," she said.

Darsidian's eyes widened. "No, kill him now. He might escape."

"He is tricky," Anya conceded.

Buffy clenched her teeth. The thought of killing someone who lay wounded and helpless, serial killer or not, turned her stomach. "I say we tie him up," she said.

The girl's mouth opened in alarm. "No! Kill him! I will never feel safe as long as he is alive," she said.

"Uh, Ahn," Xander put in, "if that's Rejiek Hidesman, how come he doesn't read as Evil? But that Darsidian guy does." Xander's eyes narrowed. "And hey, guess what? The girl is putting out evil vibes like Springfield Power Plant putting out radioactivity. Something's not right, guys."

"Meddling fools," Darsidian snarled. He drew his sword with an arm that showed no trace of injury.

"Clever, paladin," the girl sneered. "Yes, I am Rejiek Hidesman. I had thought to throw you from my trail for good. Well, we shall have to fall back on cruder methods. Kill them, Darsidian, and let us leave this place."

Darsidian took one step towards Anya. Buffy moved faster. The Blade of Roses came into her hand and whistled through the air. Darsidian's head seemed to leap from his shoulders, fell to the ground, and rolled away across the flagstones. "No, I don't think so," Buffy said. She turned to face Rejiek. "This time you don't get away."

Rejiek's mouth dropped open. The murderer in the guise of an innocent girl turned to run. Anomen and Jaheira spoke together, both uttering the same arcane phrase, and the Hidesman froze in place.

Tara went to the wounded figure on the ground and knelt down. She touched her hand to its head and recited the words of a curative spell. The figure stirred. "Tiris," it muttered. "I had the strangest dream…" The body sat up. It raised its hands to its chest and to its face. "No! It was no dream. He stole my skin!"

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

The barmaid's bosom was rather impressive. Giles judged, from the depth of cleavage on display, that Anya's introduction of the bra to Athkatla had spread as far as the Five Flagons Inn. He conscientiously averted his eyes, as did Yoshimo, but Spike was not as restrained and gazed openly into the alluring depths. Korgan's leer could have served as a pictorial representation of the term 'salacious'. The dwarf looked as if he would cheerfully have dived in and disappeared.

The young woman addressed the party with the customary greeting of retailers to prospective customers in the city. "A pearl to you, good people."

"A pearl necklace to you," Spike replied. His unscarred eyebrow quirked upwards and his eyes twinkled.

Giles groaned. "Spike, you're incorrigible." The vampire only grinned. Viconia, who had been initially oblivious to the innuendo in the phrase, clicked her tongue in irritation and glared at Spike. Sorkatani's forehead crinkled. Giles had no wish to explain the other meaning of the term 'pearl necklace' to the seventeen-year old girl, or, worse, to hear Spike do so, and he spoke hastily to distract her. "A drink before our meal, perhaps, Sorkatani? Viconia?"

"Ah'll hae a pint o' Evermead, if ye're buyin'," Korgan piped up quickly. The elvish mead was thirty danter a bottle, and Giles winced slightly, but he nodded and placed the order.

"Small beer," Sorkatani requested.

Spike dragged his gaze away from the cleavage. "Not really up on the local beers, pet. 'S long as it's cool and wet a beer'll do me."

"Bitter black ale?" the barmaid suggested.

Spike nodded. "Yeah, sounds okay."

"And the same for me," Giles added.

"A glass of Westgate wine," Nalia decided.

"You have rice wine, I believe? Then that is what I shall have," said Yoshimo. "A rare taste of my homeland."

Viconia's lip curled. "You will not have Morimatra," she said to the barmaid. "I shall make do with some lesser vintage of the darthiir or the rivvin."

"Will that be a glass of Morimatra or a bottle?" the barmaid asked. Just enough of a smile showed on her lips to make it clear that she was enjoying scoring a point over the customer.

Viconia's eyes widened. "I am impressed. A bottle, if you please."

"A taste of your homeland too?" Yoshimo remarked, as the waitress departed.

"Indeed." Viconia sighed. "As much of a taste as I will ever have again."

"Can you never return to your native land?" Giles asked.

Viconia shook her head. "I shall never look upon the Underdark, or the great city of Menzoberranzan, ever again. I am under sentence of death. True," she reflected, "it was seventy long years ago, and all those who knew me are dead now, and I might pass unrecognized for a time. Yet that would not be enough. Alone, without the protection of a House, I would be prey to all. Slavery would be the least fate that would await me."

Giles frowned. "Seventy years ago? I thought that you had only just arrived on the surface when you met Sorkatani."

"I had been only months in this unroofed world when I fell in with her," Viconia related. "An accident befell me as I fled the Underdark. A terrible thing, and yet perhaps it was the greatest of blessings, for it made our meeting possible. I stumbled upon a basilisk and I was turned to stone. For nearly seventy years I slept, entombed, until a group of rivvin adventurers slew the basilisk and freed me as they rescued those of their own who had been petrified. I learned of the slaughter of my House only later, from Drizzt Do'Urden, as I journeyed with Sorkatani." She laughed, a cold and bitter laugh, utterly devoid of humor. "Irony indeed, for it was his family who destroyed mine, and then were destroyed in their turn."

There was a moment of silence after that. The arrival of the waitress with their drinks provided a welcome relief. They gave her their orders for their meals and she departed.

"We are all orphans, or nearly all," Sorkatani said. "You know my tale, and Nalia's, and now Viconia's too. Jaheira's parents were killed twenty years ago in the Tethyrian Civil War."

"My parents are also dead," Yoshimo volunteered. "I had but a sister. She died a year ago."

"I am sorry," Sorkatani said. There was another awkward silence. Spike swallowed, opened his mouth, but seemed to change his mind and did not speak.

Viconia removed her hat, combed her fingers through her hair, and tossed her head. "I have turned the conversation towards subjects that bring reminders of sorrow. Forgive me. It was not my intention. Let us talk of lighter matters. Spike, explain to me the meaning of a 'pearl necklace', that I may know if my deduction is correct."

Giles groaned and hid behind his goblet of ale.

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

"Waukeen is not dead," the High Priest declared. He had assisted Buffy's party in restoring the girl Raissa to her own shape, in return for a substantial donation to the temple, and was now taking the opportunity to lecture them on his religion. "She is missing, true, but the faithful know that she shall return one day. Until that day Lliira the Joybringer answers the prayers of merchants, and we pay her due honor, but Waukeen is the true goddess of wealth and coin."

Anya cocked her head to one side. "Lliira the Joybringer?"

"The goddess of joy, happiness, dance, festivals, freedom, and liberty," the High Priest of Waukeen explained. "Mistress of Revels. And, as I said, acting as the goddess of wealth and trade whilst Waukeen is absent."

A crease was visible between Buffy's eyebrows. "How can a goddess be absent?" she muttered to Willow. "You think maybe it's kinda like a Glory deal, like she's been kicked out into some other world, maybe Earth?"

"I guess it could be," Willow said. "But she doesn't sound like that would be a bad deal for the place she's ended up. Uh, I guess she'd do okay on Wall Street."

"It is rumored that she has been captured by some enemy god," Anomen told the girls. "It is no more than rumor, however, and I cannot vouch for the truth of it."

Anya ignored the other conversation. "So Lliira is goddess of joy, dance, freedom, liberty, wealth, and trade?"

The High Priest nodded. "For the time being, at least."

Anya turned to her fiancé. "Xander, do you realize what this means? Lliira is the Goddess of the Dance of Capitalist Superiority! I have found my patron deity!"

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

Sorkatani shifted in her seat. "It is wearisome to wear armor at all times," she lamented. "I envy Buffy her freedom of movement."

"Patience, Jabbress, the hargluk Cromwell will have your dragon armor ready soon enough," Viconia said. "It is much more comfortable than steel. I shall remove it when I sing before an audience, even so, for it is practical rather than flattering."

"Looks good on you anyway, Vicky," Spike said.

"Not good enough to prevent you from looking with lust upon the overly abundant physical attributes of a rivvil serving wench," Viconia snapped.

"Leave it out, Vicky," Spike groaned. "'M not your bloke, so you don't get any say over who I look at. Right?"

Viconia raised her chin and extended her neck. "And yet you desire me. I sense this. Why do you deny it?"

"Well, for a start, you spending the last half-hour telling us all about how you killed your three husbands when you got tired of them don't exactly give me the warm fuzzies," Spike riposted.

"Only two were killed because I tired of them. The other I slew because he slept with my sister." Viconia allowed her head to sink slightly. "I promise you that I shall not kill you when I tire of you. We are abbin, are we not?"

"A pearl to you, good people," the serving wench broke in. "Will there be anything else?" Her manner and tone clearly conveyed an implicit accompanying message 'and if there is nothing else will you please leave so that someone else can make use of the table?'

"A cup of tea, if you would be so good," Giles said.

"Make that two, luv," Spike added.

"Ah'll have anaither pint o' Evermead," Korgan chimed in.

Nalia ordered tea. Viconia had not finished her drow wine and declined any further refreshments. Sorkatani hesitated.

"We have a tasty and stimulating drink from Ulgarth," the waitress suggested. "It is called 'coffee' and many customers say that it is delicious."

Sorkatani grimaced. "A cup of tea, please," she said. "I totally am never going to drink coffee ever again."

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"Actual limelights," Spike commented. "Bloody long time since I've seen them."

Giles sized up the playhouse as a rock venue and was eminently satisfied. The seating in the stalls alone would hold larger audiences than those to which he had played at the Copper Coronet, there were galleries and boxes at the sides and rear, there was plenty of room for dancing in the aisles and at the front, there was a proper raised stage, it was – as Spike had noted – well lit, and the acoustics were excellent.

Alas, the same could not be said for the current performance.

The leading man was tall, strikingly handsome, and had the stage presence of a palsied newt. His voice carried clearly to all corners of the theater, thanks to the superb acoustics, but it was toneless and squeaky. He stumbled over his lines, addressed the villain by the wrong name, and gave the leading lady absolutely nothing to work with. The other actors, smoothly professional at first, began to stumble on their own lines as his missed cues and errors threw them off their tracks. The audience members, who made up less than a third of the theater's capacity, were distinctly unimpressed. The play had been running for less than fifteen minutes when the heckling and cat-calls started.

"Don't blame them," Spike muttered. "Biggest load of shit I've seen since 'Highlander 2'."

"I thought Bernard said that they were good," Sorkatani said.

"They probably would be if the hero wasn't being played by Ed Wood's dentist," Spike commented.

"Aye, ma granny cud act better than that greet steamin' puddock," Korgan agreed.

"Yes, quite, but do try to keep it to yourself, Korgan," Giles requested. "We need to keep on the good side of these people if we are to get permission to use this place as a concert venue. Telling them that their lead actor is a, ah, puddock would not be helpful."

"What is a puddock?" Sorkatani asked.

"A wee slimy hoppy thing, ye ken, lassie," Korgan explained. "Sits on his hurdies an' croakits an' eats flies."

"Would be a bloody sight more entertaining than this," Spike muttered, as the actor addressed the heroine by the name of the actress instead of the character and then dried totally.

"Lliira's bane!" shouted a townsman in the front stalls. "This is the worst play I've ever seen."

"Quite, quite, dreadful," a nobleman in a box agreed loudly. "To think that I paid five danter for this. It's a disgrace."

"Get him off!" a peasant yelled.

"Rubbish! I wants me money back," another audience member demanded.

"Hey, look, it's Giles the bard!" a voice called. "Clear the stage and let's have a song. Who wants to hear crap actors when there's a real bard around?"

"Oh, dear," Giles lamented. "That's not going to endear us to the theater company."

A dozen other voices joined in the calls for Giles. A dozen more shouted abuse at the stage. The leading actress burst into tears and left the stage.

"It's not my fault," the leading actor quavered. "I'm just the understudy."

"And a bloody useless understudy at that!" someone shouted. An apple core whizzed past the understudy's face and he turned and fled. The villain followed.

The entire audience, bar Sorkatani's group, was shouting now. About a third of them were chanting for Giles, and some people came over to deliver their requests face to face, and the rest were shouting general abuse and demanding their money back.

"Think you're pretty buggered as far as getting to use this place goes," Spike said to Giles. "Gonna be about as popular with that lot," he waved a hand towards the stage, "as Maradonna is in England."

"Yes, thank you, Spike, I think that I had realized that," Giles replied. He slumped down in his seat and wondered if he could use a song to make himself invisible.

On stage things were happening once more. An extremely attractive woman walked out from behind the curtains and took up position at the front of the stage. "I am sorry, good people," she addressed the audience, "but, as you can see, things are not well with our troupe. Our performance is not as we would have hoped, due to circumstances beyond our control, but I beg forgiveness from you. Please, come back another day, when we have restored matters. We will then prove to you that the Sigil Troupe is worthy of your attention and coin, and we shall, of course, do so for free."

Her appeal fell on deaf ears. The twin choruses of demands for refunds and requests for songs from Giles continued unabated. The woman tilted her head to one side. She clasped her hands together and bit her lip. Then she untangled her fingers and raised her hands. "Please, would Giles the Bard come forward?"

Giles groaned and stood up. He moved past Sorkatani and Nalia. Spike snatched up the guitar and held it out. "Think you're gonna need this," he reminded the Watcher.

Giles glanced up at the woman on the stage. Her expression did appear to be one of hope rather than of fury. "Ah, perhaps. Thank you, Spike."

"Pity ah've nae brought ma drums," Korgan said.

Giles advanced to the front of the house. "I am Giles, madam," he introduced himself. "How can I be of service?"

"I am Raelis Shai, manager of the Sigil Troupe and of this playhouse. The audience calls for songs from you. I do not like to see an audience go away unsatisfied. If you will oblige, then I shall divide the takings with you. Will you do this, good sir?"

"I will be glad to. I am sorry that those who call for me have disrupted your troupe's performance," Giles told her.

A smile came to her lips. "The fault lies with our understudy. Or rather with our lead actor, who was foolish enough to get himself imprisoned, but I shall tell you more of that later. If you would come up onto the stage…?"

Giles ascended the steps at the side of the stage and stood at the front. He slung his guitar around his neck. Half of the crowd fell silent but those who did not know Giles continued to shout. He searched his mind for a suitable song. Recently he had been concentrating on songs that would work best with a drum accompaniment and those were the ones that were freshest in his mind. There was one in particular that he had marked out as having potential as a magical aid to quelling riots. A drum backing would improve it, certainly, but it should be perfectly adequate with only a guitar. One line would need modification for use in a polytheistic society, true, but that would be easy enough to do on the fly. He strummed the first chords and then began to sing.

"_I'll sing myself to sleep  
A song from the darkest hour  
Secrets I can't keep  
Inside of the day…_"

Spike began to clap out the rhythm to accompany him.

"_Swing from high to deep  
Extremes of sweet and sour  
Know that gods exist  
I hope I pray…_

_Drawn by the undertow  
My life is out of control  
I believe this wave will bear my weight  
So let it flow_

_Oh sit down, oh sit down,  
Sit down next to me  
Sit down, down, down, down, down  
In sympathy…_"

By the time he reached the end of the song the shouts from the audience had long since died away. Fresh shouts rang out at the end, but they were cries for more. Giles glanced at Raelis Shai and saw a broad smile on her face. "More, yes," she requested.

Voices from the stalls, and even the boxes, echoed her words. "More, more, more."

Giles decided to go with the flow. "Spike," he called, "would you join me?"

The vampire's eyebrows jerked upwards and then he obeyed. He scorned the steps and leaped up onto the stage. "The Clash again, is it, mate?" he asked.

"Actually, I thought perhaps 'Rebel Yell'," Giles replied. "As long as it isn't only your look that you stole from Billy Idol."

"Hey! Bloke stole the look from me, you git," Spike protested. "Yeah, I can do that." He ran his fingers through his hair and curled his top lip. "Ready when you are, Giles."

"_Last night a little dancer came dancin' to my door…_"

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"Our leading actor, Haer'Dalis, has been kidnapped by a wizard native to this city," Raelis Shai explained. "He refuses even to negotiate with us." At close quarters it was apparent that she was not of the same race as the Amnians. Her skin was of a bronze hue, in fact it had almost a metallic sheen, and her ears were pointed. She appeared to be in her late twenties, or perhaps early thirties, but Giles had learned that appearances could be deceptive in this world. Viconia, after all, looked no more than twenty-five but she was in fact a hundred and fifty even without counting the seventy years that she had spent as a statue.

Giles adjusted the position of his glasses. "And you would like us to rescue your comrade."

Raelis looked at him from under full lashes. "I would. I beg you to aid us. In return you shall receive the use of this playhouse for two nights of each ten-day." Something about her gaze, and the way that she ran her tongue over her parted lips after she finished her speech, hinted that there might be other rewards on offer.

Viconia glared at the theater manager and moved to Giles' side. She placed a hand on his shoulder in an unmistakably possessive gesture. Giles was taken aback for a moment and then realized that Viconia was staking a claim, not for herself, but on behalf of the absent Jaheira. He made no move to remove the hand. "Sorkatani is our leader," he told Raelis. "It is for her to decide."

"I am in favor," Sorkatani said. "I told you that I was growing bored with searching through old books. A little action would not go amiss." She narrowed her eyes slightly and fixed Raelis with an intense stare. "As long as we are told everything. Why would a wizard kidnap an actor? I sense that there is more to this tale."

"Haer'Dalis possesses an exotic gem," Raelis told her. "The wizard's greed may have called to him at the sight of this bauble. It is something that our dear sparrow would not willingly surrender."

Sorkatani's eyes rolled upwards. "And what does it do?"

"Do?" Raelis' eyes flickered sideways briefly. "Why should it do anything?"

"It is magic, is it not?" Sorkatani shook her head. "I know wizards, lady. They lust not after gold, nor women, nor gems for their value alone. Only magic makes their hearts race. This gem has powers. Tell me the truth."

Raelis sighed. "Very well. We are not of this world. We fled from Sigil, a world in another plane, to escape a powerful lord who wished us ill. We found shelter here. Yet we long to return home. One who knows the gem's secrets can use it to traverse the planes."

Even through his armor of Shadow Dragon scales Giles felt the grip of Viconia's hand tighten. "We too are from another world," he told Raelis. "Or rather Spike and I are, and other companions who are elsewhere at the moment. I, however, have no wish to return to my own world any time soon." Viconia's grasp slackened.

"I'm not bloody leaving 'less I really have to," Spike added. "Paradise for me, this world. Can walk in the sun, all the blood I can drink, got better friends than I ever had back there." He grinned at Giles. "Even though some of them are the same people."

Sorkatani gave Giles a rueful smile. "Another quest, I think. Nothing in this city is ever as simple as it seems at first, is it, zrah'ha?" She turned back to Raelis. "Why have you not gone to the Guard about this?"

"I am not used to your customs," Raelis replied, "but it has never been our experience to be treated fairly by the many authorities that we have come across. And, even did we get Haer'Dalis released, what of the gem? The wizard could say that it is his, and we have no proof to the contrary."

"I suspect that in truth it is indeed the property of the wizard," Yoshimo said. "If the wizard desired only the gem he would have no need to imprison your actor. And actors are often trained as thieves. An attempted theft gone wrong, I believe, is that not so?"

Raelis flushed. "It is an artifact of our world," she said. "I know not how the wizard obtained it, but it is rightfully ours."

"The truth from the start would have been appreciated," Sorkatani said, "but we shall do our best for you. We shall retrieve your actor, if at all possible, and shall do what we can to obtain the gem. The wizard may be open to offers of other magical items in trade and we have several such that we do not need save for their monetary worth. We shall see." She smiled at Giles and Viconia. "You so had better give a good show after all this, right? Hey, maybe you could find a song for me to sing."

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The wizard Mekrath frowned at Sorkatani. "So, you seek the release of the little thief, do you?"

"I do," Sorkatani confirmed. "I would be prepared to pay for his freedom. I have a selection of magical items. Perhaps we could barter for him and for the gem that he sought to steal from you."

"You get straight to the point. An admirable trait." Mekrath looked directly into Sorkatani's eyes. "You are the one known as the Perfect Warrior, are you not?"

"Yes, I have been called that, although I make no claims to have achieved perfection," Sorkatani confirmed.

"Hmm. Thalantyr of High Hedge speaks well of you. Very well. Perform a small task for me and I shall barter. One of my imps has escaped and run off into the sewers. This would be of little consequence except that he took with him a magical mirror. Retrieve it for me and we can do business."

"Bloody hell," Spike complained as they departed, "does everything we do have to end up as another sodding quest? What's next, ask for a pint of beer and get told 'Okay, but only if you go to the Forest of Trees, slay the Dragon of Sodding Great Teeth, and pull the Sword of Slicing out of the Stone of Scone'?"

Sorkatani smiled at him and her eyes twinkled. "Welcome to my life."

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Haer'Dalis was everything that the understudy was not. His voice was melodious, his eyes twinkled with engaging humor, and he radiated charisma. His pointed ears were pierced and adorned with multiple earrings and he wore feathers in his long blue-grey hair.

He was effusive in his gratitude. All of his thanks were directed at Sorkatani, laced heavily with compliments, and they brought a blush to the young girl's cheeks. They brought rather different expressions to the faces of Giles, Spike, and Yoshimo, none of whom felt inclined to trust the actor as far as they could throw him.

Raelis Shai's thanks were more welcome. She accepted the gem gratefully. "With this we can depart from this world," she said. "It is no longer safe for us here. Our satirical play 'A Comedy of Terrors' offended Duke Rowan Darkwood, for it exposed to public view things that he wished hidden, and he will not rest until we are destroyed. We are pursued by a cambion, a foe most implacable, and I believe that we have been located and he but waits his moment to strike. I shall perform a ritual with the gem that shall summon a conduit of planar travel. We shall travel the conduit, and I know not where it shall take us, but in that very uncertainty lies our safety."

Giles nodded gravely. "I hope that you find peace and security," he wished her.

"The deeds to the playhouse will be of no use to us once we are gone," Raelis went on. "I gift them to you, in thanks for your assistance. The playhouse, the props, and there is accommodation in the rear. All shall be yours."

Giles beamed. This was a valuable gift. Somewhere that they could actually call home, rather than just rooms in an inn, and a way of earning a regular income that was not dependent on constant combat.

"There is but one favor that I would ask in return," Raelis added.

"Yeah, travel to the Forest of Trees, slay the Dragon…" Spike muttered under his breath.

"When I summon a conduit it may bring with it beasts from other planes," Raelis explained. "The ritual will take all my energies, and of the rest of us only Haer'Dalis is a fighting man. I ask that you stand guard over us and protect us from any such beasts until we depart and the conduit closes."

"Of course," Sorkatani promised. "I shall be glad to do so. Yet it has been a long day, and I would benefit much from rest before we are pitched again into combat."

"Certainly," Raelis agreed. "Return here upon the morn, then, and then we shall say farewell."

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"I had hoped that the Lady Sorkatani would be with you," the Major-domo of the De'Arnise Keep said to Buffy.

The Slayer rolled her eyes. "Don't tell me. There is some crisis that can only be solved by the application of large amounts of gold. Right?"

"Wrong, my Lady," the Major-domo told her. "There are matters that will require attention in the future, but nothing of pressing need. No, there are visitors who wish to see her. One is Bolumir, Priest of Tempus, who desires permission to open a temple in the chapel within the keep. This would be of great value to the garrison."

Buffy twisted her mouth from side to side. "I'm guessing I can't give permission for that one?"

"Only the rightful holder of the keep can do so," the Major-domo confirmed.

"Okay, I'll tell Tani when I see her," Buffy said. "And the other visitors?"

"A merchant selling war-horses," he said.

"I guess we can take a look," Buffy said. "I'm not big with the fighting on horseback thing, but Anomen might be interested, or maybe Minsc or Jaheira."

It was Xander who was most interested, however, much to Buffy's surprise. A seventeen-hand black stallion whinnied as the paladin walked past. Xander turned, stopped, and stared. The horse tossed its head and whinnied again. Xander walked up to it and extended his hand. The stallion nuzzled his palm. "How much?" Xander asked the merchant.

"With all harness, tack, saddle and barding," the merchant said, "three thousand two hundred and seventy danter. Three thousand two hundred to you, sir paladin."

"I'll take him," Xander announced. "I'll call him… Jesse."

"Three thousand two hundred danter for a _horse_?" Anya asked incredulously. "Are you crazy?"

Xander shook his head. "Hey, paladin here, I'm not allowed to accumulate wealth, remember? Any surplus cash I'm supposed to give to the poor or the church or whatever. But a war-horse is a legitimate business expense."

Anya frowned. "Well, I suppose so," she conceded.

Xander grinned and stroked the horse's neck. "A paladin can call for his war horse when he gets to the right level," he said. "I remember that much from playing Dungeons and Dragons. Well, this one called for me."

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Raelis Shai performed the ritual to open the planar conduit at the rear of the stage. Sorkatani and her band stood guard and slew imp-like quasits and a fire elemental as the creatures tried to enter from other planes. Korgan did most of the fighting, his enthusiasm for slaying 'beasties' being unbounded, and the others did little more than loose an occasional arrow or slingshot.

The first conduits to open led, according to Raelis, to planes incompatible with human life. She let them close again and continued with the ritual. Eventually a portal opened from which blew fresh air instead of noxious fumes.

"This shall be our gateway," Raelis said. "Farewell, Giles, Sorkatani, and your comrades. I shall long remember your kindness." She picked up a pack from the floor and slipped her arms through the straps. Even as she did so the portal shimmered and changed.

A figure stepped through. A humanoid rather than a monster. Armed and armored and ready for battle. Two other figures followed in its wake. Mages of the Yuan-ti snake men.

Korgan whooped and raised his axe. Sorkatani stepped forward with Celestial Fury. One of the Yuan-ti raised a hand and a shimmering wall of force barred their paths.

"Good day, Raelis," the human intruder greeted. "Long have you evaded the wrath of Lord Darkwood, but you could not hide for ever. Your punishment is upon you."

"We did but perform a play," Raelis protested.

"The reasons do not concern me," he replied. "I care only for the reward I shall receive."

Sorkatani hammered on the barrier with Celestial Fury. "Nalia! Get this down," she ordered.

Nalia bit her lip. "I shall try," she replied.

Giles exchanged his staff-spear for the guitar. He was sure that Willow would have already disposed of the barrier, but she was not here, and Nalia's skills were definitely inferior. It might be up to him. Runrig's 'Tear Down These Walls', perhaps?

"You hired these humans to protect you?" The man raised a contemptuous eyebrow. "You know not what you face, Prime creatures. You can do nothing."

"I promised to protect them," Sorkatani snarled. "If you want them you will have to go through me."

"Fool. I do not even need to involve you. Already I have the souls of these ones attuned. Let it begin." He clapped his hands together. Even as Giles began his song the barrier vanished.

As did the intruders, Raelis Shai, Haer'Dalis, and the rest of the Sigil Troupe.

The conduit remained, a swirling portal at the side of the stage, but its circumference was beginning to reduce. Sorkatani stared at it for a moment. "I promised to guard her," she said. She glanced behind her at the others. "We know not where it leads. You need not follow," she said, and jumped.

"No! Sorkatani!" Yoshimo shouted, but it was too late. Sorkatani had already passed through the portal. Yoshimo followed her a second later.

"Beasties tae slay!" Korgan yelled, and he charged headlong into the conduit.

Spike was only feet behind him. Viconia cried out "Jabbress!" and followed at his heels.

"Oh, damn it," Nalia said, and she too entered the portal.

Giles hesitated. His first loyalty had to be to Buffy, who was miles away, and who would not know what had happened. Could he abandon her? There was no guarantee that he would be able to return. And yet he had come to love Sorkatani almost as much. The portal was visibly shrinking. The decision had to be instant.

"Oh, dear Lord," Giles said, and he leaped.

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Disclaimer: the characters in this story do not belong to me, but are being used for amusement only and all rights remain with Joss Whedon, Mutant Enemy, the writers of the original episodes, and the TV and production companies responsible for the original television shows. BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER (c) 2002 Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation. All Rights Reserved. The Buffy the Vampire Slayer trademark is used without express permission from Fox. I don't know who currently owns the copyright to Bioware's game 'Baldur's Gate 2: Shadows of Amn', but it isn't me, and characters and dialogue extracts are used without permission and with no intent to profit from their use. Lyrics performed by Rupert Giles in this chapter are taken from 'Sit Down' by James. Lyrics sung by Spike are from 'Rebel Yell' by Billy Idol.


	34. Chapter 34

**Chapter Thirty-four**

Giles had certain preconceptions about travel through inter-dimensional portals, formed by watching 'Doctor Who' and other science fiction TV shows and movies, and he was slightly disappointed by the experience of traversing a portal in real life. No hurtling through space, no bright points of light stretching out into lines, just mist and a sensation as if he was floating. He could see Nalia ahead of him, obscured by the mist but still recognizable, but the others were out of sight.

He floated for perhaps a minute, during which he slung his guitar over his shoulder once more and took hold of his staff-spear with both hands, and then the mist grew brighter in front of him. The floating sensation turned into a distinct feeling that he was falling, but only for a moment, and then the mists were gone and he landed.

He found himself in a roughly circular chamber that seemed to be cast in concrete rather than hewn from stone. Gaps in the walls seemed to open into nothingness. There was no sign of Raelis Shai, Haer'Dalis, or the other actors. The humanoid warrior and the pair of yuan-ti who had taken them away were there, however, facing off against Sorkatani and the others. A trio of humans in leather armor stood with the enemy group and a gnome cowered against the wall.

"No matter," the humanoid warrior was saying. He had the same bronzed skin and pointed ears as Raelis Shai, and was probably of the same racial stock. "I expect you will bring a fine price from the cambion as thralls. Hunters, take her!"

Sorkatani had sheathed Celestial Fury at some point after jumping into the portal. She drew and struck in a move that took the enemy commander by surprise. He reeled back, blood pouring from a gash across his cheek, and parried desperately as Sorkatani followed up with a succession of blows from both her swords. Korgan charged one of the yuan-ti and chopped at it with his axe. One of the humans aimed a blow at Yoshimo. He parried with ease and riposted. The human fell bleeding to the ground. Spike seized one of the other humans, ripped the sword from his hand and flung it in the direction of the unengaged yuan-ti, and buried his fangs in the man's throat.

The other yuan-ti stood beyond the reach of swords and was moving its arms in gestures that implied that it was a spell-caster. Its yellow skin turned grey. Stoneskin. The sword thrown by Spike struck an instant too late and bounced off. Viconia called out to Shar and gestured. A column of flame lashed down and enveloped the snake creature.

Nalia's attention was on the same opponent. She extended a hand and began to chant. Suddenly the magic words turned into a cry of agony. A halfling appeared behind her. He had approached invisibly and had stabbed Nalia in the back with a strangely shaped dagger. Nalia's eyes rolled up and she slumped to the ground.

Giles thrust out with his staff, extending its spear-blade as he went, and he caught the halfling as much by surprise as the little assassin had caught Nalia. The halfling shrieked in pain as the blade pierced through the muscle of his shoulder until it bit into the bone. He jerked away and then ran with eye-baffling speed, evading Giles' second thrust with ease, and streaked across the room out of harm's way. 'A Haste spell', Giles thought. He hesitated for a second, unsure of whether it would be best to aid Nalia or to unsling his guitar and use Bard magic to neutralize the speed of the deadly halfling, and the remaining human advanced to attack him before he could take action. Viconia rushed to help the badly wounded Nalia. Giles breathed a sigh of relief as he saw her actions and then concentrated his attention on his sword-wielding opponent.

Korgan's opponent was bleeding heavily from a deep axe wound but still managed to raise high an ornate wand. A pillar of flame seared down to strike Korgan. The dwarf ignored it and struck again. "Ach, ye lang sleekit scunner," he growled. Tendrils of evil-smelling smoke arose from Korgan's face. "Ah'll larn ye tae singe ma beard!"

The halfling paused once out of reach and used his uninjured arm to pull a potion bottle from a belt pouch. Before he could drink from it he was felled by a corpse thrown by Spike. The vampire was upon the halfling before he could regain his feet.

The yuan-ti mage recovered from the effects of Viconia's Flame Strike and cast a spell of his own. It had no effect. His hideous reptilian jaw dropped in obvious surprise. Then Yoshimo fell on him with katana blows that failed to penetrate the Stoneskin but kept the mage off balance.

Sorkatani slew the enemy leader and headed for the mage. She lashed out with Celestial Fury in a backhand blow as she passed Giles' opponent and struck his head from his shoulders. A moment later she was at the mage and raining down blows upon it. Her second strike activated Celestial Fury's power of shock and the mage froze in place, stunned, as the barrage of impacts whittled away at the spell's protective power. Korgan had hacked his opponent to pieces and he joined Sorkatani and Yoshimo. The spell failed and the yuan-ti mage perished.

Sorkatani flicked the blood from Celestial Fury and twirled it into the scabbard. She looked to Nalia, who was already sitting up under Viconia's care, and then at the dwarf. Her eyebrows shot upwards. "Korgan, your beard is on fire."

"Jings, sae it is!" he exclaimed. He smothered the flames with gauntleted hands. "Ah weel, a wee spell or a quaff of a potion an' ah'll be richt as rain. Let's see whit loot yon buggers hae aboot their persons, lassie."

The gnome who had been cowering at the far side of the chamber stood up and approached the Perfect Warrior. "I thank you, my Lady, for your timely rescue," he addressed her. "I fear that it will only be a temporary respite, alas, but I am grateful nonetheless. I am afraid that I gave little thought as to what I would do after I removed my collar."

"Temporary respite?" Giles frowned. That sounded ominous.

"Your collar? What do you mean?" Sorkatani asked. Her brows descended in a frown that matched that of Giles. She looked at the bodies of the three fallen humans. Those slain by Spike wore collars around their necks. Another collar lay beside the body of the man whose head she had removed.

"Thrall collars," the gnome explained. "All prisoners in this place must wear them. They take away our will and we must helplessly obey the commands of the guards. Mine was flawed and I managed to remove it. I was being punished for that action when you arrived."

"Then we have slain those who were not our enemies. A shame, but I doubt that it could have been avoided." Sorkatani glanced along a corridor that led away from the chamber. "I wonder if Raelis Shai and her group have been fitted with such collars yet? I saw them being led away and they did not seem to be resisting. They did not reply when I called out to them."

"You are friends of the actors? You are lucky that they were not also set upon you so that you would have been forced to slay them," the gnome said. "Yes, they have been given collars. To rescue them will be hard. Perhaps impossible."

Sorkatani tilted her head to one side. "I suspect that our journey home will be impossible without the planar gem." She gestured towards the swirling nothingness that had replaced the portal through which they had entered. "We rescue them or we stay here."

"Ah, where is 'here'?" Giles asked. "I take it that we are not in the city of Sigil from which Raelis Shai fled to Earth – I mean, to Faerun?"

The gnome shook his head. "This is the Prison of the Planes," he said, "and none have ever escaped."

"Yeah, well, there's always a first time," Spike said. He bent down and began to search the corpse of the halfling assassin.

"Indeed," Giles said. "I might be able to tip the odds in our favor somewhat, I think. Tonight," he said, releasing the staff-spear with one hand and patting his guitar, "there's gonna be a jail-break."

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"I think we might have a problem, dude," Jonathan said. Warren didn't react. He stayed still staring at his own monitor. "Uh, Warren? Do you copy, dude?"

"Uh, whazzat?" Warren turned his head. A huge grin lit up his face. "She e-mailed me. Katrina actually e-mailed me."

"She did? And I'm guessing that it wasn't just to tell you to drop dead, huh? Hey, that's cool. Are you, uh, dating again?"

Warren's grin faded slightly. "Well, not as such. But she says that I can meet her for a coffee when she's in Sunnydale next, maybe two or three weeks from now." The grin returned. "Hey, her not wanting me dead is an improvement, right?"

"Yeah, that's great, man." Jonathan smiled briefly but then returned to his original topic. "We have a problem, Warren. The sort that's gonna cost money to fix."

Warren lost the grin. "What's up, doc?"

"Well, the Autosave when they went into the Planar Prison hung for ages," Jonathan explained. "I thought for a while that it wasn't gonna work, but it saved eventually. So then I did a save after the first fight, and that hung too, and I shut down and checked out the game." He pursed his lips. "The disk is pretty near full. I deleted temporary files, uninstalled all the other programs on the machine, everything I could think of, and I only made it up to three point four gigs of free space. The game's growing like, well, like a Tribble colony. We need a bigger hard disk."

Warren grimaced. "It's frigging sixty gigs, man. They don't come much bigger. Not that we can afford, anyway." He bit his bottom lip. "There's a seventy-three gig one just out. But how long is that gonna last? I'll have to get it to run from two hard drives." He nodded to himself. "That'd be a bitch with the straight game, but this thing should be smart enough to cope. Yeah, I think I can rig it. Maybe if I get it to read from the second disk after they set off for Spellhold, in the chapter break, that should work. Yeah."

Jonathan frowned. "Uh, Warren, you've probably already thought of this, but, uh, how big is the Pirate game?"

Warren's jaw dropped. "Crap! I never thought of that. If it's bigger than a DVD can hold then we're in deep shit. It would never sell." He turned back to his own PC, gazed briefly at the e-mail from Katrina, and then reluctantly closed it and began investigating file sizes. He heaved a deep sigh. "We're okay. It's big, but not too big. There'll be plenty of room to fit the rest of the stuff on, even a music track, and still fit it onto a DVD."

"What about the BG mod?" Jonathan asked.

"Oh, that's gonna be way smaller than the game with Buffy and Spike in," Warren said airily. He checked out the folders. "Only one point three gigs. No problemo."

"Warren," Jonathan said slowly, "we're not putting that on DVD. It's supposed to go up for download at Balderdash and Planet Baldur's Gate. Nobody's gonna download a one point three gig file, man, not unless they know in advance that it's really good. On dial-up it would take, like, about a year. And it only goes as far as Spellhold. How big is it gonna be with the Underdark and Suldanessellar and that stuff on?"

Warren's mouth turned down at the corners as Jonathan spoke. "Oh, shit. Yeah. You're right, dude. So much for getting a big rep out of it." His brow furrowed for a moment. "No, wait, we're okay. I can break it up into sections. Maybe I should get on with that now. I don't need to wait until the real thing gets all the way through. I can start straight away. I'm stuck on the Pirate game until Andrew finishes that last rewrite."

"Don't forget about the hard drive thing," Jonathan reminded him.

"I won't. You can get by with the available free space for a while, right?"

"I guess," Jonathan said. "They should be sticking around town for a little while after the guys get out of the prison. Giles is gonna do a concert with Viconia and Korgan."

"I wonder if Joan and the guys would like to see that," Warren mused. "Rupert would, for sure. Hey, pause when they get near to it, dude, and I'll give the guys a call."

"Sure thing," Jonathan promised. "It should be a great gig. It's just a shame they don't have a trumpeter."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

Nalia laid aside the knife that had been used to stab her in the back. "The enchantments to enhance the edge are as great as those upon Buffy's Blade of Roses," she announced, "and it also carries an enchantment to produce sleep. A powerful weapon for its size. Yet its shape is strange and I would deem it difficult to wield."

"It's not that hard," Spike said. "Seen knives like this before, in France. Come from North Africa, I think. They look like they'd be crap for throwing but, if you know the trick, they're not bad."

"And do you know that trick?" Sorkatani asked.

"Yeah, I can handle one," Spike said. "Only thing is, it's a bugger of a shape for wearing at your belt. Don't fancy using it long-term. I vote I carry it around in here and then we flog it when we get back to town. Everybody okay with that?" There were no dissenting voices. Spike went on to hand Nalia a pair of boots. "Check these out, luv, would you? All the halflings I've seen around go barefoot, 'cept for that Mazzy bird, and the little bugger who was wearing these was zipping around like Speedy Gonzales. Could be cause and effect."

"You suspect, then, that they are Boots of Speed?" Nalia accepted the boots and examined them. "You are correct, Spike. They do indeed bear that enchantment."

"They would be of little benefit to you, Spike," Sorkatani said. "You can run almost as fast without them. Viconia and I are also fast runners. I suggest that they go either to Giles or to Nalia, to help them to stay clear of the fray the better to cast spells, or else to Korgan that he may charge into the fight at great speed."

"Aye, that'd be richt braw," Korgan said. His eyes seemed to light up as he gazed upon the boots.

"I don't think that they're quite my thing," Giles said. "Somehow I don't think that racing around like a mad thing whilst I am performing is quite my style."

"News that will gladden Jaheira's heart, I am sure," Viconia commented. Spike choked back a laugh.

"The boots would be of use to me," Nalia said. "Perhaps the good dwarf and I should draw straws?"

Korgan raised a flat hand to shade his brows and peered around the room in a theatrical fashion. "Ah'm lookin' for the guid dwarf ye mentioned," he said. "Ah'm nae guid, lassie, and dinnae ye forget it."

"Ah, yes, um, ah, I meant that you are a good fighter, of course, Korgan," Nalia explained.

"Aye, ah am that," Korgan agreed. "Aye, ah'll draw straws wi' ye." He glared at her. "An' mah waur luck will run true, ye ken, an' the laird's dochter will aye hae yon boots, an' the puir dwarf will be left wi' naethin', forbye."

"Oh, ah, well, I have these dragon-skin boots," Nalia said. "Perhaps you should have the Boots of Speed after all."

"Do not be so easily swayed, Nalia," Sorkatani put in. "Have we not passed on to Korgan the axe Stonefire, a mighty weapon, and one that comes from your own keep? Draw straws as agreed."

Korgan laughed. "Ah weel, a dwarf maun try," he said. "Ye've braw legs fur the pullin', lassie. Dinnae fash yersel'."

Nalia blushed. "I really don't mind," she said. "The dragon-skin boots offer protection against fire and acid. It would be a shame to abandon them." She hastily moved on to identify another item retrieved from the fallen foes. It was a suit of finely-crafted chain mail taken from the leader of the group that had abducted Raelis Shai and her party. The links were small and closely woven so that the mail seemed almost to resemble cloth. It jingled softly as she handled it.

Nalia's eyebrows climbed high up her brow. "I sense a strong enchantment indeed," she said. She took a fresh drink of the infusion of powdered pearls that were a component of her Identify spell and uttered the incantation once more. "This is quite remarkable. Elvish manufacture, such as I have never seen before. This armor was created for a bard." Giles pricked up his ears. "Melodic Chain," Nalia went on. "As strong as your armor of leather reinforced with Shadow Dragon scales, I deem, and with strange enchantments beyond that. It is designed to resonate with a bard's songs, accompanying them, and strengthening their magic."

"A valuable prize indeed," Sorkatani commented, as a beaming Giles donned the armor. "We are stronger than when we arrived. Let us press on with our mission."

"Not that way," the gnome said, as Sorkatani looked towards the direction in which Raelis Shai had been taken earlier. He gestured towards another exit from the chamber. "If you take that route, and slay the Master of Thralls first, you may be able to break the spell that controls the slave collars. Then the prisoners would aid you against the warden instead of fighting you. He is a cambion, and will be hard to beat even with their aid."

"Just what is a cambion?" Giles put in.

"A demon," Sorkatani told him. "Much more human in appearance than most, but very powerful. A foe most fell. This gnome's suggestion has much merit."

"What about this Master of Thralls geezer?" asked Spike. "I'm guessing he's not gonna be any pushover."

"A tana'ari," the gnome said.

"Also a demon," Sorkatani translated. "Such a one as we fought in the Slavers' house where I won Celestial Fury. I had no weapon then that could pierce its hide."

"He has two pets, fierce wyverns," the gnome went on, "and there is something else. Something invisible that rends its victims limb from limb."

Sorkatani looked at Spike, grinned, and turned back to face the gnome. "That is a game at which two can play."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

"Anomen Delryn? I bring a message from the Most Noble Order of the Radiant Heart."

Anomen glanced aside at Buffy, swallowed, and then returned his attention to the messenger. "Is it, then, time for my test of knighthood?"

"It is," the messenger confirmed. "You are to present yourself to Sir Ryan Trawl at the High Hall of the Order at the earliest possible opportunity. It is permitted for your companions to accompany you."

Anomen turned to Buffy and took hold of her hand. "Buffy, my dear," he said, "wouldst thou come with me to the High Hall for my test? Your shining example has been my inspiration in all things and it is by thinking of what you would do that I hope to succeed in my trials. Your presence would be a great comfort and support to me and nothing could give me greater pleasure than if you would permit me to wear your favor."

"Of course, Anomen," Buffy said. She squeezed his hand gently. "I'd love to come."

A few yards away Tara mimed sticking her fingers down her throat. "Can I say 'cheesy lines'?" she whispered to Willow.

"Can you ever?" Willow agreed. "But at least he says something. Yoshimo could take lessons, 'cause even cheesy lines are better than just making with the sheep's eyes and following Tani around, you know?"

"He could take better lessons than that," Tara said. "Maybe we could give him some pointers? Or Spike could, I guess, and we could give some to Tani."

"Except that Spike has gotten absolutely nowhere with Buffy," Willow pointed out. "I guess a heartbeat counts for a whole lot."

The messenger had moved away from Anomen and he addressed Xander. "Xander Harris?"

"Yeah, that's me."

"Sir Ryan Trawl of the Most Noble Order of the Radiant Heart desires interview with you on the matter of your prospective knighthood. He bids you call upon him at the High Hall of the Order at your earliest convenience. If you would be so good as to accompany Anomen Delryn this would be ideal."

"Uh, yeah. Prospective knighthood? You mean it?"

"Why, certainly. Word of your exploits has reached our ears and it seems clear that you are indeed a paladin, for you wield the holy weapon Carsomyr, and yet you have no title. The Order intends to rectify that matter, subject to you proving worthy, and that will be a mere formality as the sword itself will not suffer the unworthy to bear it."

"Hey, way cool! Sir Xander. Wow. Hey, if Giles has to call me 'Sir Xander' that will be a total blast."

"Does that mean that I will be a Lady when we are married?" Anya asked. "And when are we going to get married anyway?"

"So, are we all going to go to the Radiant Heart place?" Buffy asked the group.

"I dunno, Buff, maybe some of us should stay here and wait for the others," Willow said.

"I shall stay," Jaheira volunteered. "Giles and Tani will no doubt be here before long."

"I guess," Buffy said. "Although, don't hold your breath. Giles kinda loses track of time when he's settled down with a moldy old book in a stuffy old library."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

The wyvern's sting struck just above the gorget of Viconia's armor and pierced deep into her neck. She dropped her mace and flail and staggered backwards. She clutched at her throat with both hands and tried to utter the words of a healing spell but only choked. Her throat was swelling and she couldn't breathe. Her eyes opened wide in a mute appeal for aid and she collapsed to the ground.

Sorkatani and Spike were locked in desperate battle with the Master of Thralls. Nalia had been stunned by the tana'ari's magical gaze and stood immobile gazing into the distance with vacant eyes. Yoshimo fought the other wyvern. It had been severely weakened by a Cloudkill spell but was still attacking ferociously. Korgan flailed with his axe at an invisible opponent, an air elemental, which was bludgeoning him with fists of solid air. Giles was the only unengaged member of the party. He was playing 'I can see clearly now' in the hope that it would enable them to see the invisible elemental but he abandoned the song as he saw Viconia fall.

Giles dropped his guitar and snatched up the staff-spear. "Viconia's down!" he shouted, and he charged towards the wyvern. It opened its jaws and lowered its head to bite the helpless drow. Giles thrust out with the staff and jabbed the blade into the side of the wyvern's neck. It hissed, raised its head, and lashed out at him with the sting at the end of its tail.

"Ah see ye the noo, ye greet gust 'o wind," Korgan cried gleefully. He struck out with a new accuracy and the air elemental recoiled.

Sorkatani heard Giles' cry and cast a quick glance over her shoulder. "Spike!" she began, intending to ask him to hold off the Master of Thralls so that she could try to save Viconia, but he misunderstood. He whirled around and threw the assassin's knife at the wyvern. It pierced the scales of the beast's neck but the enchantments of sleep had no effect.

Spike was on the move even before the knife hit. He raced across to where Viconia lay. He was in game face, snarling ferociously, and he laid into the wyvern with an irresistible fury. His sword bit deep into its neck and it roared in pain. Spike struck again with every ounce of his strength and pierced its skull. The creature's wings furled up and its legs buckled. Spike hit it again and it toppled. Spike snatched Viconia out from under it as it fell.

"Fuck! She's not breathing!" Spike gasped. He clamped his lips over hers and tried to force air into her lungs. Her swollen throat frustrated his efforts.

Giles retrieved his guitar. "I'll see to her. Help Yoshimo," he said to Spike, and he strummed a chord. "_Breathing_," he sang, choosing a part of Kate Bush's song by that name that did not deal with the main theme of nuclear apocalypse and death, "_Out, in, out, in, out, in… Breathing_."

Spike pulled the assassin's dagger out of the wyvern's body. His arm blurred and the weapon streaked across the chamber. His aim was perfect. The knife hit dead center of the reptile's eye and it shrieked and reared up high. Yoshimo drove home his katana into its exposed belly and jumped clear as it toppled.

"Sorted," Spike said, starting to turn back to Viconia, and then his lips drew back from his teeth. "Shit! Tani!" He took off like a sprinter but knew that he would arrive too late.

The tana'ari had four arms with which to fight. It caught hold of Sorkatani's right arm with one claw. As she brought her left across to try to free itself it seized that arm too. The demon's eyes gleamed as it opened its fanged maw to bite off her head.

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

"Arise, Sir Anomen," Sir Ryan Trawl declared. "Arise, Sir Xander."

The two new knights rose from their knees and thanked the Commander of the Order. Anomen made straight for Buffy. "At last I am created knight," he said. "The day for which I have longed for years is here at last. Rejoice with me!"

"That's wonderful, Anomen. Sir Anomen," Buffy said. "Do you get any, like, cool new powers?"

Anomen tilted his head to one side and frowned. "I know not. Ah, indeed, I feel a renewed sense of power. I believe that I shall gain access to more spells, for I have risen in Helm's favor."

"Way cool," Buffy enthused. "Uh, party time?"

"Some modest celebration would be in order," Anomen agreed. "I crave a boon, my Lady. Grant me a kiss in honor of this occasion."

Willow and Tara exchanged eye-rolls. Buffy's gaze was directed at the rather severe countenance of Sir Ryan Trawl and she missed her friends' expressions. "Uh, yeah, sure, but not here," she said. "In a little while, 'kay?"

"Sir Xander," the senior paladin addressed the new knight, "there is a small matter in which you could be of great service to the Order."

Xander and Anya exchanged looks in which the unspoken words 'I knew there'd be a catch to this' were implicit. Xander shrugged his shoulders. "Okay, what do you want me to do?"

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

Sorkatani's foot lashed up. She caught the tana'ari under the chin with force enough to have killed a human outright. Even the powerful demon was rocked back on its feet by the impact and its grip on her arms slackened. Sorkatani pulled free her right arm, seemingly with ease, and slashed Celestial Fury across the limb that held her left arm pinioned. Spike and Yoshimo arrived at that point but their aid was unnecessary. Sorkatani swept aside the tana'ari's defenses with her left hand sword and smote to the head with Celestial Fury. The demon's skull spilt apart and it dropped like a stone.

Sorkatani turned away from the fallen Master of Thralls and looked around. The wyverns were dead. Korgan had destroyed the air elemental, once able to see it, although he had taken a beating in the process. Nalia was still stunned but the effects would wear off in time. It was Viconia whose case was urgent and Sorkatani ran to her. Spike followed at her heels although there was little that he could do to help.

Giles' song seemed to have helped a little. Viconia was breathing, shallow rasping breaths that provided only barely enough oxygen to her lungs, but she was unconscious and her skin was changing hue as the poison spread through her system. Sorkatani crouched, laid her hands upon Viconia's brow, and cast two spells in quick succession.

Viconia's eyes opened. "Jabbress," she croaked. "I thought I would die."

"I have only slowed the venom," Sorkatani warned her. "You must cure yourself."

"I shall, now that I can speak." Viconia chanted the words of a Neutralize Poison spell and sat up. "We have won, then?"

"This battle, at least," Sorkatani told her.

"I think we have the key to our release," Yoshimo announced. He brandished an orb that he had retrieved from the body of the Master of Thralls. "If I am not mistaken this is the controller of the collars. We shall have to fight only guards from now on and not fellow prisoners."

"You okay, Vicky?" Spike asked.

"I need yet more healing, but I can manage that for myself," Viconia replied. She fixed her gaze on his face. "You came to aid me. I was fading but I saw. And I felt your lips."

"Was worried about you," Spike admitted. "Not that I did much. Giles kept you breathing." He shook his head. "And I left Tani in the lurch. Sorry, Jabbress. Thought I'd really dropped you in it there. In a real pickle. Dunno how you got free."

"I drew upon the power of Bhaal," Sorkatani admitted. "I do not like to do so except in the direst need but, when I do, then I am stronger perhaps even than Buffy." She stood up. "We should not waste it. The power will not last for long. Let us strike while the iron is hot. We can examine the weapons that we have taken later, once the warden has been destroyed."

"Nalia is still – ah, she's moving again," said Giles. "Very well, then, to the furnace to destroy the thrall controller and then," he blasted out several power chords, "_Tonight there's gonna be a jailbreak, somewhere in this town. See me and the boys we don't like it, so we're getting up and going down_."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

"You have known us for such a short time and yet you have bought our freedom with blood and at the risk of your own," Raelis Shai said. "My child, it is a debt that we can never repay."

Sorkatani lowered her head slightly. "I said that I would protect you from whatever came through the conduit," she said. "I keep my word, or try to, always."

"Nevertheless you have gone far beyond what anyone could have expected," Raelis Shai said. "The deeds to the playhouse are but poor recompense for such efforts, but we have little else to offer."

"We have gained treasure enough from our fallen foes," Sorkatani assured her. "Return us to Athkatla and all shall be repaid."

Korgan squinted up at Raelis Shai and muttered to Spike under his breath, "Thot's aye easy fur the lassie tae say. Mahsel', ah'd nae hae turned doon a wee blaw job."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

"So your quiet time in the library didn't turn out so quiet, huh?" Buffy grinned at Sorkatani.

"Indeed," Sorkatani said. "But we gained weapons and armor of great value from our adventure. The chain mail that Giles is wearing most of all, I think, but the Staff of Air is of no small worth either and nor is the sword Adjatha the Drinker."

"We did okay too," Buffy said. "A much better scimitar for Jaheira and a magical club that she's totally thrilled with, a cool staff, and some other neat stuff. And hey, another day or two and Cromwell will have finished all the dragon skin armor." She paused to sip at her goblet of wine. "Hey, maybe we can take a couple of days off and just hang out."

"That would be pleasant," Sorkatani agreed. "I sense that soon we will be as prepared for Imoen's rescue as we can be. There is a sword that I would seek out, and a ring, and we should investigate Valygar's Planar Sphere, but then I shall approach Gaelen Bayle and ask him to set us on the way to Spellhold."

"Yeah. But for now let's just enjoy the moment, okay? Giles is gonna do his big concert thing. No more adventuring until after that." Buffy sipped at her wine once more. "Once in a while a girl just wants to have fun."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

"I must confess that I feel rather nervous on my other self's behalf," Rupert said. "It does seem to be something of a step up from playing at the Espresso Pump."

"Yeah, well, it's not like the crowd in Medieval Land have seen the Beatles or the Stones," Randy said.

"True," Rupert agreed, "but his backing group is something of an unknown quantity."

"They were a big hit when it was just Giles and his guitar with some guest vocals from Spike and Tara," Jonathan reminded them.

"Hey, hush up," Joan said. "It's starting."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

An exploration of the store rooms at the playhouse had revealed a set of drums that was probably as close as this world could get to a proper drum kit. Korgan had fallen upon them with glee and the final rehearsals had, in Giles' opinion, been very successful. For all that he was still nervous as the time came to begin. The house was full to capacity. A poor performance would wreck his reputation in Athkatla probably beyond recovery. Giles drained a glass of water and strode out onto the stage.

As the opening number he had chosen one of his all-time favorites. It was a shame that they had no bass guitar, of course, but the audience wouldn't miss what they didn't know. And, while he might be no Eric Clapton, and Korgan was no Ginger Baker, it had sounded rather good in rehearsal. Giles struck the opening note, Korgan thundered out a roll of drums, and they were off.

"_In a white room with black curtains near the station.  
Black roof country, no gold pavements, tired starlings.  
Silver horses ran down moonbeams in your dark eyes.  
Dawn light smiles on you leaving, my contentment…_"

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

Rupert raised his eyebrows and nodded. "That really is rather good," he commented.

"Not too bad," Randy conceded. "For a middle-aged rocker." He tilted his head to one side. "See the black elf bint is joining them. Smart bit of talent." He sensed Joan's eyes on him. "For an inch-high computer graphic, that is."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

Spike was watching from the side of the stage. He expected 'Sunshine on a Rainy Day' and was taken by surprise when Korgan began a repetitive thumping beat and Giles twanged out a Lindsey Buckingham riff. Viconia sang in a sultry voice that almost matched that of Stevie Nicks.

"_Listen to the wind blow  
Watch the sun rise  
Run in the shadows  
Damn your love  
Damn your lies_

_And if you don't love me now  
You will never love me again  
I can still hear you saying  
You would never break the chain…_"

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

Giles was determined to make this a show worthy of the name. There had not been time to rehearse a great many songs with Korgan and Viconia, and so he sang accompanied only by his guitar on over half the numbers, but all went down well. Songs from the repertoires of Led Zeppelin, Jethro Tull, Chicken Shack, the Moody Blues, Peter Green's Fleetwood Mac, Ian Drury and the Blockheads, The Who, The Byrds, Rush, Cheap Trick, and Joni Mitchell. He brought on Tara to do 'Sweet Home Alabama' once more, gave Spike the lead on 'Rebel Yell' but with drum accompaniment on this occasion, and showcased Viconia again on 'All Tomorrow's Parties'.

After a solo rendition of Rod Stewart's 'Mandolin Wind' it was time for the finale. Korgan sat at the drums and began tapping out the rhythm. Giles strummed out the opening chords. The two men kept this up for nearly a minute before Viconia walked out from the wings.

She had abandoned all attempts to disguise her race. Her face was unveiled, her white hair hung loose, and her robes left her dark-skinned midriff bare. A star sapphire gleamed in her navel. Her arms rose as if they were floating as she stepped lightly across the stage, twisting and turning, her hips swaying with the rhythm.

"_I see you in the darkness  
I see you in the light  
I see your eyes shining  
In through the night  
Make me feel, make me feel  
Like I belong  
Don't leave me, you won't leave me here  
All alone_

_Cast your eyes  
Like summer skies  
Blue earth and the ocean  
Clearer than the skies, yeah!_

_Sunshine on a rainy day_

_Makes my soul, makes my soul trip, trip, trip away  
Sunshine on a rainy day_

_Makes my soul, makes my soul trip, trip, trip away…_"

She was singing to Spike. She faced the audience for most of the song, but her eyes strayed constantly to where he sat in the wings. Every swivel of her hips, every time her tongue licked across her lips, was aimed at him.

And it worked.

Viconia left the stage after the final bows and made her way to Spike's side. "I felt your eyes upon me, Spike," she told him. "You desire me. I know this."

"Won't deny it," Spike admitted, "but you're still wasting your time. Not gonna lay a finger on you, pet. Being burned doesn't appeal to me."

Viconia reached out and touched him lightly on the arm. "Spike," she said, her voice gentler than he had ever heard it, "I would not burn you. I would not use you for a moment's pleasure and then cast you aside. I desire you, that is true, but you are also a true abbil. I take pleasure in the sound of your voice, in the things you say, the way you make me laugh, and I do not wish to lose those. Yet can we not have both? Share a bed and wake in the morning as abbin still? Would this not be appealing to you also?" She lowered her eyes. "I know not if what I feel for you is what the rivvin call 'love', for such is rare indeed among the drow. But I have never felt like this for a male before. I offer myself to you. Do not reject me."

Spike put his hand on hers and stared into her eyes. "No-one's ever said anything like that to me before," he said. He took a step closer to her so that he was almost pressed up against her body. "Better not be jerking my chain, love. Couldn't stand it."

"I jerk no chain, Spike," Viconia said. "I speak as I feel." She ran her tongue lightly over her parted lips. "I want you to want me. I need you to need me. I'd love you to love me."

Spike laughed gently. "Got quite a memory for lyrics there, pet." He touched his fingers to her cheek. "You mean it? Bloody hell. And it's not like Buffy even gives a toss. Must be an idiot to have turned you down in the first place. Bloody gorgeous, you are. Oh, sod it." He groaned and pulled Viconia to him. His lips fastened on hers. Her arms went around his shoulders and pulled him closer.

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

Joan glared at the screen. She glanced around, saw that no-one else was watching at that moment, and clicked on Buffy's icon. The scene changed. Buffy was sitting on Anomen's lap and his arm was around her.

Joan's expression didn't change. She clicked on Sorkatani and found herself watching a stilted conversation between the warrior maiden and Yoshimo, full of tentative glances and unvoiced sentiments, with nothing overt being said at all. She moved away from the PC and waited her chance to catch Warren alone.

She took his arm and guided him away from the others. "The game is all wrong," she told him. "You have to put it right."

Warren stared at her and a crease appeared between his eyebrows. "Wrong? I don't get it. Which game?"

"The Baldur's Gate thing," Joan told him. "The other me. Buffy. And Spike."

"What's wrong with it?"

Joan's lips were a tight line across her face. "Buffy is with that Amon Hen guy. Spike is making out with that dark elf ho. It's not right. She is me and Spike is Randy. They should be together."

"I got to admit I don't get the Buffy and Anomen thing," Warren admitted. "He's, like, totally dull. And a bit of a jerk. But Viconia's a hot chick."

Joan flushed. "I don't care. It's wrong. Put it right."

"I don't know if I can," Warren said. "I looked at them in Shadowkeeper and the LoveTalk variables just aren't there any more. They're making their own decisions, and that includes the game characters. If Spike and Viconia have gotten together there isn't anything that I can do about it."

"Yes there is," Joan insisted. "You can get rid of her. And Amon Hen."

Warren's frown deepened. "Get rid of them? What do you mean?"

"You owe me," Joan reminded him. "The birthday party, Katrina, remember? You owe me. And it's not like they're real. They're just made up. Pretend people in a computer. You can get rid of them."

Warren's eyes widened. "You don't – you can't mean – get rid of them? No. I can't."

"Yes you can." Joan's eyes were cold. "Kill them."

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Disclaimer: the characters in this story do not belong to me, but are being used for amusement only and all rights remain with Joss Whedon, Mutant Enemy, the writers of the original episodes, and the TV and production companies responsible for the original television shows. BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER (c) 2002 Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation. All Rights Reserved. The Buffy the Vampire Slayer trademark is used without express permission from Fox. I don't know who currently owns the copyright to Bioware's game 'Baldur's Gate 2: Shadows of Amn', but it isn't me, and characters and dialogue extracts are used without permission and with no intent to profit from their use. Lyrics performed by Rupert Giles in this chapter are taken from 'Jailbreak' by Thin Lizzy, 'Breathing' by Kate Bush, and 'White Room' by Cream. Lyrics sung by Viconia are from 'The Chain' by Fleetwood Mac and 'Sunshine on a Rainy Day' by Zoë.


	35. Chapter 35

**Chapter Thirty-five**

Jaheira smiled as Viconia joined her at the table where she broke her fast. The drow girl wore no armor, her hair was tousled, and her eyelids drooped.

"You seem wearier than before you went to bed," Jaheira observed. "Did you find pleasure in Spike's arms?"

Viconia lowered herself carefully into the chair. "Pleasure is but a poor word for the rapture that I experienced," she said. "It was as if I was unmade and made again. I have known the attentions of pleasure slaves, who knew that they would taste the lash if they did not give me satisfaction, yet their efforts were as naught compared to what Spike did only out of desire to give me joy. In return I sought to please him, more assiduously than any ssins d'aerth*, and in so doing I felt great delight. Truly is it said 'l'alurl faerbol zhah mrann d'ssinss'*, for to have him sheathed within me was better by far than had I been presented with a Girdle of Storm Giant Strength."

"I could almost feel envy," Jaheira commented, "but Spike does not inspire feelings of desire within me. A friend, yes, but I would not wish for more."

"Your attentions are directed elsewhere, I know," Viconia said. She reached out for a piece of fruit. "Giles is not unpleasing to the eye, and is most pleasing to the ear, but I find Spike much more to my taste." She paused with the fruit halfway to her lips and sighed. "When he tilts his head to one side and runs his tongue across the tip of his teeth it sets a flame in my loins. Rather would I see that look upon his face, and know that it was directed at me, than see the city of Menzoberranzan before me and know that it was mine to rule." She bit into the fruit and chewed.

"You love him, then?" Jaheira queried.

Viconia's forehead creased. "Love is not an emotion with which I am familiar. I can with certainty say only that I feel affection towards him as well as lust. Great affection and much lust." The creases faded and a smile came to her lips. "My vithanna obsul is bruised and swollen and yet even now I yearn to feel him within me once more."

"Have you then worn him out?" Jaheira asked.

"He sleeps," Viconia confirmed, "and yet he rises at the merest touch. I left the bed that I might preserve some vestige of control and not surrender myself totally to him. Also," she helped herself to a second piece of fruit, "I hunger greatly for food." She ate the morsel and then resumed the conversation. "And you?" she asked. "Did you take Giles to your bed last night?"

"I did not," Jaheira replied. "We but talked. He told me of his world, of the woman he loved there who was cruelly slain, and of many marvels that can be found there. In return I recounted to him some tales of the history of this world with which he was not familiar. I would have taken him to bed had he shown such desire," she confessed, "but the time was not right. Yet we did share a kiss before parting and it filled me with yearning. I am smitten indeed. I worry, however, that he does not feel the same way."

"How could he not, abbil? He may wear lenses of glass to improve his sight but he is not blind."

Jaheira raised her eyebrows and shook her head. "You are kind, abbil, but you flatter me excessively. I am well aware that I am no great beauty. My face may not frighten the horses in the streets but I shall never have men swooning in my wake."

Viconia tilted her head to one side and her eyes narrowed. "Your beauty is not that of a simpering maiden, true, but a man of experience would see it. If you wish my advice, however, the braids do not suit you. A year ago, when you wore your hair loose, you were more appealing to the eye."

Jaheira shrugged. "They are the fashion."

"Not where Giles comes from," Viconia pointed out. "And do we not set our own fashions now? We wear the undergarments called 'bras' created by Anya, and hats of a pattern created by Willow, and half of the jalin of the city now do the same. Let your hair hang loose, abbil, and by this eve Giles shall be running his fingers through it and pulling your mouth to his. And then moving on to… other places."

"Oh, Viconia, you are as bad as Anya," Jaheira said, with a roll of her eyes. "There is more to a relationship than sex."

"True," Viconia conceded, "but it is the best part." She looked around the room. "I take it that Anya and Xander lie yet abed after a night of passion, as usual, but where is everyone else? Does Buffy writhe in simulated ecstasy under Anomen? Has Yoshimo overcome the awe in which he holds our jabbress and paid successful court to her?" Her forehead crinkled. "And has Minsc gone out for a brisk walk, perhaps in the company of Dawn?"

"Your guesses are wide of the mark," Jaheira informed her. "Most of the others have already risen, broken fast, and gone out into the city. Giles will spend the morn at the library of the temple of Oghma. He is not good company when his nose is in a book and I decided not to accompany him. Sorkatani and Yoshimo have gone with him, as has Nalia. Xander has a task to perform for the Order of the Radiant Heart and has gone to their headquarters in the company of Anya, Buffy, and Anomen. Willow and Tara have gone shopping and Dawn went with them."

"Where, then, is Minsc?" Viconia enquired.

"He lies yet abed after a night of passion," Jaheira replied, her eyes twinkling.

"You jest, surely?" Viconia shook her head. "His heart is given only to his hamster."

"Listen to my tale. There was romance in the air yester eve, following Giles' performance," Jaheira said, "or perhaps merely lust."

"Sex and drugs and rock and roll, as Giles would put it," Viconia commented.

"Indeed. Although there was no indulging in the stupor of Black Lotus as far as I know," Jaheira said. "But sex, yes. Korgan retired to his room with a pair of halfling maidens and they are there yet." Her nose wrinkled. "Foolish girls. The attraction can only have been the music."

"The hargluk is lewd of manner, devoid of courtesy, and has warts upon his face," Viconia agreed. "He is a skilled performer upon the drums, however, and played his part well last night."

Jaheira grimaced. "I prefer not to think about it. I will move on to the others. Buffy and Anomen were engrossed in each other, of course, but I do not know if they spent the night together or apart. They were breaking fast when I arose." The twinkle returned to her eyes. "Ensure that you have neither food nor coffee in your mouth, for I have news that will surprise you greatly."

"Indeed?" Viconia's eyebrows rose.

"I was not jesting when I spoke of Minsc's night of passion. He did not spend the night alone," Jaheira revealed, "and I do not refer to Boo."

"Usstan orn tlu vithus!"* Viconia exclaimed in surprise.

Jaheira gave her a dry smile. "You already have been."

Viconia laughed. "Your knowledge of the drow language improves, abbil. Go on. Who was it? Not one of our party, I think?"

"True. A waitress of this establishment set her cap at him and our ranger succumbed to her charms. And ample charms they are too."

"The retlahgoruth one with the big arlyuren?" Viconia cupped her hands in front of her breasts. "Spike commented favorably upon her… assets… and I was displeased. It is good that her attentions are directed elsewhere. And I am pleased for Minsc. I have grown fond of the big waeles. It is not good for a jaluk to be intimate only with a hamster."

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Jonathan whistled. "Man, that Viconia is one hot chick," he commented. "It looks like we missed some hot action last night. Although, looking in on them doesn't seem right these days, you know? Like, they're people we know, so it would be kinda, well, creepy. Not like watching porn."

"I get what you mean," Warren agreed. "I'm good with letting what they do behind closed doors stay behind closed doors." He bit his lip. "Uh, how much of a real person would you say Viconia is these days?"

"Like, totally real," Jonathan said. "Just listen to her, dude. We could be listening in to a couple of the girls on campus talking about guys and it wouldn't be that much different. Well, apart from the drow bits, and the hamster."

Warren chuckled and then his face turned serious again. "So, she'd pass the Turing Test?"

Jonathan's eyes rolled. "Like there was any doubt?" He twitched his mouth from side to side and looked up at the ceiling. "I would kinda like to go in there and talk to them myself, you know. I'd do it for real only I'm worried about what would happen to my body while I was in there. I mean, if I woke up, and Amnesia Me ended up as, like, a different person the way Joan and Randy and Rupert and the guys have. And it's a dangerous world in there and I don't know if I'd cut it with just my magic bone. But it would be cool."

Warren nodded. "Yeah. Uh, maybe if we could keep your body sedated?" He shook his head. "No, bad idea. But you agree that she's a real person?"

A deep crease appeared between Jonathan's eyebrows. "Well, duh. Totally real. I don't get how the magic has worked that way, it's way more than we expected, but you can't deny that it has. What's with the question, dude?"

Warren shifted in his seat. "Joan doesn't think the game characters are real people," he said.

"Like what's that got to do with anything?" Jonathan shook his head. "Some people think the Apollo moon landings were faked. I would have thought that Joan was smarter than that, but hey, I guess she hasn't seen that much of the characters compared to us. If she'd seen them talking just now she'd have changed her mind. But so what, anyway? What does it matter if she thinks they're real people or not?"

"She…" Warren began, but his voice trailed off without completing the statement. Jonathan tilted his head to one side and looked at Warren with his eyebrows raised. Warren clenched his teeth and squirmed. "I guess it's kind of a secret."

Jonathan's eyebrows remained raised. "If it's to do with the game world I don't see how it can be any kind of secret between you and Joan," he pointed out. "It's nothing to do with her. Well, apart from her original memories being in there, I guess, but she says that she doesn't want them back. The game world is all ours. I did the spells, you did the code, and Andrew summoned the imp that sniffed out the crystal for us. What's it got to do with her?"

"She's unhappy about Spike and Buffy not being a couple in there," Warren revealed. "Uh, she thinks it's kinda wrong."

"So? What does she expect you to do about it?"

Warren's mouth twisted. "She kinda wants me to fix it."

"Fix it? Fix what? I don't get what you mean. Get them together? There aren't any LoveTalk variables for Spike and Buffy that we could change with Shadowkeeper. Everything like that is all grayed out or gone completely. There's not a damn thing that we can do to change anything." Jonathan's eyes narrowed. "What does she want you to do, Warren? I kinda get the idea that it's something bad."

"She wants me to get rid of Viconia," Warren confessed. "And Anomen. She thinks that maybe Buffy and Spike will get together if the game-world characters aren't around to mess things up."

"Get rid of Viconia? What do you mean, 'get rid of'?" Jonathan's eyes narrowed. "Are you telling me that Joan wants you to, well, kill them?"

Warren shifted his weight from one buttock to the other and looked down at his hands. "Uh, yeah. I guess so. Well, not guessing, 'cause she said it right out. But she doesn't know what she's asking."

"But you told her to go take a hike, right?"

"Not exactly," Warren said. "I, uh, kinda let her think that I would do it."

Jonathan sucked in his breath. "You can't do that! It would be, like, murder."

"I know." Warren's hands came up and fluttered in front of his chest like confused bats. "You don't have to tell me. I know that Viconia's a person now. I don't know how, but she sure is, just as much as anyone who got born the usual way. Only Joan doesn't see it like that. She's not even a gamer. I guess she thinks it's pretty much the same as killing off a character in a TV show. Nobody really gets hurt."

"Yeah, well, it's not the same at all," Jonathan stated. "I won't let you do it, dude." His lips closed in a tight line, his chin jutted forward, and his eyebrows descended low over his eyes.

Warren clasped his hands together. "I'm not gonna do it, man, don't worry. I don't even know how I could. The console commands don't do jack to the party characters these days. I could spawn the Handmaiden of Lolth, 'cause she'd go right after Viconia, I guess, or maybe beam in Keldorn, but she never goes anywhere alone that I've noticed so somebody else would get mixed up in the fight anyway."

"You were thinking about it," Jonathan accused.

Warren sucked in his upper lip and bit it. "Yeah, I thought about it," he admitted. "Joan was pushing pretty hard, and I owe her, and I'm kinda thinking about maybe going to Rupert about a loan, and everything would just be so much easier if Joan's on side." He raised his eyes and met Jonathan's stare straight on. "But I'm not gonna do it."

"I'll hold you to that, dude," Jonathan said.

"Sure thing, man," Warren said. His shoulders slumped. "I don't know that I could even kill Anomen. He's a jerk, yeah, but maybe not so much of a jerk now. I guess Buffy's good for him." He drew in a long breath. "I was thinking maybe, if they died and the others couldn't raise them, we might not reload from a save game. That wouldn't be…" He lowered his eyes to avoid Jonathan's gaze.

A deep crease appeared on Jonathan's forehead and he chewed on his lower lip. He was silent for a long moment before he spoke. "I guess I could live with that," he conceded. "If Buffy – I mean Joan – is pushing you. You're right. It wouldn't be the same."

Warren straightened his shoulders. "It would take the heat off, yeah, and let me stall," he said. "It might never come to it anyway. They've raised all the NPCs who've died so far. Reloading is pretty much a last resort."

"Yeah," Jonathan said. He quirked an eyebrow upwards. "You said something about going to Rupert for a loan. What's with that?"

Andrew walked into the room at that point. He didn't speak and the other two paid him no attention.

"The money's kinda running low," Warren said. "Those extra hard disks and the rest of the upgrades have kinda eaten into our funds. It's not like we're desperate but it would be neat if we had some spare cash. Like, if I get anywhere with Katrina, being able to take her out somewhere nice would be good."

"Yeah," Jonathan agreed. "Uh, I got a date with Lisa at the weekend…"

"Hey, that's great," Warren said. "Don't worry about the money, dude. We'll get by."

"What's that about money?" Andrew asked.

Warren turned. "Oh, hi, dude. Have you finished that rewrite yet?"

"All done," Andrew said. He held out a folder to Jonathan. "Check it out." He frowned at Warren. "The money, dude. Do we have a problem?"

"We're not exactly loaded," Warren said. "Maybe we might have to cut back on the pizzas for a while and spend some time eating with our folks." His mouth twisted. "That means putting up with some bitching about me dropping out of college, I guess, but I can live with that."

"How long will it be before any money comes in from the game?" Andrew frowned and his lips stuck out in a worried pout.

Warren shrugged. "Your guess is as good as mine, dude. Maybe we could get an advance right now, if we took it to the right people, but I think we'd have a better chance if we wait until we get a rep on the Baldur's Gate boards from the mods."

"When can we start uploading?" Jonathan asked.

"Give me a couple of hours," Warren said. "I just need to check out that the WeiDu installer works with them and then do a final bug check."

"Cool." Jonathan grinned. "Then I'll do some pimping on .baldurs-gate and the other BG groups."

"About the money situation…" Andrew said slowly.

"Hey, don't worry about it," Warren said. "We'll get by. Hey, you'll never guess what we just heard. Minsc got laid!"

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Sorkatani laid down a heavy tome and sighed. "This book has told me more about the slaying of liches than I wished to know," she said. "I am confident now that we can destroy the creatures if we make the proper preparations beforehand. Yet I am troubled."

Giles laid down the volume he had been studying and adjusted his glasses. "Troubled? In what way?"

"Beings of great evil they may be, who abandoned their humanity in favor of undeath," Sorkatani said, "and yet, if they stay within their crypts and harm no one, is it right that I should seek them out and slay them?"

"Hmm. I'd never thought about it from that angle," Giles said. His brow furrowed. He removed his glasses. "I must admit the moral aspect has me somewhat perplexed. On the other hand spending eternity alone in a crypt doesn't seem like much of an unlife to me. Slaying such a reclusive lich might count as a mercy killing."

"True," Sorkatani agreed. "I think that I shall try to obtain the sword Daystar without conflict nonetheless. I have no great hopes that negotiation would be fruitful but perhaps stealth may serve."

"I am willing to try," Yoshimo offered. "I have the Cloak of Non-Detection. Invisibility, perhaps Protection From Undead, and I think that I can succeed."

Sorkatani smiled. "That would be way cool."

Giles eyes rolled upwards. "Bloody Americans and their linguistic pollution," he muttered.

"But don't take any unnecessary risks," Sorkatani went on. "I don't want to lose you."

"I will be careful, Jabbress," Yoshimo assured her. "I don't want to lose me either."

Sorkatani nodded. "Good. Then we shall go down to the Crooked Crane in at the first opportunity and acquire the sword Daystar."

"Why are you so determined to get that particular sword?" Giles asked. "I've seen a description of it and it appears to be a longsword with an elaborate hilt. You like a curved blade and a simple hilt."

"It's not for me, it's for Buffy," Sorkatani explained. "It was created to use against the Undead. Totally right for the Vampire Slayer. That Blade of Roses that she uses is a good weapon but she could do better." She put her elbows on the table and leaned forward. "We don't have much that can harm liches at the moment," she said. "Only Xander's Holy Sword and Willow's staff. Celestial Fury could stun them temporarily, I think, but it can't destroy them. In Buffy's hands Daystar would be a fearsome weapon against not only liches but vampires. We're going to have to fight that vampire woman Bodhi eventually, I know it, and I want the odds to be as much on our side as possible."

"You believe, then, that there is something exceptional about her?" Giles asked.

"I sense it." Sorkatani frowned and rested her chin in her hands. "And, after her, I must face Irenicus. The most formidable wizard that I have ever seen. We must have every possible weapon when we go up against him."

"I take it that you expect him to have escaped from the Cowled Wizards?"

"So my dreams lead me to believe," Sorkatani said. She lifted her chin. "Summer draws to an end," she said. "I want us to be on our way before the season of gales is upon us. Let us waste no more time." Her lips drew back into a rueful smile. "Although no doubt some new quest will present itself, and delay things further, no matter what plans I make."

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"Ettins," Xander said. "They're, like, two-headed giants, right? I guess they're pretty tough customers."

"Indeed they are," Sir William Reirrac, a senior Knight of the Radiant Heart, confirmed. "They strike mighty blows and are hard to take by surprise. Yet they should not pose too much of a challenge to you and your friends, Sir Xander, after what you have accomplished already."

Xander dipped his head slightly. "Uh, yeah, thanks, Sir William. I'll do my best."

"The matter of the dispute at Imnesvale may not be as straightforward," Sir William went on. "However you have certain advantages over the rest of the Order in this case."

"No family connections with the Baron," Anya put in, "so nobody can say he's biased, right?"

Sir William tilted his chin upwards and looked down his nose at her. "That is correct, young lady," he said in cold tones. His expression warmed slightly as he turned back to Xander. "I bid you farewell, then, Sir Xander," he said. "Go forth and do your duty for the Order and report to me on your return."

"I don't think that he approved of me," Anya said once the group had left the Radiant Heart building.

"It is not customary for members of the Order to bring their partners when they are being briefed upon their duties," Anomen said.

Buffy raised an eyebrow. "Oh? So how come you were all for me coming along?"

"You are an exception," Anomen told her. "A warrior of quite extraordinary abilities. As one of the leaders of our group your presence was advantageous."

"And mine wasn't?" Anya gave Anomen a hard stare.

Anomen lowered his gaze. "Your insights could be valuable," he conceded, "particularly in the matter of the dispute between the Baron and the commoners of Imnesvale."

"And you can give us all tips on how to slay giants, right?" Xander suggested. "Seeing as how you've done so much of it."

Anomen's gaze dropped lower until he was staring at his boots. "In truth I have slain no giants," he confessed. "My part in the campaign was confined to healing the wounds of the injured."

"Yeah, I kinda figured that out for myself," Xander said.

Buffy rolled her eyes. "Leave him alone, Xan. I knew he was shooting a line the whole time. And hey, at least he's owned up now."

"I am sorry," Anomen said. "Your party was so full of mighty heroes that I was worried that there would be no place for me if I could not claim deeds to match."

Xander grinned. "Hey, Ahn, you hear that? We're mighty heroes."

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"They are formidable in the extreme," Galvarey cautioned. "If you take them lightly you will suffer for it."

"My father has over four hundred men at his command," Isaea Roenal reminded him. "The upstart adventurer's little band will be crushed."

"And how many of those men are mere peasant levies? Against the Perfect Warrior such men can serve only as a distraction." Galvarey shook his head. "Have you even two score of hardened veterans? Have you battle mages and warrior clerics?"

"I have," Roenal said. "My personal guard and that of my father. Experienced fighting men who are a match for any in Athkatla short of the Knights of the Radiant Heart."

Galvarey snorted. "Humph. Two members of her party have been created Knights, Sorkatani is more than a match for any of the Order, and Buffy the Vampire Slayer is an even greater warrior. Still, perhaps your men will occupy them long enough for me to get my assassins into position."

"I will wipe them out," Roenal claimed. "No rootless adventurer can prevail against a noble."

"This 'rootless adventurer' is the daughter of the God of Murder," Galvarey pointed out. "She is a killer the like of which you have never encountered, Roenal. Wipe them out, you say? Make sure that you do, for if any escape they will come for you."

"None shall escape," Roenal said. "I want them all dead. Most especially the ones called Yoshimo and Anya who caused my humiliation."

"Good," Galvarey said. "Hold fast to that thought. Now we must make our preparations. They will be leaving the city soon, I have learned, to carry out a task for the Radiant Heart. It is Sorkatani's custom to call at the De'Arnise Hold on both her outward and her return journeys. We can make use of that. Send a message to your father. The assault must begin when she is there for the second time."

"Will your assassins be ready?"

"Certainly." Galvarey gave a cold smile. "If you do your part I will do mine. There will be no survivors."

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"The bigger they are, the harder I hit. Evil, meet my sword. Sword, meet Evil!" Minsc whirled Lilarcor above his head. The sentient sword's own battle cry was cut off by the sound of impact as Minsc chopped into the thigh of an ettin. The huge creature toppled as its leg gave way. Minsc followed up quickly and finished it off with a thrust.

Xander spared Minsc a quick grin and then had to devote all his attention to his own defense. Two ogres charged him wielding heavy clubs. He moved quickly to the side so that he faced only one and swung Carsomyr. The Holy Sword severed the ogre's club arm and it reeled away spouting blood from the dreadful wound. Before Xander could follow up and finish off the wounded ogre the other one was upon him. Its club strike glanced from the gleaming red dragon armor that protected Xander and he took no harm from the blow. The ogre's body crashed into Xander and it wrapped its free arm around him. The two-handed sword was useless at such close quarters and Xander struggled to free himself. He lost his balance, the ogre pushed forward, and both of them fell to the ground and grappled.

A pair of ettins emerged from behind a hillock. One became engaged in combat with Minsc. The other's four eyes fell on where Xander and the ogre were tussling and it advanced towards the struggling pair. It raised its huge club overhead and took aim. Xander released Carsomyr and pulled a dagger from his belt. The ogre butted him in the face and the visor only partially protected Xander from the force of the blow. He rolled sideways, saw the ettin's club looming overhead, and felt a wave of sheer terror.

The blow never fell. Suddenly the ettin was held literally in an iron grip; tied down with battleship chains, fifty feet long and a two ton anchor, and completely immobilized. Xander sent silent thanks to Giles and resumed his death grapple with the ogre. It had the edge in strength and ferocity but Xander was far better armored. He struck with the dagger, was rocked by an answering punch but not seriously harmed, and struck again. Eventually the ogre went limp and Xander freed himself from its grip. He clambered laboriously to his feet, picked up Carsomyr, and stood panting from his exertions.

He could hear Giles singing somewhere nearby and he remembered the ettin. It was still there, wrapped in chains, struggling futilely to free itself. Hastily Xander jogged over to the monster and thrust his sword through a gap between the coils. There was a moment of resistance and then the razor-sharp blade slid home. The ettin screamed and gurgled in its death agonies. Xander pulled the blade free and cursed as a gout of blood spurted forth and splattered his armor.

The strains of '_Battleship Chains_' died away and Xander heard Giles grumbling in the distance. "About bloody time. I was beginning to feel like a scratched record." The magical chains around the ettin dissipated into nothingness.

Perhaps too soon. The ettin was still alive, although mortally wounded, and it lashed out with its club. Xander tried to dodge but the blow caught him across the shoulder and sent him stumbling backwards. He managed to stay upright, brought himself to a halt, and he raised Carsomyr. No blow was necessary. The ettin's arm flopped limply to the ground, the huge fingers opened, and the club rolled free. The two pairs of eyes stared sightlessly at the sky. Xander heaved a long sigh of relief and lowered his sword.

His shoulder was throbbing and he could feel blood trickling down over his chin from a split lip. He concentrated and cast a healing spell on himself. "I nearly forgot that I could do that," he muttered. Minsc was nowhere to be seen. It was several minutes since he had seen any other of his companions and had no idea of how the battle as a whole was going. The hillock would give him a vantage point, and it was from that direction that he had heard Giles' singing, and so it was towards the summit of the mound that he set off.

They were in an area of broken ground on the edge of the Umar Hills. Rocky slopes, boulders, low hills and small gorges cut into the rock by fast-flowing mountain streams made the terrain entirely unsuitable for mounted combat. Any thoughts of fighting a formal battle, with organized maneuvers and tight formations, had also had to be abandoned. The ettins' ability to fling boulders as large as those fired by a trebuchet would make close packed ranks extremely vulnerable. The party, and the half-dozen Knights of the Radiant Heart to whose aid Xander had been sent, had dispersed as soon as the fighting started. The engagement had soon dissolved into a confused mêlée in which little groups of individuals fought their own separate fights.

Fights that now seemed to be coming to an end. Xander saw several of his comrades on the rocky slopes beyond the hummock. None of them had an opponent. Only one ettin was in sight; it was attacking Sir Alymar of the Radiant Heart, and it had the upper hand over the paladin and had forced him to his knees, but then Buffy raced into view and struck twice with the Blade of Roses and her new sword Daystar. The ettin went down like a felled tree. Buffy looked around for other opponents and saw none.

Giles emerged from his hiding place in a clump of bushes and joined Xander. "The battle's done and we kind of won," he remarked.

"More than 'kind of'," Xander said. "We kicked their asses. But I'm pretty much beat." He saw Anya and waved to her. She waved back but did not hasten to join him. Instead she continued to search the bodies of the dead ogres, orcs, and ettins for gold and gems. Xander turned back to Giles. "I'll have to learn to use a lance," he said. "It doesn't make sense owning a trained warhorse and still having to fight a battle on foot."

"I suppose not," Giles said. "Not that this was really suitable ground for cavalry. I don't know when another opportunity will arise. You can hardly charge with a horse into a crypt to face a lich, the Planar Sphere entrance seems to be up a flight of stairs, and I doubt if taking the horses with us by ship to Spellhold will really be feasible."

"You think I wasted my money?"

"Not entirely," Giles said. "You do need a horse, after all, but perhaps it was a little extravagant of you to purchase that particular animal. A simple riding steed would have sufficed."

Xander shrugged. "A Honda Civic will get you from A to B but guys still buy Ferraris and Humvees. I'm a paladin with a Holy Sword and a warhorse. In this world that's pretty much as cool as it gets." He walked forward and began to descend the far slope of the hummock towards where the other members of their group were beginning to gather together. Giles slung his guitar over his shoulder and followed.

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

Baron Metrich glared at Xander. "I shall protest against your decision," he said. "How dare you favor the peasantry against a noble? Prelate Wessalen shall hear of this."

"Well, duh," Xander said. "I have to make a report to the Order as soon as I get back to Athkatla. I'll be sure to tell them all about what a jerk you are."

"How dare you!" the Baron spluttered.

"You have no more claim to these lands than I have," Xander went on.

"Less," Sorkatani put in. "Xander fought against the Shade Lord and the Shadow Dragon. Where were you, Baron Metrich? What men did you send to the fight?"

The Baron flushed. "That has nothing to do with it."

"Oh?" Anya quirked an eyebrow upwards. "The feudal system works the same way in this world as it did in mine. If you were the Lord here it would be your duty to protect the lands and the tenants. You didn't."

The Baron made no direct answer. "I warn you, _Sir_ Xander, you have made a dangerous enemy," he said. "I have friends in the Council of Six."

"Yeah. Right. See me not caring," Xander said. He turned his back on the Baron and walked away to join Minister Lloyd and the other celebrating villagers.

"The Council of Six wear masks so that nobody knows who they are," Anya pointed out. "You may _think_ that you have friends among them, but you can't know for sure. Or maybe you're just lying." She smiled brightly at the Baron and then followed Xander. Sorkatani and Yoshimo delayed for a moment, staring at the Baron until he lowered his eyes and walked away, and then they turned to join their friends.

Baron Metrich departed from the inn. His squire approached leading his horse and the Baron prepared to mount.

"One moment, Baron Metrich," a voice called. A hooded and cloaked man stepped out of the shadows at the side of the building and approached. "I would speak with you on a matter of some importance."

The Baron gestured to summon the pair of men-at-arms who waited for him nearby. They walked briskly to join their master and only then did the Baron speak to the newcomer. "What is it that you want, fellow? I am in no mood for pleasantries."

"I understand that the judgment has gone against you," the stranger said. "Sir Xander has sided with the peasantry and your investment is lost."

"True," the Baron growled. "I shall have harsh words for the Prelate of the Order of the Radiant Heart. How dare he appoint a commoner to pass judgment in such a matter?"

"Sir Xander has risen quickly to favor," the hooded man said. "You see he's rather good at killing monsters, and people too for that matter, and the Radiant Heart needs such men. His friends are even better at it. Sorkatani, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Spike, Willow, Minsc – all warriors and mages of might and renown."

"I shall get my revenge upon them nonetheless," Baron Metrich stated.

"It would be a lot easier if you had allies," the hooded man said. "Come with me. My master has a proposition that you may wish to hear."

"Who is your master, fellow? What alliance do you propose?"

"If Sir Xander were to die before he makes his report to the Order then you could demand a new hearing," the hooded man said.

The Baron glanced around to make sure that none of the villagers were in the vicinity. "True," he said. "I might indeed be interested in such an alliance. Tell me first, though, what is your name, what forces do you have, and who is your master?"

"My name is Nadinal," the hooded man told him. "Already we have recruited Lord Roenal to our cause and have an army poised to strike. As to my master, his name is Galvarey."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

The door was thrown open with such force that it crashed into the wall. Warren grimaced and turned away from his keyboard. "Hey, watch what you're doing, Andrew," he moaned. He looked towards the door and his eyes widened. His jaw dropped.

It wasn't Andrew who had entered. It was a woman, young and fairly tall, clad in black fatigues and a flak jacket. She swung a Heckler and Koch MP-5SD in a wide arc to cover the entire room and then brought the weapon up to the high port. "Going in," she said, and descended the stairs.

"Who – what's going on?" Warren demanded. His voice sounded high and shrill in his own ears and he fought to control himself. "What do you want?"

Jonathan cringed away. "We don't have any money," he said. His eyes flickered towards the computers and his lips twisted.

"At ease," the woman said. "This isn't a robbery." She raised her voice. "All clear, Rye."

The next figure to enter was Andrew. He was being pushed ahead of a very tall man clad in similar black garb. His lips were trembling and there were streaks of tears on his cheeks. His hands were tied behind his back.

"Uh, Riley Finn, right?" Jonathan said. "Used to date Buffy? What's going on?"

"Andrew? Are you okay?" Warren asked.

"I didn't mean any harm," Andrew quavered.

Riley's gaze was cold. "Jonathan Levinson and Warren Mears," he said, "I'm taking you into custody under the powers vested in me under Public Law 107-56."

"They don't know anything about it," Andrew said. "I was just doing a guy a favor and getting some cash out of it, that's all. We need money and I was just trying to help."

"Andrew, what the fuck have you done?" Warren demanded.

"He's involved in the trafficking of contraband sub-terrestrial materials," Riley said. "Your involvement will be determined after you've been interrogated."

"Interrogated?" Jonathan's voice was a squeak.

"I'll handle the suspects, Sam," Riley addressed the woman. "You pack up the computers."

"Computers? No!" Warren gasped. "Don't touch them!" He started to move forward but stopped as Riley cocked a fist and the woman lowered the barrel of her sub-machine gun.

"Interesting," the woman said. "A strong reaction there. I wonder what I'll find?"

Riley nodded. "I think we've struck gold." He looked from Warren to Jonathan and back again. "Which one of you two is The Doctor?"

***Glossary of Drow Phrases***

'ssins d'aerth' = prostitute

'l'alurl faerbol zhah mrann d'ssinss' = 'the best magic item is a lover'

'Usstan orn tlu vithus!' = 'I'll be fucked!'


	36. Chapter 36

**Chapter Thirty-six**

Riley's face remained impassive as he listened to Warren's pleas. "You might as well save your breath. You don't get any say in this. No phone call, no lawyer, no appeal."

Warren shook his head. "This is America, man, not friggin' Myanmar. What the fuck happened to the Free World?"

"Nine-eleven happened," Riley said. "Terrorists don't have any rights."

"Look, dude, I'm designing a friggin' computer game about pirates on the Spanish Main. In what Bizarro world does that make me a terrorist?"

"Your associate was caught red-handed," Riley pointed out. "Just shut up. I'm not interested in excuses and lies."

"Jo – Buffy knows all about it," Jonathan put in. "Call Buffy. Please?"

"I didn't mean any harm," Andrew quavered. "I didn't tell Warren and Jonathan what I was doing. I wanted the money to be a surprise."

Riley turned towards Andrew and frowned. "You're not trying to tell me that Buffy knew about your demon egg trading?"

Andrew's forehead creased up. "I never said that. I didn't tell anyone. I wasn't going to say a thing until I could show Warren the two thousand bucks. I thought he'd be really pleased and say how clever and useful I'd been."

"I was gonna borrow some cash from Rupert, you dumbass," Warren groaned. "Why didn't you just stick to writing the dialogue for the female player version like I friggin' asked you to?"

"Buffy knows about the computer game," Jonathan clarified his earlier statement. "And Willow knows too."

"It can't do any harm to check with them," the woman in black suggested. "Although those are not pirates," she added, gesturing towards the medieval castle displayed on the monitor, "so there's a hole in Mister Mears' story right there."

"The pirates are on the other computer," Warren explained. "That's Baldur's Gate 2. We started out by doing mods for it and used what we learned in creating our own game. Hey, we're getting feedback on the mods, and people are talking about them on Usenet. I could show you."

Riley looked at the woman. "Hey, Sam, can you make any sense at all out of what he's yammering on about?"

Sam's teeth showed as she gave a broad smile. "You never were a nerd, were you, Rye? Yeah, it makes sense to me. Okay, kid, show me this feedback. Don't try anything clever. If you erase even one file you won't like what will happen."

"Erase?" Warren grinned. "I don't ever want to erase it. I want to have it carved on my tombstone." His grin faded away as he remembered that there was a silenced sub-machine gun trained on him and his tombstone could be considerably nearer in his future than he would like. He made no sudden moves as he returned to his own computer, opened Outlook Express, and went to Read News.

Riley took out a cell phone and dialed. "Buffy? Yeah. Look, you know anything about some guys called Andrew Wells, Warren Mears, and – yeah? No, I won't. They – no. We caught Andrew storing the eggs. He – Yes. That's what he said. They say that you know all about their computers. I was going to take – hey! I – okay, okay. I won't touch anything. Yes. Okay, okay. Right, see you when you get here." He frowned as he put the phone away. "Well, I guess you must be telling the truth about some things. She would hardly let me get a word in." He raised his eyebrows as he turned towards Sam. "She was pretty insistent that we mustn't do anything with the computers."

Warren grinned again. "Way to go, Joan," he said. Jonathan's grin mirrored Warren's. Even Andrew adopted a rather shaky smile.

"Joan? Yeah, what is with that anyway?" Riley's eyebrows crawled downwards.

Warren shrugged. "Don't ask me," he said. "Most of the hippies' kids with dumb names have changed over to, like, boring normal ones. Maybe she felt like doing the same." He opened up .baldurs-gate, moving the mouse slowly and not clicking until Sam had had the chance to observe what he was doing, and selected a thread. He read the post and, despite the situation, a beaming smile spread over his face. "Wow. Way cool. Hey, Jonathan, there's a totally awesome review from Speaker-to-Customers."

"Anything from Htn963?" Jonathan asked.

"Not that I've seen yet," said Warren, "but, dude, you have to read what Speaker says. And the reply from Barbarian X. We so rock!"

Jonathan stood up and began to head for the computer. Riley barred his path. "Have you guys forgotten that you are under arrest?" the agent snapped.

Jonathan recoiled. "Uh, yeah," he confessed. He sat down again and hunched up his shoulders.

A deep furrow appeared between Riley's eyebrows. "Htn963? Speaker-to-Customers? Code names? It seems pretty suspicious to me."

"No, just a bunch of nerds," Sam contradicted him. "Gamers. This message is talking about how cool it is that the mod – I guess that would mean 'modification' in this context, rather than 'moderator' – lets characters use spears as a one-handed weapon with a shield instead of having to be used two-handed. I think they're telling the truth." A crinkle showed between her eyebrows. "Is that right? The standard game has spears as two-handed? That's dumb. What about Greek hoplites? Oh, yeah, that's exactly what this guy says. And Zulus."

"That's just what I said," Warren agreed. He was still smiling. "Oh, Jonathan, dude, you just have to read this. He finishes off with 'Bayete, Tr0ika, I salute you!' Way cool."

"I'll read it just as soon as people stop pointing guns at me," Jonathan replied.

Warren's smile faded away. "Oh, yeah. Look, guys, will you stop it?"

Riley scratched his head. "I got to admit that you just don't act like any terrorists I've ever heard of. I mean, you're acting like this whole thing isn't even important if we don't keep reminding you."

"Well yeah, dude, it _isn't_ important," Warren said. "Like, we know that we're innocent. I'm just scared you're gonna mess with the computers and wreck months of hard work."

"I'm inclined to believe them, Rye," Sam put in. "They're just too oblivious to the trouble they might be in not to be genuine."

Riley's brow wrinkled. "You have a point. I'll see what Buffy has to say." His head swung towards Andrew. "But this guy isn't innocent."

"Yes he is," Jonathan spoke up. "He's only guilty of being a moron."

"Hey!" Andrew protested. His head sank as everyone joined Riley in staring at him. "Okay, yeah, you got a point. I just didn't think, guys."

Warren rolled his eyes. "You're damn right. Nobody pays two thousand bucks for an easy job unless there's something wrong with it. If the government takes the computers away because of this I'm gonna friggin' strangle you, dude."

"And I'll hold your arms while he does it," Jonathan added.

"It's not my fault," Andrew whined. "I only wanted to help."

"Shut up, all of you," Riley ordered. "You're giving me a headache. You can all go and read that thing on the Internet that's gotten you all excited. Just don't touch anything without Sam's say-so and stop with the damn bickering. Buffy should be here soon. If she backs up your story then maybe, just maybe, we might let you go."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

"That's not quite up to your usual standard, Giles," Xander commented. "It just doesn't have the beat. Some kinda, whatcha call it, avant garde rock?"

Giles looked over the rim of his glasses at Xander. "I'm tuning it. As I'm sure you're very well aware. One of the strings was becoming rather worn and I've had to replace it." He sighed. "Tuning isn't easy with these wooden pegs instead of a machine head."

"How come there's an empty one?" Xander asked.

"Because this instrument is supposed to have seven strings," Giles explained, "and I can only play with six. I have to leave a blank slot, and tune the others to cover, and it puts rather a strain on them. Therefore I have placed a special order for an instrument constructed to my own specifications. With any luck it will be ready by the time we get back to the city." His lips pursed. "I hope that it works out. Perhaps I'm foolish to place too much hope in a gnome who has never seen a genuine guitar. Still, he appeared to be a gifted craftsman, and my instructions were quite specific. I'm fairly confident."

"So, another invention that we're introducing to this place, huh?" Xander grinned. "In all the sci-fi books it's things like, well, gunpowder that the space travelers bring to the primitive planets. We're more into the clothing and entertainment side. The bra, fancy hats, rock and roll, and now the six-string guitar."

"Yes, not exactly _Lord Kalvan of Otherwhen_, is it?" Giles agreed. "They do have gunpowder here, you know. The gnomes use it. It doesn't give them an edge against longbows and fireball spells, as it happens, and I don't really think that the other races would be all that interested. Especially as I have very little idea of the formula, other than that it contains saltpeter, sulfur, and charcoal, and I doubt if any of the rest of us know the specifics either."

"Yeah, I guess it's a bit more complicated than Captain Kirk made it look in that episode where he was dumped on that planet with the lizard guy and they had to fight it out," Xander agreed. "So, no gunpowder. But maybe I could show this world comic books. They have printing presses, right? Or, hey, how about I teach them about chewing gum?"

Giles shuddered. "I think that they should be spared that particular innovation." He tweaked the tuning peg slightly and played a note. "Ah, I think that's it." He played a series of notes across all the strings and smiled. "Yes, that will do for now." He began to lower the guitar to the side of his chair.

"Play something for me," Jaheira requested. "Perhaps the song that you sang in the Copper Coronet to bring me cheer after I returned from the dead?"

Giles' brow wrinkled. "Certainly, my dear. If I can remember which song that was."

"It told me to 'live it up'," Jaheira reminded him.

"Oh, yeah, the song that was in 'Crocodile Dundee'," Xander put in. "Yeah, play that one, Giles." Anya nodded her agreement.

Giles stood up, put one foot on his chair, brought the guitar into position and began to strum out chords. "_How can you see looking through those tears_", he sang.  
"_Don't you know you're worth your weight in gold  
I can't believe that you're alone in here  
Let me warm your hands against the cold..._"

Sorkatani entered, accompanied by Yoshimo and by the castle seneschal, as Giles was halfway through the verse. She opened her mouth to speak but then changed her mind. She stood in silence, smiling slightly and tapping one foot to the beat, until the song finished. "I am sorry but I have news that will spoil the mood," she announced then, her smile gone. "An army is heading for the castle, equipped with siege engines, and it seems that we will shortly be under attack."

"Siege engines?" Xander gulped.

"Must be Tuesday," Buffy commented.

Sorkatani's brow wrinkled. "Shoes day? What do shoes have to do with it?"

"For Buffy, every day is shoes day," Dawn muttered.

"Oh, yeah, your days don't have names," Buffy said. "Forget it. So, an army, huh?"

"Several hundred men, I am told," Sorkatani expanded. "Perhaps approaching a thousand."

"I think we got trouble," Xander said.

"No matter what their numbers, the forces of Evil cannot prevail against true heroes," Minsc's deep voice rumbled.

"And there may well not be that many," Giles said. "People often exaggerate. Who told you about this army?"

"A party of travelers arrived here a few minutes ago," the castle major-domo explained. "They said that they were alarmed by the sight of the army and sought shelter."

Minsc cocked his head to one side for a moment and his eyebrows lowered. "Boo says," he boomed, "a castle is a stupid place to hide from siege engines."

Sorkatani raised her hand and smacked herself in the forehead with the heel of her palm. "He's right," she said. "Why didn't I think of that?"

"You would have done in time, I am sure, Jabbress," Yoshimo assured her. "It did not strike me as strange either until Minsc spoke." He cocked his head towards the giant ranger. "Our companion has a directness that the rest of us lack."

"I should have spotted it at once," Sorkatani grumbled. "Such stupidity could get us killed."

Xander frowned. "I don't get it," he confessed. "Okay, so it might be dumb to shelter in a castle if you're scared of an army with ladders and those catapult things, yeah, but what's the big deal? People do dumb things when they're scared."

"They may well be a fifth column," Giles informed him.

Xander's brow remained furrowed for a moment and then cleared as he placed the term and realized what Giles meant. "Oh, yeah," he said. "I get it."

The expression confused the Faerûn natives rather than clarifying things. "A what?" asked Sorkatani and Jaheira simultaneously.

"Spies and saboteurs on the inside helping the attackers," Anya explained, beating Giles to it. ""In one of the wars on our world a rebel General claimed that he had four columns of troops approaching a city and a fifth column of sympathizers hidden within." A fond smile spread over her face. "Good times. Sun, sangria, and plenty of vengeance."

"Exactly," Sorkatani said. "It is odd how some words do not translate between your language and ours."

"Like Shoesday," Buffy agreed. "Uh, Tuesday."

"Words based on specific places and events," Giles added. "This could be a little problem in a few songs, for instance 'fancy French cologne' in Joni Mitchell's 'Carey'. I must find out the local equivalents, or substitute generic terms. I'm already working on a revamp of Journey's…"

Jaheira cut him off just as Buffy's eye-roll was about to generate potentially dangerous levels of centrifugal force. "Hush, a'mael," she said, laying a hand upon his arm. "We have more urgent matters to consider. Such as an approaching army and this 'fifth column'."

Dawn's sharp teenage ears pricked up. "A'mael? I don't know that one."

Jaheira's cheeks became tinged with color. "It is my own mother tongue, Tal'Quessir, not the Drow language," she explained, but offered no translation. "Jabbress, what shall we do about the infiltrators?"

"I suppose that it is possible that they are genuine travelers who, as Xander suggested, might simply be very stupid," Sorkatani replied. "We cannot attack them, or throw them into the cells, without proof. If they are assassins Xander's ability to detect evil may be helpful. Otherwise… Tara, Anomen, do either of you have Detect Lie prepared?"

"Alas, no, my lady," said Anomen.

"Afraid not," Tara said. "What about Viconia?"

"She and Spike lie yet abed," Sorkatani replied.

"Yeah, they're vithing their brains out," Dawn muttered, but not quietly enough to go unheard.

"Dawn!" Buffy snapped.

"Dawn!" Tara scolded. "That's not how you form the indicative in Ilythiiri."

Dawn rolled her eyes. "Nind phuul vithin huend nind karliiken vir'ed," she said clearly and precisely.

"They are – boinking – until their heads explode," Tara translated. "Very good, Dawn."

Conflicting expressions writhed across Buffy's face. Dawn swearing was Bad; Dawn learning correct grammar in a foreign language was Education, and thus Good. She abandoned the struggle. "Whatever. Anyway, somebody better go drag them out. Apart from the 'Detect Lie' thing, if we have to fight a whole army we're gonna need everybody."

"Do we have to fight them?" Anya wondered. "We could just not be here when they arrive."

"Heroes do not run away from Evil," Minsc rumbled, a scowl replacing his usual smile.

"If I am the target then it would make some sense," Sorkatani agreed, "although any enemy so determined would only follow me elsewhere. I suspect, however, that it must be the De'Arnise Hold itself that they want. The Roenals, I assume. I can think of no-one else who would have the resources and the motive."

"That Baron Metrich guy who I told to take a hike would have an army," Xander suggested. "Although, why would he look for me here? Yeah, it's the Roenals."

Anya's lips tightened. If she fell into the hands of Isaea Roenal he would have her put to death, probably in a painfully protracted manner, and her desire to be somewhere else was undiminished. "We can't fight a whole army," she pointed out.

"I shall not abandon these lands and people," Sorkatani insisted. "I gave my word." The corners of her mouth turned up slightly. "Fear not, Anya, for the situation is not as black as you think. The bulk of their forces will be a mere peasant levy. Poorly trained and badly equipped. Can you imagine Isaea Roenal or his father paying for coats of mail for so many? It will be armor of padded cloth, if that, and farm implements as weapons."

"You can do a lot of damage with a scythe," Anya pointed out.

"True, but an untrained and unarmored man can easily be slain before he has the chance to swing," Sorkatani rebutted her point. "In fact my problem is rather that I have no wish to kill poor men who have no choice but to obey the orders of their lord. Our objective must be to cause them to rout and flee, rather than to slay them, so that we can break through and reach the commanders. Those I shall slay."

"I know some non-lethal spells with a pretty big area of effect," Willow put in. "Stinking Cloud, Grease, Web, Darkness, Fog Cloud, Fumble – hey, that one would really mess up guys trying to fire a siege catapult."

"Entangle," suggested Jaheira. "Warp Wood, on the scaling ladders."

"Warp Factor One, Miss Jaheira," Xander interjected, incomprehensibly to the druid in question but raising a smile from Willow, Buffy, and Dawn.

"Cloak of Fear," Anomen added his suggestion. Tara nodded agreement.

"I had thought to lay traps along their line of approach," Yoshimo said, "but I am afraid, Jabbress, that most of my contrivances would be lethal in their effects against lightly-protected peasantry. Perhaps I could improvise less deadly versions."

"Like noose traps that lift people up by their feet and, hey, just leave them dangling above the ground," Dawn said. She grinned broadly.

"It's not as easy as in the movies," Anya cautioned her, "but we should be able to work something out."

"Have you songs that could cause panic in our foes, zrah'ha?" Sorkatani asked.

Giles put a finger to the bridge of his glasses and adjusted their position. "Hmm. Perhaps. I can't think of anything off the top of my head. I'm not sure that any of the songs that I know would really be relevant to fighting a battle against a thousand men." He pursed his lips. "A thousand men. Hmm. Ah. Now that's an idea."

"I doubt if there will be a thousand," Sorkatani told him. "The 'travelers' have exaggerated their number, perhaps intending to cause dismay amongst us, I believe. If I called up a levy from the De'Arnise lands I would raise only some three hundred men. The Roenal lands are but little larger and I doubt if he can have more than four hundred. His armed and armored retinue will be about the same in number as my own guard, or a few more, perhaps fifty to my forty."

"In that case I think that I could certainly spread a fair degree of alarm and despondency," Giles said, with a nod and a smile. "Spike will appreciate this particularly, I think."

"Talking of which, the two of them should be involved in this," Buffy said. "Spike's pretty good at thinking up ways to make people miserable."

"And, hey, that's pretty much Viconia's whole job description," Willow added. "I guess somebody oughta go drag them out of bed and get them down here."

Dawn opened her mouth to speak. "Not you, Dawn!" Buffy spoke quickly to pre-empt her sister. "Anya, how about you go get them?"

"I suppose I should knock rather than just walking in," Anya said. "Although…"

"Just bring me Spike and Viconia, okay?" Buffy said. "One bleached pest, one drow priestess, the right way up and with all their buttons fastened."

"One bleached pest and one drow priestess reporting for duty, ma'am!" Spike's voice came from the doorway. He entered, accompanied by Viconia, and his gaze swept the room. "What's up?"

"This is a council of war, ussta mrannd'ssinss," Viconia deduced. "What new enemy do we face, Jabbress?"

"Isaea Roenal, or so I suspect," Sorkatani replied. "An army marches upon us, with siege towers and catapults."

"And a thousand elephants?" asked Spike. Giles raised his eyebrows and chuckled.

"No, no elephants," Sorkatani said.

"Well, in that case I won't bother setting up a hot dog stand," Spike said. Giles' chuckle grew louder.

"A hot dog stand?" Sorkatani stared at Spike in blank incomprehension.

"Something from my world. Don't worry about it, Jabbress," Spike said. "So, it's another battle, then? Now, I'm all for a good punch-up, fists and fangs and all that, but don't you ever get a week off just to relax and smell the roses?"

Sorkatani sighed. "It seems that such is not my lot in life. Sit down, abbin, and we shall make our battle plans."

**Glossary of Drow Phrases**

• 'Nind phuul vithin huend nind karliiken vir'ed' = 'They are fucking until their heads explode'  
• 'ussta mrannd'ssinss' = 'my (male) lover'  
• 'a'mael' (surface elven rather than drow) = 'beloved'


	37. Chapter 37

**Chapter Thirty-seven**

"Okay, okay." Riley sighed. "They're not terrorists. I had that pretty much worked out after listening to them for a while. And Andrew Wells isn't malicious, just an idiot."

Andrew pouted but held back from saying anything.

"So you're letting them go," Joan said. It was a statement rather than a request.

"I guess," Riley agreed. "I probably would have taken them in for questioning anyway but, seeing as how you back up their story, I think we can skip that. Even Andrew. We wouldn't learn anything from him of any use. The real bad guys used him as a cut-out, and it worked. Oh, well, at least we retrieved the eggs. It's just a shame that the lead to the Doctor is a dead end."

"Uh, about that," Warren spoke up, "what about if you make replicas of the eggs? And stick tracking bugs in them? You could, like, follow the bad guys to their hide-out, or whatever. I know this guy, kinda the star of the model-making club at Dutton, wants to work in movie effects, he could fake up the eggs, no problem."

"Not a bad idea," Riley said. "We have our own guys who could do the fakes. Although," a frown appeared on his brow, "it would take time. Suppose the Doctor calls for the eggs tomorrow? Or even later tonight? We know that the clock was ticking on this one, that's why we charged in rather than just doing surveillance, so I think we'll have to give it a miss. Good thinking, though, Warren. Thanks."

"We could use the real eggs," Sam suggested. "We don't want them for much apart from to make sure that they're dead, do we? If we injected them with liquid nitrogen it would kill the larvae, ice crystals bursting the cells, and it would just look like the Prince of Dorkness here had put them in the freezer instead of the refrigerator."

"Hey, yeah, maybe we're in business," Riley said.

"Heh, heh, Prince of Dorkness," Jonathan chuckled. "Nice one." Andrew glowered at him.

Warren grinned. "You're pretty cool, you know that?" he said to Sam. "If I wasn't so stuck on Katrina I'd totally be asking if you have a sister."

"Seven years older than me, married to a CPA, two kids," Sam said. "Sorry."

Warren shrugged. "Like I said, I'd ask it if I wasn't so stuck on Katrina, but I am."

"So I hand the, uh, dead eggs over when the Doctor calls? Uh, can I keep the two thousand bucks?" Andrew asked.

"If you can act natural so the guy doesn't suspect anything, sure," Riley said.

Joan arched an eyebrow. "I'm not sure this is gonna work," she said. "Andrew? Act natural?"

"I can too act natural," Andrew insisted. "I'm a gifted actor."

Jonathan snorted. Joan's eyebrows climbed.

"I think he can do it," Warren said. "Andrew never acts natural anyway. Nobody's gonna be able to tell the difference even if he's all nervous and stuff. But, uh, you won't let anything happen to him, right? I mean, if he did blow everything and this Doctor character did get suspicious, you'd, like, step in and grab the guy before he could do anything to Andrew?"

"Well, we're off on a mission to Nepal soon," Riley said, "but there'd be somebody covering him, even if it wasn't us."

"Cool. 'Cause I'd hate for anything bad to happen to him. Other than the wedgie that I'm gonna give him for getting us in the shit like that."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

"I could really use a drum accompaniment," Giles remarked. "It's a shame that Korgan isn't here."

"I have no special part to play in this plan. I could beat upon the drums for you, zra'ha," Viconia volunteered. "I too take pleasure in hitting things."

"Ah, yes, thank you, Viconia." Giles turned to Sorkatani. "Are there any drums in this castle? I suppose an empty crate would do at a pinch, but I'd rather have something that would produce a sound that would carry a long way."

Sorkatani turned to the major-domo. "Well? Have we drums?"

"Indeed we do, my lady. A great drum for use as an alarm signal. There are also some hand drums, I think."

"A great drum is what we would call a kettle drum, I believe," Giles said. "That would be perfect. I'll need it to be taken up onto the battlements. It won't take long to teach you the rhythm, Viconia. The song is quite simple."

"But bloody brilliant," a grinning Spike put in. "Almost wish I could hang around to hear it."

"I'll play it in Athkatla on some future occasion," Giles promised, "but you'll have to content yourself with listening at a distance this time. Your task is rather important."

"Yeah, right." Spike took hold of Viconia and kissed her on the forehead. "The pair of you will be like sitting ducks up there if I bugger it up. Don't worry, won't let anything happen to you." He released Viconia and turned to Willow. "Is it time to turn me into the Invisible Man yet?"

"Uh, way too early, Spike," Willow said. "This spell isn't like the ordinary Invisibility spells that you're used to. It will run out in less than twenty minutes. It's gotta be about the last thing we do before Showtime."

"Patience, Spike," said Jaheira. "They are more than a league distant still, and their progress is slow indeed, for the siege towers hamper them. I would say that we have two hours at least before they come within a mile of the castle. That is the distance at which we are to attack, is it not?"

"That's what the song specifies," Giles confirmed. "Ah, yes, that reminds me. Warm clothing may be in order for everyone. The weather might turn rather cold."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

Joan fixed Warren with an accusing stare. "You haven't done that thing for me yet, have you?"

Warren gulped, licked his lips, and glanced around. Jonathan was deep in conversation with Sam and Riley was briefing Andrew. "Uh, no," he confessed. "I, uh, I haven't, and, uh, I don't want to do it. Jonathan found out and he was totally upset. They're people, Joan. Killing them would be, like, murder."

Joan rolled her eyes. "They're just characters in a video game. They're not real, Warren."

"Yes they are," Warren protested.

"Just get rid of them," Joan went on, ignoring Warren's statement. "You owe me, Warren. Even more now."

"Riley said that he could tell that we aren't terrorists," Warren pointed out.

"And he said that he would still have taken you in for questioning if I hadn't backed you up," Joan riposted. "You think that would have been a fun time?"

Warren sighed. "I guess not. Okay, I'll see what I can do. I agreed with Jonathan that if Viconia or Anomen gets killed, and the guys can't Raise them, we won't reload a save game."

"That's not good enough," Joan insisted. "Do something constructive."

Warren's eyebrows descended and a deep crease appeared between them. "I suppose I could rig a meeting between Viconia and Keldorn," he mused. "He often kills her in the game if you don't watch out. Maybe, if I catch her alone, I could do something. Anomen will be harder. He doesn't have as many enemies. There's Saerk, yeah, but he won't make the first move. I don't know if I could push him into anything."

"Just do it," Joan hissed, and then turned away to join Riley as the agent moved away from Andrew. Warren grimaced, shrugged, and then forced a smile onto his face and followed.

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

"Snow?" Lord Farthington Roenal stared incredulously up at the sky. "But it is not yet even Highharvesttide."

"The work of Jaheira," Galvarey deduced. "No doubt she seeks to hinder the advance of our siege towers. Well, this light flurry will achieve naught. Most is falling as rain anyway. She attempts a feat beyond her powers."

Isaea Roenal snorted. "It's not going to do anything except make us dashed uncomfortable," he said. "I'll have to pay her back for that. A flogging, perhaps, for a start."

"Be prepared for lightning strikes," Galvarey advised. "I think that you would find one rather more than dashed uncomfortable."

"Oh, I'm well shielded against such peasant magic," Isaea assured him. "Baron Metrich, can you get your men moving a little faster?"

"I've already promised a flogging for anyone who dawdles," Metrich replied. "I can do no more."

"You could promise rewards for those who do well," Galvarey suggested. "Or inspire the men to compete with one another. Bonuses for the team whose siege engine is in position first, for instance."

Metrich shook his head. "Competition? Bonuses? Why should I do that? My men will serve me as I command, or they shall suffer punishment."

"Well I think that it's a dashed good idea," said Isaea. "A race between our men, Metrich. A wager on the result, perhaps? Shall we say…?"

"Ah, she comes out to face us," his father interrupted him. "The engines may be of little relevance now, Isaea. We shall fight upon the open field."

The others followed his gaze and looked towards the De'Arnise keep a mile ahead of their army. They could just make out a drum beat sounding from the castle, presumably in an alarm or a call to arms, and the drawbridge had descended. Riders appeared on the bridge and advanced across it. "The craven barbarian woman is probably running away," Isaea suggested. "I knew that it was a bad idea to warn her that we were coming."

"And how were we to hide this army?" Galvarey countered. "We have men in place within the castle. That is well worth the small amount of warning that we gave." He watched as men on foot followed the riders. A dense column of men-at-arms marched out, filling the entire width of the drawbridge and pouring forth in a stream that showed no sign of coming to an end, and his brows began to descend. "Strange," he commented. "I wouldn't have thought that she had that many guards."

"By the gods, there are scores upon scores of them," Baron Metrich gasped. "You told me that she had but forty men at most."

"She has," Lord Roenal insisted. "She must have hired mercenaries."

"With only a few hours' notice? Impossible." Isaea shook his head. "I don't understand. They're still coming out."

Steel flashed in what few rays of sun were still breaking through the now heavily overcast sky. The men-at-arms were brandishing their swords above their heads. Five seconds later the sound of their battle cry reached the approaching army. "Hoorah hoorah hoorah yea!"

"How many of them are there?" Baron Metrich gasped. "For us to hear them so loudly at such at distance…"

"They are forming up in companies," Galvarey said. "A hundred in each block, I would say. Three, four, a fifth is assembling, and they are still coming out."

"And all in full mail coats," Metrich observed. "I like this not. Our levies have but padded cloth and leather."

"They're going to have us outnumbered before much longer," Isaea said. "This is crazy. The keep must have been bursting at the seams with warriors. How could they have known of our plans far enough ahead to accumulate such forces? At least two or three full companies of mercenaries." He bit his lip. "There are too many of them for us to face. By the gods, yet more of them! There may be a full thousand."

The sky had now turned completely grey. A crash of thunder sounded and Isaea glanced nervously upwards.

"This is stark impossibility," his father announced. "A thousand men-at-arms! Where could she have raised so many? Has she brought an army from Baldur's Gate?"

"She must have done," Isaea said. "We'd better get the men into battle formation, I think, father. If that horde reaches us while we are still deployed for the march then we are done for." He put spur to his horse and trotted forward to give the necessary orders.

"Hoorah hoorah hoorah yea!" Another roar from Sorkatani's forces rang out. Galvarey looked around at the peasantry who made up the armies of the Roenals and Baron Metrich. He saw nothing to inspire him with confidence. By now even an innumerate peasant would be able to tell that the opposing force was at least as large as their own, and far better equipped, and there was a distinct lack of enthusiasm evident in the way that the men moved to obey Isaea's orders.

"Something is wrong here, Nadinal," he remarked to the mage who should have been at his side. "It would have taken a month, at the very least, to get an army this size here from Baldur's Gate. And the Amnian army would never have let them cross the border."

There was no reply. Galvarey swung his head around and saw that Nadinal's horse stood a few paces behind, riderless, its reins trailing upon the ground. "Nadinal? Where are you? Blast, what a time to choose to relieve yourself!" He rode forward, noticed a rise in the ground that would provide a better view of the castle, and made his way to it. He raised himself in his stirrups and surveyed the opposition. Galvarey could see Sorkatani, astride a stocky little pony and holding a bow, and he recognized several of the others. Minsc, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, the young girl who had killed Bessen, the deadly little red-haired witch, and Anomen Delryn. He had not met Xander but identified him from a description. There was no sign of Jaheira, of Spike, of Yoshimo, or of the drow girl. "Strange", he thought aloud, "I thought that they were inseparable. And where is the bard of whom I have heard so much?"

A frown began to appear on Galvarey's forehead as he scanned the area. Jaheira could be anywhere. In animal form, perhaps, or hidden in the bushes. As a druid she was highly skilled at such concealment. Spike and Yoshimo would make deadly scouts and could easily be close at hand. The bard, however, would have to announce his presence audibly if he were to achieve anything. Where was he?

Galvarey lifted his eyes to the battlements, from where the drum was still beating out, and the answer to his question presented itself. There was the bard, singing and playing, and there was the drow woman. She was the one beating the drum. It was hard to make out the song at this distance but Galvarey strained his ears and managed to distinguish the words. 'Hear our drums, hear them sound, we're gonna fight until we have won this town…'

A song to boost morale, Galvarey decided, and he was just about to turn away when he realized that the bard and the horde of men-at-arms were chanting the next line in unison. 'Hoorah hoorah hoorah yea', they roared, and then he heard Giles continue 'Over the hills with the swords of a thousand men.'

Galvarey whirled his horse around and galloped to join the other nobles. "An illusion," he announced. "There are no men-at-arms facing us. The army is an illusion conjured up by Giles the bard. No doubt he seeks to panic our men."

"And he succeeds," Isaea Roenal replied. "Already some are on the verge of flight, despite my threats."

"We have to put an end to this menace," Lord Farthington Roenal stated.

"Indeed. I must make contact with our men within the keep," said Galvarey. "Nadinal! I have need of you. Blast it, where are you?" He stared at Nadinal's horse and suddenly felt the hairs on the back of his neck standing up. "Find Nadinal," he ordered. "And count your own wizards."

"You cannot give us orders, Galvarey," Isaea Roenal growled.

"Your own neck may depend on this," Galvarey snapped. "Argue not. Just do as I say." He rode in a circle around the riderless horse, saw a small clump of bushes, and approached it cautiously. He dismounted, drew his sword, and pushed aside the branches. He saw a booted foot, forced the branches further apart, and Nadinal's body came into sight. Galvarey cursed, thrust his sword into the earth, and took hold of the body's legs. He dragged Nadinal out from under the bush and into the sight of the others.

"Is he dead?" asked Lord Roenal.

Galvarey examined the body. "He is," he confirmed. He saw something, stiffened, and drew Nadinal's robe aside to expose the corpse's neck. "Possibly worse than dead."

"A vampire," said Roenal. "We must bury him with a stake through his heart."

"First we must ensure that we do not join him," Galvarey warned. "Set your priests to casting what protections they can. I would recommend an Invisibility Purge, too. Spike cannot have walked amongst us in open view to do this."

"They have a vampire among their number?" Baron Metrich's nostrils flared. "Hah! I knew that _Sir_ Xander was no true paladin."

"Anver is dead too," Isaea Roenal reported. "A wire noose was drawn about his neck."

"Hoorah hoorah hoorah yea!" came another roar from Sorkatani's forces. Closer now, and the Roenals' men quailed and many of them took a step backwards. "Hoorah hoorah hoorah yea yea yea!"

"Stand, you cowards!" Lord Roenal bellowed. "It's only an illusion."

One of the siege towers lurched and swayed. A wheel came off and the structure tipped alarmingly. Boards came loose and several fell from the upper parts of the tower and tumbled to the ground. Men scattered to avoid them. Several kept on running once out of the danger zone. "Cowards!" Roenal shouted again. He rushed to one of his sergeants-at-arms. "There are no enemy men-at-arms," he told the man. "It is all an illusion to make our men take fright. Attack now, ride through the illusion to prove this to all, and we shall yet win this day."

The sergeant gulped. "It's a very good illusion, then, my lord."

"It is indeed," Roenal admitted, "but it is an illusion nonetheless. And you may have the honor of demonstrating that fact." The sergeant wheeled his horse to face the enemy but hesitated before moving forward. "Or you could be disemboweled for disobedience and cowardice," Roenal went on. The sergeant clapped spurs to his horse and set off.

Sorkatani and Xander galloped to intercept him.

"Aim for the other flank of their force," Baron Metrich ordered one of his sergeants. He saw the lack of enthusiasm in the man's expression and reluctantly conceded that Galvarey's earlier suggestion might have some merit. "A hundred danter for you if you get there before Roenal's man reaches his target. A flogging if you don't."

The man-at-arms smiled. "At your command, my lord." He drew sword and charged.

"Jaheira's work," Galvarey told Lord Roenal, pointing at the crippled siege tower. "She will be close at hand. I would ask you to set your men to searching for a badger, or a fox, or some similar animal, for she will be in some such form as that. I fear, however, that we have more urgent tasks at hand."

"The illusion should be dispelled shortly," Lord Roenal said. "My man will…" He fell silent as Sorkatani brought the sergeant's charge to a halt with two arrows that pierced the man's chain mail and toppled him from his horse. The wounded man climbed to his feet only to be clubbed unconscious with the flat of Xander's sword.

"It was a good thought," said Galvarey, "but they were ready. Perhaps Metrich's man may have more success."

The Baron's sergeant evaded Minsc's attempted interception and reached the lines of marching men. A spear thrust up at him and his horse reared. A man in chain armor caught hold of his foot and heaved. The Baron's man was pulled from his horse and disappeared in a mob of sword-wielding figures. One of the swords came back up red to the hilt with blood. A triumphant roar of 'hoorah hoorah hoorah yea!' came from the advancing ranks. A chorus of cries of dismay sounded from the army of Baron Metrich and the Roenals.

Roenal glared at Galvarey. "You swore that it was an illusion!"

"It is," Galvarey insisted. "She has mixed her guards with the illusions. A score or two of real men in amongst the thousand false. Clever. Very clever."

"And now our men are yet further disheartened," groaned Roenal.

"We must attack Sorkatani directly," Galvarey said. "Forget your army. Ignore the keep for now. We have twice, three times, her number of men-at-arms, and we see now that hers are scattered. Strike straight for her."

"My sergeants are scattered too," Roenal confessed. "They are divided up amongst the levies to act as commanders. I have a mere half dozen close at hand."

There was a soft 'whoomph' and a cloud of greenish vapor billowed up in the midst of Roenal's army. Men clutched their throats and gasped for breath, or fell unconscious, and those at the edge of the cloud turned and fled.

"Stand and fight, you cowards!" Roenal ordered. Most of the fleeing men took no notice.

Anomen Delryn charged towards Baron Metrich's men. A few arrows were loosed in his direction but all missed or glanced from his shield. As he approached the ranks the peasant soldiers quailed, smitten with dread, and fell back. Some turned to run. Metrich's chief priest advanced to cast a 'Remove Fear' spell upon the soldiers. His mouth opened but no words came forth. Instead he clutched at his throat and staggered backwards. Something invisible had hold of him from behind and was strangling him to death.

"Improved Invisibility," grunted Galvarey. He raised his voice. "Somebody get that dispelled!"

The cleric who rushed to obey was seized in his turn. Another vapor cloud erupted in the ranks of Roenal's men and more of them began to flee. The entire army was thoroughly demoralized by now. The trickle of men slipping away and running was in danger of becoming a flood.

"We're losing," Galvarey groaned. "We outnumber her by forty to one and we're losing. I can't believe it."

"No common mercenary is going to get the better of me," Isaea Roenal declared. "You are right, Galvarey, we must strike straight for Sorkatani herself." He gestured to a squire, who ran to hand a lance to his master. "Come, father, we can still slay that bitch."

Lord Farthington Roenal followed his son's example and the pair advanced with lances couched. A handful of men-at-arms rode with them. Baron Metrich called for a lance and set his sights on Xander.

Galvarey rode to the vicinity of the priest who was being garroted, dismounted, and struck out with his two-handed sword. The blow passed harmlessly through empty air but obviously had forced the invisible attacker to release his grip. The priest fell to the ground. Galvarey caught the shoulder of a man-at-arms. "Tend to him, man," Galvarey ordered, and strode off towards the other struggling cleric. The soldier moved to obey, and bent over the fallen priest, but then was struck by an invisible foe and fell in a limp heap on top of the man whom he would have aided.

"Kai-yah!" Yoshimo exclaimed as he struck. "Heh, heh. The tourists love that stuff." A soldier made for the source of the sound and lashed out blindly. He hit nothing and staggered, thrown off balance by the force of his blow, wide open to a return strike. Yoshimo took advantage of the opening and knocked the man unconscious. Several other men nearby cowered away from the invisible threat. A few broke and ran.

Galvarey advanced, sword poised, and squinted at the air behind the cleric. He could just make out a vague shimmering. "Spike," he growled.

"Yeah, and I'm wearing the coat," the invisible form replied. The cleric's body was thrust away violently and crashed to the ground several yards away. "Come and have a go if you think you're hard enough."

"I will do just that," Galvarey said. He jumped forward and swung the sword. He missed, not really to his surprise, but was prepared for that eventuality and continued round with the swing. If Spike advanced to take advantage of the miss he would walk straight into the sword.

The continuation stroke was wasted on empty air. Spike hadn't fallen for the trick. Galvarey caught his balance and struck out again. Again he hit nothing. A whisper of sound warned him of a riposte and he jumped back hastily. The tip of Spike's sword glanced from Galvarey's breastplate.

"That spell can't last for much longer," Galvarey warned the vampire. He waved his sword from side to side to keep Spike back. "It will wear off and you'll be stranded in the middle of a hostile army. You would be well advised to flee now."

"Don't think so, mate," Spike replied. "Hostile army? Have you looked around you in the last minute or two?"

Galvarey did so. Taking his eyes from his opponent was no great matter when that opponent was invisible. His mouth dropped open in dismay. No longer was it a matter of a few men here and there running away. Complete companies were now openly fleeing the field. The army was in full rout.

"Not so bloody cocky now, are you?" Spike taunted.

"I can still slay you, at the least," Galvarey said. "Revenge for Nadinal." He struck out once more, with no more success than previously. His words were empty, and he knew it. When he had fought the vampire before he had been boosted by a Haste spell and a Potion of Fire Giant Strength and Spike had still held his own. Without those enhancements, and with Spike invisible, Galvarey had little hope against the vampire. He swung again, and yet again, but hit nothing. A chuckle came from behind his back. He spun around, saw Spike plainly visible, and lashed out with all his strength. Spike ducked under the blade and struck back.

A riderless war-horse came into Galvarey's view, running hard and with its eyes rolling and nostrils flared, and with its caparison soaked in blood. It was Isaea Roenal's horse. Galvarey looked about for his own horse. It was fifty feet away and Yoshimo was sitting in its saddle. Nadinal's horse was nowhere to be seen. Probably it had been appropriated by one of the fleeing soldiers. There was no way for Galvarey to escape. He took a hand from his sword briefly, wiped sweat from his brow, and then returned to the attack. Spike parried and riposted. Galvarey winced as the point of Spike's saber scored a bloody line across his cheek. He gritted his teeth and fought on.

Hoofbeats approached. Spike backed away, his sword raised in a defensive block, and Galvarey lacked the energy to pursue. He raised his eyes and met those of Sorkatani.

"So, Bhaalspawn, you have defeated me again," Galvarey conceded. He looked to each side of the Perfect Warrior. Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Minsc. Willow the Witch. Sir Xander. Anomen. A young woman unknown to him. Anya, who Isaea Roenal had sworn to slay. The girl who had slain Bessen trotted up and joined the group. Jaheira walked towards them from the direction of the wrecked siege tower. Galvarey tossed his sword to the ground. "I can see that it is useless for me to fight on. What has befallen Lord Roenal?"

"I cut off his head," Sorkatani answered.

"Isaea?"

"Evil met my sword," Minsc boomed out. "My sword met Evil. He will trade with the Slavers no more. Right, Boo?"

"And Baron Metrich?"

"He tried to get in a cheap shot at Xander," said Buffy. She tapped the hilt of Daystar. "I stopped him. Kinda permanently."

"Congratulations, then, Bhaalspawn. The victory is yours." Galvarey drew himself up to his full height. "I trust that you will make my death clean and quick."

Sorkatani threw her leg over the saddle and slid to the ground. "I'm not going to kill you, Galvarey."

"You're not?" Galvarey's exclamation of surprise was echoed by several of Sorkatani's comrades.

"I know that to do so would be wise," Sorkatani explained, "but I cannot bring myself to kill a Harper."

"Bloody hell!" Spike swore. "I held back from killing the bugger myself 'cos I thought I'd save him for you. Shouldn't have bleeding well bothered."

Galvarey took off his helm and wiped blood from his cheek. "I don't understand. You have the right to kill me. You spared me once and I attacked you yet again. In your place I would have myself executed."

"Perhaps, then, I am better than you," Sorkatani said. "Or perhaps I am being foolish. It matters not. I will not kill you in cold blood. Nor will I order that you be hanged. You may go free."

Galvarey shook his head. "This – I – your mercy is beyond my understanding. To refrain from taking your rightful vengeance after such provocation…"

"Gorion might have been proud of your actions," Jaheira told Sorkatani. "On the other hand he might have said that you are being bloody stupid."

"Perhaps, abbil," Sorkatani said. "I care not. I will not kill Harpers except in the heat of battle, and even then only if there is absolutely no other way."

"By all the gods," Galvarey said, "I have misjudged you terribly."

Sorkatani raised an eyebrow. "Do not claim that you attacked me for the safety of Faerûn. I know your true motives."

"I do not deny that I hoped to win advancement in the Harpers by defeating you, and that I acted more for my own benefit than for that of the Harpers," Galvarey admitted. "Nor that I well know that you are no great evil. And yet I did in truth think that you would not be able to resist the pull of your blood, and that one day you would pose a threat to all in the Realms. But you spare me now, after all that I have done, and I see that you have taken great pains to slay as few as possible in the battle. Those choked by the gas are unconscious only, I see, and already some are recovering. Stinking Cloud rather than Cloudkill?"

"That's right," Willow confirmed.

"I have been wrong about you, Lady Sorkatani. I apologize most humbly."

"Bloody right you were wrong," Spike growled.

"No apology that you can make can be sufficient," Jaheira put in. "You should fall upon your own sword, Galvarey."

"Peace, Jaheira," Sorkatani said. "I think that he will not come after us again." Her eyes narrowed. "If you do, Galvarey, do not expect that I shall be so merciful a third time."

"If I do then I will deserve death for sheer stupidity as much as for evil intent," Galvarey said. "No, Lady Sorkatani, you are safe from me forever. I am sorry for my attacks upon you." He wiped his cheek again. "When you return to your keep you will be attacked by assassins. I sent them ahead of our assault, in the guise of travelers, to strike at you from the rear. I shall accompany you and order them to desist."

"We know about the assassins," Buffy said. "They're kinda neutralized. Locked up in a room with great big rocks piled up outside the door. Ones that it took both me and Tani to lift. They don't get out until we let them out."

"It seems that you were a step or more ahead of me all the way," said Galvarey. "Still, if I am with you when you release them, it may be of some use."

"It may ease the situation," Sorkatani conceded. "Very well, Galvarey, return with us to the keep. You must leave before dark, however. I extend no invitation to stay."

"Of course," Galvarey said. "I shall return to Athkatla. Once there I shall turn my energies towards discovering the state of affairs in Spellhold. Perhaps I can find out something that might help you to rescue your friend Imoen."

"If you can, Galvarey, then I shall consider your debt paid in full," Sorkatani said. "You shall have earned true forgiveness rather than merely the withholding of punishment."

"I shall do my best," Galvarey said, "but I can make no promise of success. There are rumors that the Cowled Wizards themselves have lost touch with the island. I shall investigate further and let you know what I find."

Yoshimo dismounted from Galvarey's horse and led the beast forward. Galvarey mounted and rode with Sorkatani's party towards the keep. The music had stopped now, and the army of a thousand men had vanished. "Tell me," Galvarey enquired, "how is it that Giles was able to summon forth an illusionary army of such great size? What was that song? I have heard nothing like it before."

Spike grinned at him. "Bloody brilliant, innit? Tenpole Tudor. 'Swords of a Thousand Men'. Never have thought that old Giles would be able to pull that one out of his hat."

"I have no idea what you are talking about," said Galvarey.

"Me neither," said Buffy. "I guess it's a British thing."

"Damn right," said Spike. "Come on, let's get a move on. I've got a hell of a thirst on me right now. Once this git has taken his assassins and buggered off I'm gonna do some serious drinking. Feel like drinking a whole sodding barrel of ale. Or much, much, more."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

"Man, that was totally awesome," said Warren. "They beat a whole army."

"Yeah," said Jonathan. "Like, flawless victory, dude."

"It was pretty cool," Andrew agreed. He yawned. "Uh, I think I'm gonna call it a night, guys. It's been a pretty tiring day for me."

"Yeah, and whose fault is that?" said Warren. "But yeah, I'm gonna hit the sack too. They can have their post-game party in private."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

"Oh, my head," Giles groaned. He rolled over in the bed and put a hand over his eyes. "I should have been more careful of the side effects. '_We'll probably drink a barrel and much, much, more_.' I think I did."

"You suffer, a'mael?" Jaheira enquired from the bed beside him. She sat up, her breasts appearing as the bedclothes slid down her body, and put her hand to his brow. "A healing spell shall ease your discomfort."

"Thank you, my dear," Giles said. "Ah. Yes. That is much better." He sat up beside her. "I must pay a visit to the privy now. I shall return." He bent towards her and then pulled back. "It might be best if I wash my mouth out before I kiss you again."

"I also," said Jaheira. "Beer in great quantity does not make for the sweetest of breath in the morning." She raised her eyebrows. "You are still in the mood for loving?"

"Now that you have cured my hangover I may well be," Giles confirmed. "After I visit the privy and wash out my mouth, that is. As long as that is in accordance with your own desires, of course."

"Oh, it is, it is," said Jaheira. "You surprise me, that is all. We have made love many times through the night, and I feared that I might have worn you out, but instead you have almost worn me out. Yet still I desire more. You are a surprising man, Giles."

"I'm glad that you think so," Giles said. He rose from the bed, slipped a robe over his shoulders, and padded off towards the privy. He hummed a song to himself as he went.

"_When your body's had enough of me  
And I'm laying flat out on the floor  
And you think I've loved you all I can  
I'm gonna love you a little bit more_."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

Author's note: the song used by Giles in the battle was 'Swords of a Thousand Men', written by Eddie Tenpole, aka Edward Tudor Pole, and originally performed by Tenpole Tudor. Most of the lyrics for it to be found on the web are incorrect and stem from a cover by The Real McKenzies, who changed the pro-English original lyrics to be anti-English. The correct lyrics are:

_Deep in the castle and back from the wars  
Back with my lady and the fire burned tall  
Hoorah went the men down below  
All outside was the rain and the snow  
Hear their shouts, hear their roar  
They've probably all had a barrel or much, much more  
Hoorah hoorah hoorah yea  
Over the hill with the swords of a thousand men_

_We had to meet the enemy a mile away  
Thunder in the air and the skies turned grey  
Assembling the knights and their swords were sharp  
There was hope in our English hearts  
Hear our roar, hear our sound  
We're gonna fight until we have won this town  
Hoorah hoorah hoorah yea  
Over the hill with the swords of a thousand men_

_When the knights come along at the end of the day  
Some were half-alive and some had run away  
Hear our triumph, hear our roar  
We'll probably drink a barrel or much, much more  
Hoorah, Hoorah, Hoorah, Yea  
Over the hill with the swords of a thousand men_

_Hoorah hoorah hoorah yea  
Hoorah hoorah hoorah yea yea yea_

_Hoorah hoorah hoorah yea  
Hoorah hoorah hoorah yea yea yea_

Disclaimer: lyrics from 'Swords of a Thousand Men' by Tenpole Tudor and from 'A Little Bit More' by Dr. Hook and the Medicine Show are used without permission and with no intent to profit.


	38. Chapter 38

**Chapter Thirty-eight**

Giles' fingers danced over the frets of his new guitar. "Most satisfactory," he pronounced. "There was the odd occasion, with the old one, where the extra width of the neck made certain chords just too much of a stretch. I had to cheat and use simpler chords. That won't be necessary any more."

"Cool," said Willow, "as long as you can still do the magic. It's not, uh, like in 'Spellsinger' where Jon-Tom had to have the duar, and when it broke he was in all kinds of trouble, is it?"

"Oh, no," Giles assured her. "There was little magical about the previous instrument. Some cantrips to enhance volume and sustain, that's all, and I've had more powerful versions of the same spells incorporated into this one. I have no worries on that score. I have performed some minor magics with unaccompanied vocals already. The instrument is an aid to concentration, and it greatly improves range and area of effect, but it's not essential."

"So, are you selling the old one, or keeping it as a spare?" Buffy asked.

"A spare, definitely," Giles replied. "If this broke in battle I'd suddenly be in the position of a rifleman forced to resort to a pistol. A reserve instrument would be of great value." He pursed his lips. "Although there are certain practical problems. A guitar is fairly portable, but two would be rather an encumbrance. That is not a problem when we're on horseback but perhaps unfeasible on foot."

"There may…" Viconia began, but then she shut her mouth and fell silent.

"Yes, Viconia?" Giles said.

"Nothing, zra'ha," Viconia said. "I thought that I had an idea, but perhaps not. Another time."

"You know, I get kinda envious watching you guys up there singing," Buffy remarked. "Sometimes I'd kinda like to join in, you know? Only, I don't know most of the songs you do. And, hey, I'm maybe not the world's greatest singer."

Giles looked at her over the rims of his glasses. "Viconia was not exactly familiar with my repertoire before I taught it to her," he pointed out. "I don't see any reason why you shouldn't join us in a song or two, if you would like, although you would probably regard the songs that I know as a little outdated."

"Cool," said Buffy. "Except I'm totally not as good a singer as Viconia. Or Tara. Maybe I could, like, rap. Uh, except that you're not gonna know anything like that."

Giles cocked his head to one side. "Ah. I might have something along those lines that would be suitable."

Buffy's eyebrows performed an impression of a condor soaring high above the Andes. "Rap? From Giles? You're kidding, right?"

"White English rap, I'm afraid," Giles confessed, "but it did go down rather well in America too at the time.

"Color me stunned," said Buffy. "Okay, what is it?"

"Let me think about it for a while," Giles said. "I'll have to dredge the words up from the recesses of my memory. It's not a record that I actually owned."

"Sure thing, take your time," Buffy said. "And, hey, I guess we'd better get back to business. So, how are we gonna split up to go after these liches?"

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

"That was pretty much boring," Buffy complained. "I guess that's a funny thing to say, seeing as how we were fighting one of the scariest Undead around in this world, but hey, it was… boring."

"For you, perhaps, Jabbress," Yoshimo commented, "but there were certainly moments of interest for me. That it could see me, even invisible and with my Cloak of Non-Detection, was disconcerting."

"Well, yeah, it started off scary," Buffy conceded. She noticed that Sorkatani had a pout on her lips, and had lowered her eyebrows in a frown, and Buffy wondered whether the other warrior girl was annoyed that she had been able to make little contribution to the fight, or if it was Yoshimo's use of the title 'Jabbress' when speaking to Buffy that had upset Sorkatani. "But after we got the Protection scrolls working it was pretty much all me hitting it, the lich casting a spell that didn't work, Xander hitting it, me hitting it again, and then the lich making with another of the useless spells. Lather, rinse, repeat until it fell to bits."

"Our numbers were a hindrance," Sorkatani put in. "Those of us who lacked weapons to seriously harm the lich might as well not have been there. We were vulnerable to its spells, and to its summoned monsters, yet made no positive contribution. Summoned creatures, or undead, would have served as well to distract the lich and be far more expendable."

"So we trim the party down a lot for the next one," said Buffy. "Just me and Xander to hit it, Willow to do the Protection spells and summon things, maybe a cleric, and Anya or Yoshimo in case of any traps or locks that need to be picked."

The pout remained on Sorkatani's lips. "It galls me that I am not needed," she admitted, "but there is great sense in your words. I shall return to the library of the temple of Oghma, I think, and seek to learn as much as I can about the Planar Sphere. And search yet again for any references to Bodhi or Irenicus."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

Bernard shook his head. "Sorry, can't help you there, Miss Viconia," he said. "Maybe in a tenday or so we might have something. Hendak's been in touch with an old mate up in the North and he's shipping some good stuff down to us. Dunno if we'll get what you're after, though, I think it'll be mainly barbarian swords and shields and so on."

"We shall be on our way to Spellhold by then, I hope," Viconia said. "I wished to have it before our departure."

"Could try Ribald Barterman's Adventurers' Mart over at Waukeen's Promenade," Bernard suggested. "It's more his sort of thing."

"Your suggestion has merit," Viconia acknowledged. "Thank you, Bernard."

"Don't mention it." Bernard gestured towards the platform at the top of the stairs. "So, what do you think of our bard?"

Viconia turned her eyes towards the young man who stood strumming upon a yarting. "He has modeled his songs upon those of Giles, I think," she observed. "I prefer the original, of course, but perhaps he is not entirely without ability."

"He ain't bad," Bernard agreed, "but Giles is the master. The Coronet's not the same without him. Don't suppose you could get him to come over here and play some night, could you? And you do some singing? You never sang here, but the word is that you're bloody good."

Viconia smiled. "Thank you. I have no objections, and I believe that Giles would be willing. I shall ask him, of course. Although, will your young bard not resent this?"

"Doubt it," Bernard said. "Reckon he'd be only too glad to try to pick up some tips. Anyway, it's what me and Hendak say that goes."

"I shall pass your request on to Giles," Viconia assured him, "and I shall tell Jaheira that you asked after her. Now I bid you farewell, for I must away to Waukeen's Promenade."

"Reckon you'll have to drag young Dawn out of here by the hair," Bernard remarked. "She seems to think that Ailmar there is – how would she put it? – 'Way cool'."

"Like, totally," Viconia agreed. Her eyes twinkled. "I see no need to tear her away. She can stay here, for she is safe with you and Hendak, and I wish my quest to remain my own business for the time being."

"For a present, is it?"

"Perhaps," Viconia said. "I grow soft, living amongst surfacers. Such a thought would never have occurred to me in the old days."

"Soft? Nah. Just more like Jaheira."

"And I would have taken those words as an insult once, yet I know you mean them as praise," Viconia said. "She is your friend, as she is mine. Farewell, then, Bernard."

"Farewell, Miss Viconia." Bernard's brows creased briefly and he tossed in an afterthought. "If Ribald doesn't have what you're looking for, you could try the bloke who has a stall outside the Promenade walls on the north side. He sometimes has some decent gear."

"I shall do that. Thank you, Bernard. Farewell."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

Warren saw Viconia emerging from the Copper Coronet and his eyes widened. "She's alone," he muttered. "It's like fate, man."

There was no-one around to hear his words. Jonathan was out on a date with Lisa. Andrew was meeting the mysterious 'Doctor' who had persuaded him to store dangerous demon eggs; two government agents were watching over the transaction, ready to step in if it became dangerous for the young man. Warren was alone in the basement.

"Where the hell are the rest of them?" Warren wondered. "Like, Buffy's off to take on the Elemental Lich, and Sorkatani's doing research, but what about the rest of the guys?" He scrolled down the characters and clicked on Spike's icon. The scene changed. Spike and Yoshimo sat inside a house. Valygar, the ranger who was a descendant of the creator of the Planar Sphere, sat with them. "Oh, yeah, I guess that makes sense. His house is pretty much next door to the library. They're making plans," Warren remarked. He returned to the character icons and clicked again.

Tara, Minsc, and Jaheira were in the Slums, to the north of the Copper Coronet, surveying the outside of the Planar Sphere. Giles was with Sorkatani in the library. Willow, Xander, Anya and Anomen were accompanying Buffy to the lich's lair in the Bridge District. Korgan was in the Five Flagons Inn. Haer'Dalis the tiefling bard shared a table with him and they were talking. Warren's forehead wrinkled briefly; he wouldn't have expected the loutish and violent dwarf and the debonair bard to have anything in common. Perhaps they were discussing music, Warren guessed, and he returned to Viconia.

"This is my chance," he muttered. "I can't pass it up." He bit his lip. He wouldn't have dared to go ahead if Jonathan had been there. Andrew's absence was almost irrelevant, as his interest in the game had dwindled as the Trio's ability to control events had eroded away, and he might not have even noticed Warren's actions, but Jonathan would have objected strongly. In most circumstances Warren could get Jonathan to go along with anything, apart from in the matter of the obvious superiority of Sean Connery to Roger Moore where Jonathan stubbornly held to his own ridiculous opinion, but this was different. Warren knew that Jonathan would never go along with Joan's plan, and no amount of argument would change his mind, because of course Jonathan had right on his side. Killing Viconia would be wrong.

Warren pressed Control and Space to activate the command console, hesitated, and then pressed the keys again to cancel the instruction. "I can't do it," he moaned. "She's real. I don't care what Joan says." He leaned back in his chair and then his eyes widened again. "She's turning left at the fountain. Belmin's up that way. It's, like, too good a chance to pass up. Like, it's just too easy. She's serving herself up on a plate, man." He paused the game, minimized it with Alt-Tab, and opened ShadowKeeper. "Keldorn, Keldorn. KELDOR8, KELDOR9, 10, 12, and 14. I guess I'd better go with 14. Viconia's pretty tough these days." He closed ShadowKeeper, maximized the game, pressed Ctrl-Space again, and then began to type.

CLUAConsole:CreateCreature ("KELDOR14")

He positioned the cursor and pressed Ctrl-Space once more. "The die is cast," he muttered. He gritted his teeth and saved the game three times in succession. First a quick-save, although that was a misnomer these days as the Save Game files had grown so large that a save took a full five minutes or more, then a normal save overwriting the last back-up, and finally a save to the copy on the external hard disk. He bit his lip again. The bridges were burned. No turning back. There was nothing to do now but watch.

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

"Vile drow, your presence defiles this city."

Viconia clicked her tongue against the roof of her mouth and rolled her eyes. She had not heard such abuse in the city for a while, and had thought that perhaps she was accepted, but it seemed that the rivvin did not change. "It is a shame that you do not have one," she said to the stallholder, ignoring the shouts from behind her. "I would have paid well. I have no need of any of your other wares at present. Another time, perhaps. Farewell."

"Farewell to you, my lady," the stallholder bade her in civil tones. His voice sharpened as another tirade of insults came from the hostile bystander. "Bugger off, Belmin. She ain't doin' no harm. You've probably lost me a sale with your stupid yelling."

"You would sell weapons to a drow? Traitor," Belmin responded. "We should burn this black spawn of evil."

"I tire of this," Viconia drawled. She turned away from the stall and allowed her gaze to rest for a moment upon the unprepossessing form of Belmin. "Away from me, rivvil. Your words are like the chatter of a has'tras." She turned away from the stall and began to walk towards the entrance to Waukeen's Promenade.

Belmin followed. "Why is no-one doing anything?" he wailed. "The evil one walks among us and you just stand there and watch. She should be burned. Join with me and seize the bitch."

A guardsman, leaning on his pike in the shadows near the promenade gateway, stood up straight. "Now you shut your trap, Belmin Gevras," he ordered. "There's no call for that kind of talk. Incitement to riot, that's what it is, and I'll clap you in irons if you don't quit it."

"Yeah, you knock it off, idiot," a rivvil in peasant garb chimed in. "Touch the lady and I'll punch your lights out. That's the lass what sings 'Sunshine on a Rainy Day', that is."

Viconia's eyebrows rose. Some of the rivvin were supporting her. Surprising, and curiously pleasing. The customs of this place probably dictated that she should utter some words of thanks. She sought for a suitable phrase and then was distracted by an unusual occurrence ahead of her.

Out of nowhere a knight in full armor appeared. There was a soft 'pop' as air displaced by his arrival was forced away at great speed. The knight had apparently been sitting down and he materialized with his legs fully bent. He toppled backward and landed on his backside. A nearby peasant burst into laughter, although the majority of the bystanders were too astounded to react in kind.

"Torm's gauntlet!" the knight exclaimed. He clambered to his feet and opened his eyes very wide. "What sorcery is this? I was in the chambers of the Radiant Heart and now I am here." He was a man of middle age, with graying hair and a neatly trimmed grey beard, and his gleaming armor bore the nicks and scratches of much hard use. He looked around and shook his head. "This is the alley next to Waukeen's Promenade. How did I get here? Sorcery, indeed."

Viconia had halted in her tracks on seeing the unexpected arrival but now she resumed her course without comment. Although the materialization had been surprising, and the subsequent pratfall mildly amusing, it was of no great import to her. Her quest for the gift that she intended to give to Jaheira, for her friend to then pass on to Giles, was all that concerned her.

The knight's gaze fell upon Viconia. "What is this? A drow? I fall victim to some dark enchantment and, by the gods, here is a creature of evil sorcery. What have you done to me, witch?" He strode forward to bar her path.

"I have done nothing to you, foolish rivvil," Viconia snapped. "And I am no witch. Stand aside and let me pass."

"She lies," Belmin cried. "The vile creature has doubtless summoned you here for some dark purpose. Smite her down, good sir knight."

The knight scowled. He raised a hand and took hold of the hilt of the great two-handed sword that he wore slung across his back. "If you be not witch, drow, then what are you?"

"Hello, armor, mace, flail, ring any bells?" Viconia rolled her eyes after the fashion of Buffy and Dawn. "I am a priestess, oh sir knight. Now, as I requested before, will you step aside and let me pass?"

"A priestess?" The knight's eyebrows descended low. "Of what god or goddess? Surely you serve the vile demon queen Lolth."

Viconia hesitated for a mere second. She might be having something of a crisis of faith, and doubts about her affiliation had been afflicting her since Xander's revelation that she was no longer truly evil, but she would not openly deny her goddess. The Wall of the Faithless was the least of the fates that awaited someone doubly apostate. "I am a Nightcloak of Shar," she stated. "Do you question all travelers as to their religion, discourteous one? I ask you again to let me pass. Or must I walk around you?"

The sword rasped against its scabbard as the knight pulled it free. "Know this, evil one," he growled. "I am Sir Keldorn Firecam, Knight of the Most Noble Order of the Radiant Heart, and I shall suffer no evil priestess to mock me."

"If you would not be mocked then I suggest that you do not act as a fool," Viconia said. A snigger sounded from an onlooker. "I see that you are not going to move aside. Very well, so be it, kke jaluk." She stepped to one side.

Keldorn's sword extended to block her progress. "Hold, evil one," he ordered. "Account for your presence."

Viconia glared at him. "I have no need to account for my presence, jaluk. Magistrate Brylanna is well aware that I am in the city, and she rewarded me for my assistance in a case of kidnapping. Indeed, two members of your own Order are among my associates."

"Hah!" Keldorn snorted. "You lie, foul creature, for no true paladin would mix with a being of the blackest evil."

"I do not lie," Viconia insisted. "Sir Xander and Sir Anomen travel with my party. Now, lower that great sword, the size of which is doubtless a compensation for a lack of size in other respects, and let me pass."

Several onlookers sniggered. Keldorn flushed. He had been experiencing problems in his marriage recently. Nothing to do with 'lack of size', of course, but because he had been neglecting his wife and family to devote the greater part of his time to the service of the Order. There had even been rumors that his wife was seeing too much of another man. As a result he had taken time out from his duties recently to spend more time with her, and matters did seem to be improving, but his children still regarded him as a cold and distant figure. And was he now neglecting the Order in favor of his family?

"Your mouth vomits forth filth and falsehoods," Keldorn accused. "Anomen Delryn would not tolerate your foul presence. As for this Xander, I do not know him well, but I came across him when he went to fight the Unseeing Eye. You were not among his party."

"I said not that I spent every waking hour with him, waelen jaluk," Viconia replied. "Anya would have much to say were that true. Go and ask him, if you doubt me, but go anyway. I grow tired of wasting time with a fool." She raised a hand to his sword blade and pushed it aside.

"Uh, sir," the guardsman put in, "Lady Viconia is doing no harm. She's just going shopping."

Keldorn swung his sword back into its blocking position. "Too often in this city the cause of justice is neglected in the interests of profit. I shall tolerate this no more. Torm decrees that I should ever stand alert against corruption." A thought had struck him. He had to concede that the drow priestess could not have been the one to transport him to this place. Someone else had done so, therefore, and the likeliest candidate was a deity. Torm himself, perhaps, to remind Keldorn of the path of righteousness by revealing to him an evil that was at large in the city?

"Smite the evil one, sir paladin," Belmin shouted out. "Your god demands it."

"Shut your mouth, you steaming great idiot!" ordered the bystander who had mentioned Viconia's signature song. Too late. The damage had been done.

Keldorn pulled back his sword but only to raise it into a striking position. "Defend yourself, drow," he warned, "for I shall show you no mercy."

Viconia's eyes widened. The fool was serious. He was about to attack her without provocation. "Harm me and Sorkatani will see you dead," she warned in her turn. She pulled the mace Mauler's Arm from her belt. "And I shall indeed defend myself, and it may be you who pleads for mercy." She felt the rush of power from the enchanted mace flow through her and with her other hand she drew forth the heavy Flail of Ages. "I seek not battle. I desire only to visit the Adventurers' Mart. Yet if you are set upon this course I shall not back down. No I won't back down."

"Sir Keldorn, don't do this," the guard pleaded.

"Smite her!" Belmin shouted once more. There was a 'thud' of fist on flesh as another bystander took violent exception to his words.

Keldorn jabbed with his sword, more as a provocation than as a committed attack.

Viconia stepped back and raised her hands. "Waess del lorug," she called out. Her skin became mottled and lined as a Barkskin spell took effect, granting her partial protection against weapons.

And then her skin returned to its normal smooth and flawless condition. Her mouth gaped open. "Vel'bol zhah nindol?"

Keldorn grinned and brandished his Holy Sword aloft. "The spells of your dark goddess cannot aid you against Hallowed Redeemer," he declared. "You shall perish. Have at thee!" He brought the blade down in earnest.

Viconia leapt backward and avoided the blow. "Then, foolish knight, I shall just have to do this the hard way," she said. She lashed out with the Flail of Ages and the battle was on.

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

Buffy scratched her head. "Two doors and they both fit the description. Which one do we pick? Bueller? Anyone?"

"Both lead into the same building," said Anomen. "Does it matter?"

"Well, we don't want to bust in on some family minding their own business," Buffy said, "but the house looks kinda empty. I guess it doesn't matter."

"Both of them were trapped, but the door that faces the river is much more securely locked than the other one," Anya pointed out. "That might indicate that it leads to the important stuff."

"Like the tomb of the lich guy," Xander said.

"Okay, let's go with that," said Buffy. "Open the lock, Anya. Start with the preparations, Will. Showtime in two minutes."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

Korgan wiped the back of his hand across his mouth. "The ale wis welcome," he said, "but ye can take yer offer o' gold an' shove it up yer arse. Ah'm nae interested."

Haer'Dalis frowned. "Don't try to tell me that you're loyal to Giles, dwarf. You're just holding out for more pay. Well, I could perhaps stretch to five hundred danter, but that's my final offer."

"Whit part o' 'take yer offer an' shove it' did ye nae understand, ye pointy-lugged scunner?" Korgan pushed back his chair and stood up. "Aye, ah ken fine whit ye're after. Ye're nae the top mannie nae mair, an' ye're nae ower fond o' that. Weel, bluidy tough luck for ye. Ah'm likin' things fine wi' Giles. Guid songs, enough gold tae keep me in ale, beasties tae clobber noo an' again, an' lassies openin' their legs for me every nicht. Ah'll nae risk buggerin' that up for a mangy few pieces o' gold. Awa' wi ye, mannie, or ye'll feel the bite o' mah axe."

"Suit yourself." Haer'Dalis stood up. "Perhaps Viconia might be more amenable."

Korgan laughed. "Ye're daft, tiefling. Yon dark elf will aye strip the flesh frae yer bones if ye dare say a word agin' Giles. Awa' an' bile yer heid, afore ah skelp ye one wi' mah axe."

Haer'Dalis glared at him, spun on his heel, and walked out of the Five Flagons. Korgan raised his glass and drained the little that remained.

"Ah shud hae led the laddie on a wee whiles an' screwed anither glass or twa oot o' the bugger," he lamented. "Ah weel, a free pint's nae tae be sneered at."

A foaming tankard of ale was set down on the table at his elbow. Korgan looked up in surprise and met the gaze of the voluptuous barmaid who had slept with Minsc. "On the house," she said.

"Ah thank ye, lassie," Korgan said. "Ah take it ye're nae ower fond o' that scunner?"

"He lied to me, bedded me, and left me," she explained. "It was good to see him taken down a peg. Was he trying to get you to desert Giles?"

"Aye, he wis that," Korgan confirmed. "He's off his heid. Disnae he ken that Giles will be gaun awa' in a tenday or twa?"

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

Viconia pulled out every fighting trick that she knew. Skills learned from Sorkatani, from Spike, and from Buffy. She parried with the mace and lashed out with the flail, spun on her heel and brought her other leg around in a high spinning kick that broke Keldorn's nose, and struck once more with the flail.

Every time one of her blows landed a stab of pain shot through her. Keldorn was protected by some magic, of a form unknown to her, which inflicted damage upon any who harmed him. Her blows brought her almost as much pain as they caused to the paladin.

His sword swept aside her blocking mace and crashed against her side. It failed to pierce her armor of dragon scales but the impact bruised her severely. She gasped for breath and winced at the ensuing agony. A cracked rib, she thought, and she back-pedaled frantically to gain time to cast a healing spell.

Keldorn charged and struck out again with the spell incomplete. She was forced to dodge aside and the spell was lost. She growled and hit him over the head with the flail. Keldorn grunted in pain, and a trickle of blood appeared from under the rim of his helm, but again some magical energy brought an equivalent grunt of pain from Viconia.

"Leave her alone, you berk," one of the peasantry yelled at Keldorn. He threw a cobblestone at the knight. It bounced from the paladin's cuirass, doing little harm, and the peasant yelped as the protective magic took retribution. "Bastard!"

"Stop, Sir Keldorn," the guardsman ordered. "You are in the wrong here." He stepped forward and tried to interpose his pike between the combatants.

"The drow has charmed you," Keldorn deduced. "You will thank me for this later." He released his sword hilt with one hand and punched the guardsman in the jaw with a mailed fist. The guard dropped unconscious to the ground.

Viconia took advantage of the distraction to heal herself. "That was ignobly done, knight," she accused. "I did not charm the man. He acted only in the cause of justice, as you claim to."

"Justice lies in making war upon evil without cessation," Keldorn replied.

"This ain't justice," the stallholder pointed out. "She weren't doing no harm."

"By her very presence she corrupts the city," Keldorn insisted. He took a two-handed grip on his sword again and advanced.

Viconia called down a Flame Strike upon him. It fizzled out harmlessly without making contact. "Vith'os!" she swore. She readied mace and flail again and met his advance. "Ultrinnan!"

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

"Go, Viconia," Warren urged. Even though he had set up this fight in order to kill Viconia his sympathies still lay firmly with the dark elf. "You rock, girl."

He smiled as he watched Viconia hit Keldorn three times in succession, taking damage from Hallowed Redeemer's retributive powers in the process, but bringing Keldorn down from Barely Injured to Injured. Keldorn stepped in close, inside the arc of the Flail of Ages, and struck at Viconia with the pommel of his sword. Viconia brought her knee up hard between his legs and Warren winced in sympathy. Keldorn's steel codpiece took the brunt of the impact, however, and he suffered less from it than did Viconia from the magical counter-strike. Then Keldorn brought his helmeted head forward and butted Viconia hard in the face. She staggered back, tripped, and fell to the ground.

"Oh, crap," Warren muttered. "I so shouldn't have done this. But too late to go back now."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

Keldorn raised his sword and strode forward. From the small crowd of onlookers a peasant rushed out and threw his arms around the paladin. "Leave off," the peasant cried. "Get up, my lady."

Viconia clambered to her feet. "Thank you," she gasped out.

"Traitor!" Keldorn growled. He slammed an armored elbow into the ribs of the peasant and thrust the man away. He raised Hallowed Redeemer high and aimed a strike at the man who had intervened on behalf of the evil priestess.

"Bugger this," said another bystander. "I'm going to get help. Lady Sorkatani won't be having with this." He turned away and ran off in the direction of the Slums District.

Viconia saw the sword stroke descending towards her rescuer. "No!" she cried, and leapt forward. She interposed her mace between the sword and the man. The blow landed on the shaft of the Mauler's Arm and the peasant's life was saved. At a cost. The force of the impact ripped the mace from Viconia's hand and it fell to the ground.

The magical boost to Viconia's strength was dissipated. Suddenly she was no longer filled with the power of a strong man, stronger than Xander and not much weaker than Minsc, but was reduced to the native musculature of her wiry but slim body. She had no strength spells such as Draw Upon Holy Might prepared, for the magic of the Mauler's Arm would have made them superfluous, and even had she such spells the Dispel Magic aura from the paladin's Holy Sword would probably have disrupted them. The weight of the triple-headed Flail of Ages, too heavy now for her to wield effectively, dragged down her right arm and her intended follow-up stroke was never delivered.

Keldorn roared in anger and swung his sword. He forced Viconia back, away from the fallen mace, and lashed out again. Viconia took a two-handed grip on the flail and did her best to parry. She side-stepped and made a desperate dive for the ground where the Mauler's Arm lay. Her fingers closed on its shaft just as Keldorn's sword swept down again.

It struck her on the ankle. Her boot protected her to some extent, and the blade did not cut through the resilient dragon-hide, but the force of the blow was sufficient to crack bone. And it did. When Viconia rolled away and came erect once more she was crippled. Unable to support her weight with that leg. And with no chance at all of running away.

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

"Oh, crap," Warren groaned. "I wish I'd never started this thing. Shit. I can't watch." He scrolled down the character icons at the side of the screen, selected Buffy, and clicked. The view changed. Buffy, Xander, Willow, Anya and Anomen were in the Bridge District, outside a nondescript house, about to enter an open door.

"Huh?" Warren stared at the screen in horror. "Not that one, you dummies! The one on the other side. Not that one! It'll take you to…" The screen went black for a moment. When it lit up again it showed a small circular chamber, lit with an eerie purple glow, which led to a much larger room dominated by a huge round table. Symbols decorated the table's surface. The symbols of perhaps the most feared organization in all Faerûn.

"Hey, what the hell?" Buffy exclaimed. "We kinda jumped somewhere. This isn't the crypt we were looking for. What is this place?"

A circle of lights sprang up around the edge of the table. In the center of the table the air shimmered and a robed figure materialized out of nothingness. Warren groaned and completed his sentence, answering Buffy's question in the process, although of course unheard by her; "…the meeting chamber of the Twisted Rune."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

"Now, creature of evil, you shall perish," Keldorn declared.

"Oloth plynn dos!" Viconia spat defiantly. She raised both her weapons. At least now she had her strength back and could wield the flail. She swung it as Keldorn approached. She staggered off balance, hampered by her injured leg, but managed to strike home with a solid blow. Keldorn reeled back. Hastily Viconia began a healing incantation. Keldorn recovered quickly, before she could complete the spell, and he struck out to disrupt it. Viconia fell to the ground.

"Come on, lads," a bystander urged. "We can't let him kill her."

"Don't want him to kill us either," another townsman commented pessimistically.

The first man ignored the warning and rushed out to tackle Keldorn around the legs. He received a blow to the head with the sword's pommel for his pains and he fell unconscious. He had delayed Keldorn just long enough, however, and at last Viconia managed to complete a healing spell. Unfortunately too many of her spells had been wasted already and she had nothing left of sufficient power to mend the bone completely. She winced as she came to her feet and tried to stand erect. That leg would bear her weight now, but only barely, and she limped badly as she returned to the combat.

Keldorn miscalculated the effects of her injury and left himself open to a counter as he struck again. He took a blow from the flail full in the face and went down. Viconia cast another Cure Light Wounds on herself instead of following up. It did little more than heal the damage that the Holy Sword's aura had inflicted on her as she struck Keldorn, and her limp improved only marginally, but a half-smile still came to her face. For the first time she was definitely in better condition than was the rather battered paladin.

"Torm, the True and the Brave, heal thy servant," Keldorn intoned. The smile vanished from Viconia's lips as the paladin, now fully restored to health, leapt lightly to his feet and attacked again.

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

"So, there are intruders in the sanctum," the robed figure declared. "Strangers. I smell power on you. A strange power, not of this world, but it shall avail you naught. How did you get here? This portal is known only to my creatures and yet you had a key, a Rogue Stone."

"Uh, we stepped through a door? Hey, this isn't where we were aiming for," said Buffy.

"Wait a minute," said Anya. She hastily checked a pouch. "Damn it, it's gone, and it was worth three thousand danter. There was a message on a note with the stone. 'I am in the Bridge District'. If that's something to do with you, then you're linked with the Slavers. Buffy, I think this guy is an enemy."

"I kinda guessed that," said Buffy. "He looks pretty Undead to me, a lich maybe, even if he isn't the lich we were after."

"So that fool Koshi wrote it down," the undead wizard remarked. "I suppose you destroyed him to get it. I would almost thank you. Disobedience and incompetence should be punished. As it is, however, I shall destroy you instead. Come, my friends, it seems that the Twisted Rune shall have some amusement today."

Shangalar the Black, one of the six dread Lich Lords of the Twisted Rune, disappeared from the table even as Xander sent Azuredge hurtling through the air towards him. Four shimmering points of light appeared around the table and opened into portals. Through three of them enemies appeared. A Beholder, its immense size indicating that it was the ancient and powerful form known as an Elder Orb; a human, unremarkable except for being tall and muscular; and a vampire. An old one, and strong, Buffy could tell that straight away. The distortion of his face was not the 'game face' mask of a relatively young vampire but the bat-like countenance worn at all times by the Master. This vampire had existed for centuries enough to make Spike, or even Angel, seem young by comparison.

The fourth portal seemed to disgorge nothing. That was unlikely, however, and the adventurers guessed that whatever had stepped through was invisible. A tactic familiar to them, and in fact Willow was already shielded by Improved Invisibility, but disconcerting when they were on the receiving end.

Then Shangalar materialized behind them, the Beholder unleashed the first of its magical blasts, the vampire charged to the attack, and the battle was on.

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

"Oh, crap," Warren muttered. "Only five of them against the Twisted Rune. They are so dead. What the hell can I do about it? Why did I have to be so friggin' thorough about overwriting the saves? Joan will kill me even if Viconia dies."

He clicked on Viconia again and returned to the scene of the battle behind Waukeen's Promenade. Viconia was in dire straits now. Her white hair was heavily streaked with red from a gash on her scalp. Her right hand dripped blood in a steady stream, from where Keldorn had shattered a Potion of Healing in her grasp as she had tried to drink, and she gripped the Flail of Ages only with difficulty.

Even as Warren watched two bystanders tried to impede Keldorn to give Viconia a respite. The stall-holder ran to her and held out a potion bottle. Keldorn swept the peasants aside and knocked the potion from the merchant's hand. Viconia struck out with her flail as he did so, and drove him back, but the damage that she took from Hallowed Redeemer in the process was enough to drop her to her knees. She scrambled for the potion bottle, scooped it up, and managed to rescue enough of the liquid for a partial dose. She flung the empty bottle at Keldorn as he charged in once more, yelped in pain, and landed another solid hit with her mace. Keldorn staggered back, dazed; Viconia's ankle gave way under her and she sprawled on the cobbles.

"Fuck this," Warren growled. "I have to fix it." He paused the game and opened the Cheats console. "I can't bring in any of the party but maybe there's somebody else who can help. Uh, how long was Mazzy with them? She knows Viconia isn't evil, she'd stand up for her." A quick check of the halfling warrior's reference code and then Warren was typing furiously into the console. Ctrl-Space to activate the cheat. Nothing happened.

"Crap. Mazzy can't be touched. Oh, yeah, I remember, we'd lost her by the time they fought the Rune wizards in Imnesvale. Right. Who else? Cernd? Nope, he never met her. Valygar fights her sometimes in the straight game, so I couldn't bank on him helping her out. Haer'Dalis? He never joined the party, he might still be controllable, and she was part of the bunch that saved him. It's worth a try."

He typed in CLUAConsole:CreateCreature ("HAER11") and used Ctrl-Space again. A shimmer of light and a 'pop' of displaced air revealed that the cheat had worked. He grinned as the tiefling bard was suddenly standing with the spectators to the combat. Warren raised his hand and high-fived an imaginary companion.

"A mystical transportation," Haer'Dalis breathed. "I am amazed, stricken with confusion, and startled withal. This bird has flown without his wings. For what purpose have I been brought here?" He turned his head and looked around. His gaze fastened on the battered and bleeding Viconia, and on the armored knight who was bringing her closer and closer to death. "Ah, to watch the black carrion bird who wouldst take the very bread from the mouth of a starving performer suffering her well-deserved fate. Strike well, sir knight! Strike well!"

Warren's mouth dropped open. "What the fuck? The ungrateful bastard. She should have left you in the friggin' Planar Prison, creep."

He clenched his fists hard enough for his nails to leave marks on his palms. "I'm running out of ideas here. Who the fuck else is there? Captain Cernick!" Another burst of frantic typing was met with no result. Warren groaned. "Everybody who's interacted enough with them has gone friggin' independent on me. Think, Warren, think. There has to be some… hey! Lateral thinking here. I'll move Keldorn out of there. If I spawn him in the Rune chamber with Buffy I can help her out and save Viconia too."

This time a confident grin was on his face as he typed. It didn't last long. He stared blankly at the screen as Buffy's battle against the Twisted Rune members continued with absolutely no sign of Keldorn appearing. Warren checked his input. Had he put a space in the wrong place, or missed a quote mark?

CLUAConsole:CreateCreature ("KELDOR14")

No. Everything was as it should be. It just hadn't worked. It seemed that Keldorn's battle with Viconia had in itself constituted enough interaction to make the paladin an independent entity outside Warren's control.

Warren clicked back to Viconia. She was bent over, clutching her stomach with her right hand, and blood was running out through her fingers. The Flail of Ages lay unheeded on the ground and she was attempting to defend herself only with the Mauler's Arm. It seemed that another bystander had attempted to assist her; his unconscious body lay on the cobbles beside the trampled ruin of Viconia's hat.

Keldorn raised Hallowed Redeemer high ready to deliver what might well be the final blow. Warren bit his lip hard enough to draw blood and looked away from the screen.

"Get away from her, you bastard!"

There was menace enough in the shout to make Keldorn pause. A female voice, high-pitched and young, but filled with grim determination. Warren turned his head back to the screen, his lips beginning to curl into a smile, but the smile vanished at once.

"Oh shit," Warren groaned. "I am so dead."

It wasn't Buffy who had intervened; she was locked in deadly combat far away. It wasn't Sorkatani who stood glaring at Keldorn, a sword gripped tight in one hand, and her jaw jutting out resolutely. Not Jaheira, not Tara, and not Nalia.

It was Dawn.


	39. Chapter 39

**Chapter Thirty-nine**

The vampire was fast, skillful, and strong. Under normal circumstances that wouldn't have been too much of a problem; Buffy was faster, stronger, and at least as skilled. She would destroy it eventually, she knew, but it would take time. And time was something that they didn't have. The relentless magical assault from the Beholder was tearing them apart, hurting them badly, and stripping away their magical protections. Once those were gone they would be defenseless against Shangalar the lich's devastating arsenal of spells and their doom was inevitable.

Buffy slashed with the Blade of Roses and drove the vampire back a few steps. She took advantage of the brief respite to cast a quick glance around the chamber.

Willow wasn't invisible any more; a blast from the Beholder's Anti-Magic Ray had dispelled her Improved Invisibility. Now she was using the lich as a shield, sheltering behind that deadly enemy and repeatedly striking it with her highly enchanted Staff of Rynn, protected from retaliation by Protection From Undead and some carefully chosen Spell Immunities. If the Beholder got through to her again, and dispelled her remaining protections, she would be dead in seconds.

Xander and Anya were working together to neutralize the invisible member of the opposition. A female wizard, or a sorcereress or whatever, and at least as powerful as Willow, judging by the spells that had rained down upon the Scoobies in the first moments of the fight. Every time she unleashed an offensive spell she became visible but disappeared again almost immediately. A Ring of Invisibility, perhaps, although the ring that Yoshimo wore could be used only once a day and Sorkatani had led Buffy to believe that this was the norm for such rings in Faerûn. Between the invisibility, and spell wards that had shielded her from Willow's retaliatory strikes, the sorceress was almost immune to anything that they could throw at her.

The best that Xander and Anya had been able to do was to keep her fully occupied in evading them and unable to launch any new attacks. Then the unarmored human swordsman, the least dangerous in appearance of the enemy, had disrupted their efforts by attacking and badly wounding Xander. Now Xander was fully occupied in defending himself and Anya was unable to keep up the pressure on the wizardess. She had managed to gain a breathing space and Buffy could hear the woman chanting an incantation as she prepared to unleash another magical strike.

Anomen, who had been frantically casting protective spells upon himself and on every other member of the party that he could reach, gave up his efforts. Most of them had been ruined by the Beholder anyway. He was the only member of the whole group who could see the wizardess in her invisible state, thanks to a True Seeing spell, and he charged at her with his mace raised to strike.

He didn't make it. As Anomen moved into an open space the Beholder rotated one of its eye stalks and took aim. A beam of light flashed. Anomen stopped dead in his tracks. His armor, his clothes, his skin and his hair changed color. Everything was a uniform shade of gray. The Beholder had turned him to stone.

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

Sir Keldorn's brow furrowed as he stared at Dawn. "Interfere not, girl," he commanded. "You cannot shield the drow from my righteous fury."

"Righteous my ass," Dawn snorted. "You are so gonna be in a world of hurt when Spike gets here. Or Sorkatani, or Jaheira, or Minsc." She strode forward to interpose herself between the paladin and the badly wounded Viconia.

Keldorn continued to frown. Who was this girl? Her armor and weaponry indicated that she was a thief, perhaps one of the Shadow Thieves who controlled Amn's underworld, but her manner was not that of a street urchin. Rather did she act as if she were a lady, accustomed to privilege and command, and her fine bone structure and the glossy sheen of her well-brushed long hair reinforced that impression. Yet noble birth was no guarantee of noble deeds, he knew full well, and his hesitation was only momentary. "Stand aside, child," he warned her, "or feel the edge of my sword."

Dawn looked at the huge two-handed greatsword and she swallowed hard. It was a scary sword, way too heavy for her to have lifted, and so this guy was at least as strong as Xander; they'd taken her Girdle of Hill Giant Strength away from her after the incident in which she'd run amok and attacked everybody in the Mind Flayer lair, although hey, totally not her fault, and her nerve faltered for a moment. Then her chin lifted and she raised her slender two foot long blade. Her left hand went to her belt and drew a dagger. "Okay, you big bully," she challenged. "Bring it on."

"No, Dawn, do not risk yourself," Viconia gasped out. She stumbled forward on shaky legs. "He is a fool, indeed, but a formidable one. Run for one of the others. I can hold him off for a little longer."

"I'm not gonna let him hurt you any more, abbil," Dawn told her. "Hey, it was Spike who taught me how to fight. And Buffy, once she stopped thinking of me as a little kid. You think I can't kick this guy's fat ass?"

"He is dangerous, dalninil," Viconia warned her. "Put not yourself at risk for me."

Keldorn's frown grew deeper. He took one hand away from the hilt of his sword and stroked his beard. The evil drow woman was showing concern for the welfare of another even to the point of being willing to fight on, alone and badly injured, rather than let her young ally defend her. He remembered that the decisive point of the fight, the blow to the drow's ankle from which she had never entirely recovered and that had enabled Keldorn to keep the upper hand from then onward, had resulted from her acting to protect one of the locals who had intervened on her behalf. The man's actions in seeking to save the drow could be explained as the result of an evil enchantment clouding his mind; there was no such easy explanation for the act of self-sacrifice from the evil drow.

Could he be wrong? Impossible. She had stated openly that she was a priestess of Shar, the dark goddess who was patron to those most evil of magicians who used the Shadow Weave, and no priestess would ever lay claim to a deity not her own. Evil, indeed, and as an Inquisitor of the Order it was his duty to strike down such agents of dark magic. And those who would shield them from justice. It didn't even cross his mind to use his paladin ability to Detect Evil. He took a two-handed grip upon his sword again and advanced.

Dawn ducked under Keldorn's first swing. She thrust with her shortsword, aiming for the joints of the armor covering Keldorn's legs, and struck home on hardened leather rather than steel. The point sunk in only for half an inch but it drew blood and caused Keldorn to grunt in pain. The yelp uttered by Dawn, as she felt the sting of the magical backlash from Hallowed Redeemer, was far louder.

Keldorn kicked out at Dawn and forced her to retreat. He struck again, this time bringing the blade across in a low slash at her legs, and she jumped over it. Once inside the arc of its swing she aimed a cut at Keldorn's arm with her sword and stabbed with her dagger at his armpit. It was a good move, well thought out and delivered with speed and accuracy, but Keldorn was a veteran of hundreds of fights. He half turned, so that the dagger skidded on steel instead of finding flesh, and struck with the pommel of his sword at Dawn's face. He connected with her jaw. She staggered backward, stumbled, and fell to the ground. Keldorn raised his sword to strike again.

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

Anya flailed wildly with her sword. She connected by sheer blind luck, there was a sound like an axe hitting a log, and the weapon jerked in her hand. She grabbed at empty air with her other hand, took hold of something solid, and pulled. The sword dropped to the ground as Anya released it and brought her right hand up to join the left in tugging at whatever it was that she had caught. A tug-of-war began, Anya being the only visible part of the struggle, and it looked eerily as if she was engaged in a mime act.

Xander had backed away for a short distance to heal himself. The swordsman left him to it and turned toward Anya. Xander raised Carsomyr, his Holy Sword, and moved to intercept.

Buffy bared her teeth. There was no time to think about Anomen, if his petrifaction was reversible or if it meant that he was gone forever, and what it meant to her if he was. At this moment only survival mattered. "Xander!" she yelled. "Take out the eyeball or we're all dead! You're the only one who can do it."

Xander hesitated, torn between the logic of her words and the immediate threat to Anya, and Buffy acted to resolve his dilemma. She threw the Blade of Roses, as she had done against a vampire in the mausoleum below the Graveyard District, and hit the swordsman in the middle of his back. He toppled forward and fell flat on his face. Xander grinned and charged toward the Beholder.

Buffy drew in a deep breath and turned back to face her vampire opponent. Too late. The ancient vampire seized its opportunity and raced in to the attack. He grabbed her left forearm and right shoulder, opened his mouth wide, and plunged his fangs into her throat.

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

Haer'Dalis looked at Dawn and his eyes widened. He licked his lips. "Such grace," he muttered under his breath. "Oh, to have those slender legs wrapped around my waist!" He had been hardly aware of her before this, regarding her as just a kid hanging round the fringes of Sorkatani's and Buffy's party, but now he saw her as a beautiful girl just ripening into womanhood. He imagined the rosy buds of her nipples, the virgin cleft between her long legs, the way she would gasp and cry out in surprise and pleasure as he entered her, and he felt himself growing hard. It would be a delightful experience, and, when he grew tired of her and moved on to pastures new, it would serve as a sweet revenge upon the group who had stolen away his position as Amn's pre-eminent bard.

He saw Keldorn land a blow to the girl's jaw and send her crashing to the ground. He winced. It seemed that his plan was doomed even before it was fully formulated. Then the drow woman, crippled and bleeding as she was, hurled herself back into the fray. She struck the paladin twice before falling to her knees. Dawn rolled away, scrambled to her feet, and rushed in again. She kicked the knight behind one knee and stabbed at his kidney region. Her sword failed to penetrate his plate armor but she put him off balance and forced him to turn away from the drow.

Haer'Dalis frowned slightly. Others of the party would inevitably be arriving soon. He doubted now if Sir Keldorn would be able to slay the drow before overwhelming opposition made the task impossible. He considered intervening himself, slipping forward and slitting her throat as she was helpless, but rejected the idea. The thought of being caught in the act by Sorkatani, and then being sliced into small pieces with Celestial Fury, brought a cold shiver to his spine and made his burgeoning erection shrink into itself and curl up. Then a smile came to his lips as an alternative plan presented itself.

"Hold, sir knight," Haer'Dalis cried, and stepped out from the watching crowd. "Wouldst thou slay the fairest maid in all of Amn for no crime save that of loyalty to a friend?" He slid his matched pair of shortswords from their scabbards. He had no intention of really engaging in a duel against the knight, who was much too formidable an opponent for his taste, but he had to appear willing if he were to gain credit in Dawn's eyes. It would be an ideal first step in his campaign of seduction.

"Fairest maid in all of Amn?" Dawn echoed. "Me?"

Keldorn took a step back and to one side. "Are all here mad?" he exclaimed. His eyes focused on the tiefling's pointed ears and blue hair. "Hah! You are no elf, but rather a demonspawn, a fiend from the pits. It is a conspiracy of evil." He raised his sword into position for a strike at Haer'Dalis.

"Oh crap," Haer'Dalis groaned. His attempt to divert the paladin had been all too successful. He prepared to defend himself. Perhaps Dawn would return the favor by attacking Keldorn from the rear? No, she was now tending to the wounded drow. He was on his own, at least for the moment; exactly what he had not desired.

A noise from the crowd reached his ears. Not the chatter of idle bystanders, or shouts of abuse directed at Keldorn, both of which sounds had been a constant since the fight began. This was a new sound made up of cries of alarm, the rush of feet taking hasty evasive action, and even an occasional scream of terror. Something was approaching fast and causing the mob to scamper aside to clear a path.

The frantic parting of the ranks reached the border of the combat zone. Through the gap dashed out a leopard. Its mouth opened wide in a snarl, revealing an array of deadly fangs, and it uttered a short coughing roar of challenge. Keldorn spun around and aimed the point of his sword at the beast. He had little to fear from its claws, clad as he was in full armor, but knights had perished in combat against such beasts in the past. Claws and teeth could sever the leather straps that held the metal plates in place, leaving the flesh beneath vulnerable to raking and disemboweling, and there was no room for complacency.

Haer'Dalis was more observant. He noticed that Dawn and the drow were taking no such precautions against the beast, despite the blood that besmeared the drow's skin and armor and that would have been an irresistible lure to any predator, and he saw smiles appearing on their lips. It was no great feat to deduce what the leopard, or rather leopardess, really was. He sheathed his swords.

The leopardess reared up on its hind legs. Its body seemed to twist and distort. Then it was gone and in its place stood a woman. An elf, or rather a half elf, for her ears were a touch less pointed and her body not quite as slim as that of a true elf. She wore armor of alternating red and black dragon scales, a twin to the suit that was worn by the drow, and bore a lightweight shield strapped to one arm and a six-foot spear in her other hand. Haer'Dalis sighed. He had hoped that the transformation would leave Jaheira naked.

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

A vampire bite could be pleasurable, even erotic, and Buffy had felt ecstasy as well as pain at the fangs of the Master, of Angel, and of Dracula. The bite she had suffered in the Mulhorandi crypt had been a mere scratch and had hardly registered on her. This was different. There was no pleasure from the vampire's urgent assault, only searing agony as his fangs tore at her, and she screamed. Then she thrust with Daystar and drove it up under his ribs and found the heart.

Now it was the vampire's turn to cry out. The blade was heavily enchanted and dedicated to Lathander, god of the dawn and deadly foe to the Undead, and with Buffy's tremendous strength behind the thrust it brought untold agony to the vampire. Yet he did not relinquish his hold, for never had he tasted blood so rich and so sweet, and he knew that its power would quickly heal his dreadful wound if he continued to drink.

Buffy twisted the sword in the wound. "Say goodbye," she croaked out, and activated Daystar's most deadly ability. Sunray. A burst of magical sunshine that burned vampires almost as if it was the real thing. Not powerful enough to dust a vampire outright, not if he were of more than fledging status, or at least not in normal circumstances. Detonating inside his body multiplied its lethality many times over.

Long ago, during her Cruciamentum trial, she had tricked the psychotic vampire Kralik into drinking Holy Water. His destruction had been spectacular and complete. This eclipsed it. The vampire lit up from the inside, making his skeleton briefly visible through skin and flesh, and then burst into flame. Buffy kicked the burning body away from her before it could do her any harm, other than a few blisters, and saw it disintegrate completely. There was no cloud of white vapor this time; it was utterly destroyed.

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

"Take off that armor, false knight," Jaheira commanded. "You dishonor it."

"Like Xander's gonna be impressed when he finds out what kind of assholes are in this outfit that he's joined," Dawn added. "Not."

Keldorn's eyes opened almost impossibly wide and his eyebrows ascended almost to his hairline. "Has the whole world gone mad?"

"Yeah, 'cause that makes so much more sense than you being the one out of line," said Dawn. She helped Viconia rise to her feet.

Jaheira joined them and laid a healing hand upon her friend. "You should be more careful, abbil," she scolded. "How did you not have sufficient healing of your own for this eventuality?"

"I did not change my spells after we fought the lich," Viconia explained. "Too many are protections against the Undead and wards against fell magic, not appropriate for this fight, although what I had would have served had I not encountered a foe who could dispel magic. He pressed me hard and gave me little chance to heal myself." She bent to retrieve the Flail of Ages from the cobbles. "He came close to slaying me, abbil. Perhaps he would have done so were it not for these riv – these townspeople who aided me. Heal any who need it, Jaheira, for I have not a single spell of healing remaining."

"I shall, abbil," Jaheira assured her. She fixed a cold stare on Keldorn. "Had she died," she growled, "you would have followed her most assuredly."

"Sir Keldorn Firecam," a new voice put in, "I arrest you for public affray and assault upon an officer of the law."

Keldorn turned his head and saw two guardsmen. One was the one that he had punched unconscious earlier. A bruise from the blow was visible on the man's jaw. "I sought only to protect the city from evil," Keldorn protested. "It is my duty. And you cannot arrest me for affray without arresting the drow also."

"Lady Viconia didn't belt me one on the chin," the bruised guardsman pointed out. "T'wasn't her that started the fight, neither." He turned to Viconia. "You all right, ma'am?"

"I…" Viconia began, and then she faltered, lowered her eyes, and took a deep breath. "Thank you," she said. "I am unaccustomed to your courtesies. Among my people there is no such thing as kindness, or justice, or unselfishness. We say 'all trust is foolish', and 'trust no one but yourself'. You, and many other people here, stood up for me, even at the risk of your lives. I do not know how to thank you."

"Why, that was a right fair speech, ma'am," said the guardsman. "T'was my pleasure to be of service."

"And I want to thank you, my lady," spoke up the peasant who had performed a creditable rugby tackle on Keldorn and had nearly died for his pains. "Saved my life, you did."

"You risked it for me," said Viconia. "I could do no less."

"I do not understand," Keldorn said slowly. "Fair words and, in truth, fair actions. And yet she is evil."

"Is she?" a new voice put in. Tara stepped into view. Her hair was disheveled, there was sweat on her brow, and she was breathing hard. Beside her was the towering form of Minsc, his usual amiable smile nowhere in evidence, a hostile glower aimed at Keldorn in its place. "Just what the _fuck_ gives you that idea?" Tara went on. "Other than the color of her skin."

"I see evil here, yes," Minsc boomed out, "and it wears the armor of a paladin. I am confused, Boo. I cannot smite him, for the fight is over, but I cannot let him go unpunished. What should I do?"

Keldorn shook his head. "I acted only in the cause of justice and the security of Amn," he said. His brow furrowed with concentration as he at long last used his holy power of divination. "She is… not evil!"

Viconia winced. "Flaunt my shame in front of all, then, as if you have not done damage enough already."

Keldorn took no notice of her incomprehensible words. "By the gauntlet of Torm," he said in a hollow voice, "What have I done?"

"You can explain yourself to your Prelate," the unbruised guardsman said. "Or to Magistrate Bylanna. Put down your sword."

Keldorn obeyed. "I have done a great wrong," he admitted. "I crave your pardon, lady."

Viconia did not answer. She picked up the ruin of her hat from the cobbles and stared at it. "I sought only to buy a present for Giles," she said, and suddenly burst into tears. Jaheira wrapped her arms around her friend and held her as she wept.

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

Buffy gauged the position of the woman wizard by that of Anya and lashed out with Daystar. A spray of blood droplets spattered across the chamber floor, Anya tugged hard, and suddenly Anya was holding a wizard's staff and a robed woman was plainly visible in front of her. The woman clutched one hand to a bloody gash in her side just below her breasts. Her other hand went to her belt and drew forth a wand. Buffy hesitated for a mere fraction of a second before striking again. The woman's head flew from her shoulders.

Xander drove Carsomyr deep into the huge central eye of the Beholder. The levitating creature fell to the ground and its lesser eye-stalks went limp. Xander pulled the sword free and turned his attention to the lich.

Buffy retrieved the Blade of Roses from the corpse of the swordsman and raised both her swords high. She fixed her eyes upon Shangalar. "Four down, one to go," she said, and took a step in that direction. It didn't occur to her that they had not used the rare and precious Protection From Magic scroll before entering the supposed lich's lair, as Willow had wanted it kept in reserve for the forthcoming confrontation with the super-lich Kangaxx, or that the Beholder had stripped away many of their other wards.

Shangalar's grim head, grey skin stretched tight over a bare skull, turned and his gaze locked upon Buffy. He rocked under an impact as Willow smote him a heavy blow with her staff, her strength multiplied several times over by the Girdle of Hill Giant Strength that she was wearing, but the lich managed to maintain his concentration this time. The words of an incantation came from his lips, or rather from where he would have had lips in life, and four shimmering barred gates appeared around Buffy and slammed shut. She uttered a gasp of surprise and shock and then vanished.

Something approximating to a triumphant smile appeared on Shangalar's bony face. He began another incantation, to open a gate that would summon forth a Pit Fiend to fight on his behalf but Xander smote him with Carsomyr before the spell was completed and ruined it. The angle of Shangalar's jaw changed subtly and the smile became a grimace of frustration.

Anya took out a scroll of Protection From Undead from her pack, recited the words, and then joined the other two in beating on the lich. Her sword lacked the necessary enchantments to harm the creature and so she tried to use the staff that she had acquired. It did nothing. She was certain that it was highly enchanted but in her hands it might as well have been a normal piece of wood.

"What happened to Buffy?" Xander gasped out, in between sword blows. "Can we get her back?"

"It was a Maze spell," Willow informed him. She struck the lich hard on the skull and sent a chip of bone flying. "She'll… come back in… a few minutes."

"Not Imprisonment, then," Anya said. "Good. That's much worse."

"Have to… know the victim's name… to do Imprisonment," Willow panted.

"Oh crap," Xander grunted. "He knows it now."

"Don't think… that's gonna matter," Willow said. Shangalar's chest had caved in under one of Xander's blows and pieces of rib clattered to the floor. "Another… few seconds… and this guy is toast."

"From the plane of fire," Shangalar intoned, "Efreet, I summon…"

Anya pulled Azuredge from Xander's belt, grasped the weapon in both hands, and smashed it down on the top of the lich's head. The skull shattered. The rest of the withered body crumbled into dust and an empty robe collapsed to the floor with a surprisingly loud 'thud' and a distinct note of metallic clinking. "And that's that," Anya declared gleefully. "Now we loot the bodies."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

Buffy ran her hands over Anomen's stone face. "You can get him back, right, Willow?"

"Not right now," Willow replied. "I don't have Stone To Flesh prepared. Tomorrow, sure, no problem. Or we can, like, take him to a temple. They can unstone him."

"At a price," Anya commented. "You don't need him for anything tonight, do you, Buffy?"

Buffy's eyebrows descended low enough to require a helium-oxygen mixture in their breathing tanks. "I'm not boinking him, if that's what you mean, Anya. But hey, I don't want to leave him like this. It can't be fun."

"Viconia put up with it for seventy years," Willow informed her. "I think we can let Anomen play statues for one night. And, well, it's not gonna be easy getting him to a temple."

Buffy grabbed the statue around the waist and lifted it from the floor. "You were saying?"

"I've found out how to open the portal back to where we came from," Anya announced. "Are we ready to go?"

"Hang on a second," Willow said. "Amin on'sinta, olvann'oline. Wow. Oh, this is so cool."

Buffy lowered Anomen to the ground. "What is it?"

"This staff," Willow said. "It's the Staff of the Magi."

"Magi?" Buffy's forehead creased. "Like, the Three Wise Men? I thought they didn't have Christmas in this world."

"Magi like in more than one mage," Willow clarified. "Or, more like Supermage. This is one major league cool item, Buffy. Like, built in Protection From Evil, Spell Trap, and all you have to do to become invisible is to pass it from one hand to the other. As many times as you like."

"I saw her doing that," Anya said. "That's why I grabbed for it."

"That was a really smart move," Willow praised. "It might have saved all of us, 'cause hey, she was pretty much untouchable with it, and she had some serious shit to throw at us if she'd gotten the chance."

"That's my girl," Xander grinned. "Not just a pretty face."

Buffy uncorked a bottle of healing potion and drained it. "Why can't this stuff taste like Gatorade?" she complained. "Hey, I think we did pretty good, guys. We're not in too bad shape, apart from Anomen, and we picked up some good stuff. Let's go home. We'll come back tomorrow and next time we'll go through the right door."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

Viconia slipped between the covers and lay next to Spike. "Doubtless you will want to slake your lusts," she said. "Do so, then, and hurry up so that I can sleep."

Spike raised his eyebrows. "'S no fun if you're not in the mood, mrimm d'ssinss. Wouldn't say no to a cuddle, yeah, but if you want to go to sleep that's fine by me."

Viconia turned to face him. "Has your desire for me then faded?"

"Never gonna happen, pet, but if you're not into it there isn't any point. Not surprising if you're not up for it after the day you had."

"True," said Viconia. "It was distressing. And yet – there were things about it that were… pleasing. I am popular with the rivvin of this city, it seems, and several of them were willing to fight for me. They took my part against one of their own knights."

"Well, yeah," Spike said. "You're a bit of all right, love. Anyone with half a brain would choose you over some git in a tin can." He put his arm around her shoulders and she snuggled into him.

"I felt… gratitude," Viconia admitted. "And pride. Yet such feelings are distressing in themselves. They are inappropriate for a priestess of Shar. I can no longer desire to spread destruction and despair throughout Faerûn. My goddess will be displeased with me and I will lose her favor."

"'S not something I can really help you with," Spike said. "You can't just swap over to another one, can you, the way you dumped the drow goddess for Shar?"

"It would be… unwise," Viconia told him. "Even if Shar did not wreak vengeance upon me herself, or leave me open to the wrath of… she who I will not name, such inconstancy would risk me being deemed Faithless by the Judge of the Dead. If I died in that state Kelemvor would condemn me to the Wall. Better an eternity of torment than that bleak fate." She put a hand upon his chest and idly stroked it. "I shall never serve as a priestess to any other deity than Shar. She gave me the strength to survive when I was at my lowest point and she shall always have my gratitude for that. Yet in truth I have been but a poor servant to her. I do not follow her precepts as I should."

Spike had no idea how to reply and contented himself with stroking her hair.

"Perhaps, one day," Viconia mused, "I might do some great deed in Shar's name, or win a mighty convert to her cause. Then, if I have gained enough favor in her eyes, she might be willing to let me… retire."

"Retire? What, and be a housewife?"

"I think not," said Viconia. "My last such venture did not end well, as you know. No, I shall adventure with Sorkatani and the others for as long as they desire my company. But perhaps I could find a role other than that of priestess. A bard, under the tutelage of Giles?"

"Don't see why not," said Spike. "Think you could do anything you set your mind to." He kissed her gently upon the forehead.

"You are good to me, mrann d'ssinss," Viconia said. Her hand moved down his body and fondled his cock. It came erect immediately. "Bwael v'dri, ussta 'che Spike." She rested her head against his shoulder and closed her eyes.

"Night, love," Spike said. He held her until her breathing rate changed as she fell asleep. "Not that I'm going to sleep well," he muttered then. "Not with this hard-on. Hope you'll be up for a shag in the morning."

**Glossary of Drow Phrases**

• dalninil = 'sister'  
• mrimm d'ssinss = 'lover (female)'  
• mrann d'ssinss = 'lover (male)'  
• Bwael v'dri = literally 'Good sleep', meaning 'sleep well'.  
• ussta 'che = 'my beloved'

Author's note: The item description for 'Daystar' in 'Baldur's Gate 2' describes it as being dedicated to Torm. I regard that as illogical, as its powers seem much more appropriate to a weapon dedicated to Lathander, and I have changed it accordingly for the purposes of this story.


	40. Chapter 40

**Chapter Forty**

"I did a bad thing," Warren confessed. "It worked out okay," he hastily added, as Jonathan's forehead creased. "Nothing bad happened."

"What did you do?" Jonathan's eyes narrowed. "You tried to kill Viconia, didn't you? Dude, how could you?"

"I'm sorry, okay?" Warren lowered his eyes. "Joan was putting pressure on me, and then I saw Viconia wandering around on her own, and she went up around the top end of Waukeen's Promenade where that guy Belmin who hates drow hangs out, and I thought hey, there's gonna be trouble, and I just had this sudden urge to make it worse. So I beamed in Keldorn."

Jonathan screwed up his eyes and shook his head. "Oh, Warren, you total creep. That was just… mean."

"I know, I know," Warren said. "I felt bad about it, dude, but when she went that way it was like a sign. And, well, Joan had been coming down hard on me, and it's kinda hard to say 'no' to her, and I just, like, went with the flow."

"Oh, man," Jonathan groaned. "You jerk."

"I know," Warren agreed. "You're not saying anything I haven't said about myself already. I knew I was doing wrong. And, yeah, once the fight started I changed my mind and tried to put it right. Only, nothing that I did worked."

"But she's all right now, yeah? What, did she beat Keldorn?"

"Not exactly," Warren said. "Like, you know the way Holy Swords are nerfed in the game compared to the straight rules? Well, that doesn't seem to apply any more. He had one hell of an edge over her. It was the townspeople who saved her. And Dawn."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

Giles had replaced the seventh string on the old 'guitar' and altered the tuning considerably. He was playing a heavy bass beat, flicking a finger across the higher strings at the end of each line, and Korgan was accompanying him on a set of hand drums. Dawn stood beside them with a sheet of paper in her hands.

Spike nodded approvingly as he emerged from the wings. "That 'Guns of Brixton' you're doing? Bloody great. Can't beat The Clash, right?"

Giles halted in mid riff. "Ah, I'm afraid not," he confessed.

Spike frowned. "You're kidding me. Can't be wrong about that bass-line. Classic Paul Simonon, innit? Dunno anything else that sounds… like…" His voice trailed away and his frown grew deeper. "Oh, no, you have to be joking. You're not doing that sodding rip-off, are you? You can't be."

"Ah. Well. We are indeed doing 'Dub Be Good To Me', Spike."

"Bloody hell, why?"

"You must admit that the subject matter of the original might be somewhat impenetrable to an audience made up of people who have never heard of Brixton, or indeed of guns, Spike," Giles pointed out. "The 'rip-off', as you term it, at least deals with a universal theme."

"'S a load of sodding rubbish," Spike said. "Ought to have been bloody well banned on the grounds of being sacrilege. Would have ripped out the throats of the gits who did it if I'd got the chance."

"It was Fatboy Slim," Giles said in a reproachful tone. "That would have been rather… unpatriotic of you, Spike."

"Yeah, well, it was before he was famous," Spike replied, "and it was crap anyway."

"Well, I like it," Dawn said. She stuck out her lips in a pout and glared at Spike. "Stop it. You're spoiling my rehearsal."

"Yours?" Spike's eyebrows shot up. "Oh. Sorry, Nibblet. Go right ahead." He turned back to Giles. "They don't have harmonicas on this world, do they?"

"Hmm." Giles raised a finger to the bridge of his glasses and pushed them higher up his nose. "They don't, as far as I know, but perhaps that ingenious gnome might be able to construct one. A back-up instrument that would fit snugly in a pocket could be useful in certain circumstances." He lowered his hand to the guitar strings again. "Were you volunteering to play the harmonica part? It's not an integral part of the song, and I was simply going to dispense with it, but it would indeed add something. Yes. A remarkable turn-around on your part, Spike."

Spike looked at his feet. "Yeah, well, 's different if it's for the Bit, innit?"

"Thanks, Spike," Dawn said. "Now, can we get on with this? I want to have at least one run through before Buffy gets back from lich hunt version 2.2."

"Certainly, my dear," Giles agreed. He poised his fingers over the strings again. "I'm skipping that abominable vocal introduction," he told Spike.

Spike nodded approvingly. "Good thing too." He saw Dawn fold her arms, stick out her bottom lip, and begin to tap a foot. "Better get on with it, Giles, Nibblet's getting impatient."

"An' ah've better things tae dae than set here listenin' tae yer blether," Korgan added.

"Sorry," Giles said. "One, two, three, four." He began to play once more. Korgan came in with the drums on the second bar. Dawn unfolded her arms, held up the sheet of paper where she could see it, and counted off the bars until it was time for her to sing.

"_Friends,_

_Tell me I am crazy_

_That I'm wasting time with you_

_You'll never be mine…_"

Viconia emerged from the backstage area. She did not speak but moved quietly to join Spike, linked her arm with his, and raised her face to kiss him on the cheek. From that position she whispered into his ear. "Are all now singing with Giles? Buffy, and now Dawn – even Sorkatani is to perform a song. What next? Shall Minsc, then, sing of his hamster?"

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

"Okay, so it came out all right in the end," Jonathan said. "But, hey, no thanks to you. Jerk. You promised me you wouldn't do anything like that."

"Yeah, I know, dude, and I'm sorry, but hey, you're not as scary as Joan is."

"Point," agreed Jonathan, "but I'm your friend, so you should have gone with what I wanted anyway." He shook his head. "I thought you could stand up for yourself, Warren. What's gonna happen when we get the game done and take it to Ubisoft or Electronic Arts or whoever? They'll have all these suits and lawyer types trying to make us take a bad deal, right, and if you're gonna just roll over whenever anyone pushes you, well, it'll end up that we've worked our asses off for months and all we get out of it is fourteen dollars and change."

Warren sucked in his cheeks and twisted his lips. "Well, lawyers aren't as scary as Joan, but, uh, yeah, I get what you mean. I'll tell Joan that I'm not gonna do what she wants."

"You said that before, man, but you just caved when she pushed you," Jonathan reminded him.

"Well, we'll both tell her," Warren suggested. "You back me up."

"Me?" Jonathan's eyes went wide. "Uh, I dunno. I, well, I guess, uh, okay. I think I can do that."

"Great," said Warren. "The two of us can stand up to her, right?"

"What about Andrew?"

Warren rolled his eyes. "Moral support from Andrew? Get real. And he doesn't care about the Baldur's Gate characters any more. He's totally into the pirates these days."

"Yeah, I guess you're right," Jonathan agreed. "Okay, the two of us." He sat down in front of the monitor and clicked on Viconia's icon. The stage area of the Playhouse beneath the Five Flagons inn appeared on screen. Viconia stood, with Spike, listening to Giles playing a song with Dawn taking the vocals. "So, Viconia is, like, a superstar in Athkatla?"

"She sure is," said Warren. "That 20 score in Reputation came good for something other than getting discounts at the stores. You should have seen it, dude. They were throwing cobblestones at Keldorn, even grabbing his legs, everything they could to try and stop him, and it was those guys who went and told Dawn what was happening."

"So," Jonathan mused, "they're acting way outside anything scripted for them."

"Totally, dude," Warren agreed.

Jonathan closed one eye and tilted his head to one side. "The townspeople are making their own decisions. So, does that mean that they've come alive too? Like, everybody in the whole city?"

Warren's eyes widened. "Self-determination, yeah. I guess you could pick any peasant in the street at random these days and he'd pass the Turing test. Wow. It's a whole living world. What was it that Andrew said back when we realized that Sorkatani and Jaheira and Yoshimo were doing their own thing? 'We are as gods', right?"

"Something like that," agreed Jonathan. He stared at the screen. "With great power must come great responsibility."

"Yeah, but I can't watch over the game-world the whole time," Warren said. "I have a life. You too. We'll just have to leave it to the superheroes."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

"Hi, guys," Buffy called. "Two down, one to go. It was pretty much a turkey-shoot."

"That's easy for you to say," Xander grumbled. "You weren't the one who got Mazed."

"Okay, it was mostly a turkey-shoot apart from one thing," Buffy rephrased her announcement. "Xander's sword isn't quite as magic-proof as we thought. The lich got through with one of its spells. But, hey, nothing permanent."

"Yeah, living proof of that," said Xander.

Giles put a finger to his glasses. "I trust that you are none the worse for the experience?"

"Yeah, no sweat," Xander assured him. "It was one whole lot of no fun, but it only lasted maybe ten minutes."

"Xander missed the best part," Willow said. "The lich summoned up a demon. Big, scary, looked at least as tough as anything we've faced so far. Except Anomen had cast Protection From Evil on all of us and the demon couldn't touch us. So it turned on the lich."

"I could have done with that spell back in Sunnydale," Buffy remarked.

"It is a certain ward only against beings summoned from their own plane by a conjuration," Anomen pointed out. "Against those who reside here, or who travel to this world of their own volition, it is far less efficacious. And had we struck out at the fiend the power of the spell would have been broken."

"Okay, so maybe not so useful back at Hellmouth Central," Buffy conceded. "But it worked real good this time. We just stood back and watched the show."

"We had an easy ride," said Anya, "but we're out seven thousand six hundred danter on scrolls. I just hope the ring that you're after is worth all the outlay."

"Hey, this staff is worth more than that just in itself," Willow said. "We're ahead of the game anyway."

"You mean _you're_ ahead of the game." Anya narrowed her eyes. "Who needs two quarterstaffs, anyway?"

"Well, that only makes a half staff," Willow said, "but, yeah, you have a point. Suppose I pass the Staff of Rynn on to Giles? He's the best of us with a staff."

"I could certainly make good use of it," Giles agreed. "The staff-spear does have a useful feature, in that I can stick it in the ground beside me while I play the guitar, but the Staff of Rynn's much greater enchantments would more than make up for that slight inconvenience."

"Yeah, good thinking," Buffy said. "Only, maybe Anya should borrow it first, just for tomorrow, 'cause if that ring does what your research says it does, and if the lich is wearing it, then it's gonna heal majorly fast. We need to do one whole lot of damage to it in the shortest possible time, 'cause if it's still standing when the scrolls run out then we're gonna be in a heap of trouble."

"Not that I'm a staff expert," said Anya, "but I guess I can whack the lich on the head with a big stick as well as anyone else can. It could be fun."

Xander screwed up one eye and simultaneously raised the other eyebrow. "Whack-a-lich? This is some whole new definition of fun. But, yeah, no TV here, no movies, I guess we just have to make our own entertainment."

"Talking of which," Anya said, "why don't you and I…"

Anya's suggestion was interrupted by the entry of two men into the Playhouse. Knights in armor. "Sir Ryan," Xander greeted one of them. "What brings you here?"

Viconia's eyes locked on the other knight and she stiffened. Her hand went to the shaft of her mace. Jaheira's fingers moved to the hilt of her scimitar. Dawn made no move toward a weapon but the hostility in the glare that she aimed at Sir Keldorn was almost palpable. Equal menace radiated from under Minsc's heavy brows. Spike picked up on the signals and fixed a cold gaze upon Keldorn.

Sorkatani stood up. "I take it that this is Sir Keldorn Firecam?"

"He is," Sir Ryan Trawl confirmed. "You would be Sorkatani Gorion's Ward, known as the Perfect Warrior, I presume?"

"I am," Sorkatani answered, "although that title was given to me by an enemy in mockery, and I make no claim to perfection. I am merely better at slaying than have been those who sought to slay me, at least thus far, and much credit for that goes to my friends who stand by me." Her eyes flickered towards Keldorn. "And with whom I stand against any who would threaten them."

"There should have been no such threat," Sir Ryan said. "It was a dreadful mistake by Sir Keldorn and he is here to make his apologies."

Keldorn bowed his head. "Lady Viconia De'Vir, I humbly crave your pardon for my unprovoked attack upon you."

"As well you should," Viconia said. She lifted her head and looked down her nose at him. "Forgiveness is not in my nature, and my desire is to see you flogged until the blood runs down your back and forms puddles at your feet, yet Sorkatani forgives those of her enemies that repent and it seems to work well for her."

"I offer recompense," Keldorn told her. He unfastened a leather pouch from his belt, reached into it and pulled out a broad-brimmed hat decorated with flowers, and held both hat and bag out to Viconia. "A hat after the pattern of the one destroyed in our fight. Also a Bag of Holding, of three hundred pounds capacity, for the stall-holder told me of the item for which you were seeking when our paths crossed."

Viconia's eyes widened. "This is a form of apology that is acceptable to me. I would have shed my blood to obtain this, indeed, and the cost of repairs to my armor is far less than the price of such an item. Very well, sir knight, you have my forgiveness. Now depart, for your company is still less than pleasing to me."

"Thank you, my lady," Keldorn replied.

"I had planned on assigning you to a service for the Order this day," Sir Ryan Trawl told Xander. "I shall, instead, insist upon Sir Keldorn performing the task as part of his penance."

"That's good," said Xander, "'cause I'm a little busy right now hunting liches. I'll drop by the Order building in a day or two, okay? See you around, Sir Ryan."

Once the knights had departed Viconia took the bag and presented it to Giles. "This is for you, zra'ha. A gift in return for the gift of music that you have given to me – and which saved my life yesterday, it seems, for had the rivvin of the city not intervened on my behalf, and had some of them not ran for aid and brought Dawn and the others, I would have perished under the sword of that iblith Sir Keldorn."

"Ah, thank you, my dear," Giles said. He took the bag and looked at it. "What is it?"

"Mir'jatha'la," Viconia said. "A Bag of Holding. It is far larger inside than outside, and items placed within it take up no space, nor can their weight be felt by she who carries the bag. For your spare guitar."

Giles beamed at her. "Thank you, my dear. Most thoughtful of you."

"Like a pocket TARDIS," Spike commented. "Pretty neat."

"Hey, that could be pretty handy all round," Xander put in, "'cause hey, walking around loaded up with spare suits of armor, or rolls of dragon hide or whatever, carrying them back to the merchants, is the kind of fun that isn't."

"Indeed," said Viconia, "yet care must be taken. The bag will burst if too much is placed inside and whatever was within is forever lost. Three hundred pounds capacity, he said, and that limit must be observed strictly."

"I shall take good care of it," Giles promised. "Thank you again."

Sorkatani grinned at Viconia. "Your forgiveness seemed to lack a certain warmth, abbil, and I did not miss that you referred to Sir Keldorn as 'iblith'. I sense that it was not from the heart that you accepted his apology."

"There is some truth in what you say, Jabbress," Viconia admitted. "Yet if I should chance upon him in the Government District tomorrow, tied to a stake with faggots of wood at his feet, about to be set alight by Beshaban fanatics as was I not so long ago, I would dampen him against the flame – by spitting on him as I walk by."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

Joan glanced at Jonathan and raised an eyebrow. "I thought that you didn't want your friends to know about the thing with Victoria and Amon Hen?"

"I came clean to him," Warren told her. "I tried to do what you wanted and it all went horribly wrong. And I'm not gonna try again. It's just… wrong."

"It's more than wrong," said Jonathan. "It's, like, murder."

"It's killing off a character in a story," Joan said. "They do it all the time on TV."

"It's not like that at all," Jonathan insisted. "It would be like killing off the actor, not the character."

"He's right," Warren said. "Look, I know I owe you, but hey, I don't care any more. This is too much. You can call Katrina and tell her that I'm a jerk, tell Rupert that I'm not good for a loan, I don't care. I'm not gonna do a thing to Viconia or Anomen."

"I wouldn't do that," Joan protested. "That would be totally mean. Like, blackmail. Only I don't see why it's such a big deal."

"Because they're alive," Warren said. "I don't know how it happened, but they are. As alive as you or me. Look, you want to know why it didn't work when I tried to kill off Viconia? Because the townspeople helped her out. And they don't do that in the game. There isn't any script for it. They decided it for themselves."

Joan's forehead creased up. "I don't get what you mean."

"I saw Viconia out in the town on her own," Warren elaborated, "and I fixed it so that she bumped into this guy Sir Keldorn. He's pretty much an automatic enemy of hers. So, I put him there, a fight started just like I planned; only the townspeople didn't just stand and watch like they would have in the game. They tried to stop him. He's all kinds of tough, so they couldn't do jack to him, but then some of them went to get help. And the first one of the bunch they found was Dawn."

"Dawn?" The creases on Joan's forehead deepened. "She got mixed up in it?"

"She sure did," Warren told her. "She stepped in to save the day. And that meant that she got into a sword-fight against a knight who is way tougher than her. She could have been killed. Would you have wanted that?"

"Of course not," Joan said. "She's my sister."

"So she's not just a computer game character?" Jonathan put in.

"Of course not," Joan repeated. "I know she's real, just like Buffy and Spike and Giles. Us, only with memories that we don't have any more, and minus the ones we've made since the spell went wrong."

"Yeah, well, as far as she's concerned Viconia's a real person," Jonathan pointed out. "So how come you think that you know better than someone who is right there on the spot?"

"But how can they be real?" Joan shook her head. "They've never even had bodies. They don't have souls. They're just computer code."

"So are the versions of you guys who are in the computer," Warren said. "Computer code and a little bit of magic. And the magic is kinda catching. Everybody who spends any time with them comes alive. Really alive. They make their own decisions, do things that the designers of the game couldn't have ever imagined, act just like real people. Hey, they are real people, not counting the bodies thing. And they do have souls. Sorkatani's soul is an important part of the plot."

"Just in the story," Joan said. "Not for real. She can't really have a soul."

"Why not?" Warren asked. "You explain to me exactly what a soul is and how it works. You tell me how this squishy lump of gray stuff in our heads, and all the chemicals and electrical impulses in the nerves and stuff, can cause us to be having a discussion about what defines being alive. Or else give up and accept that there are other ways of being alive. And they are alive." He squared his shoulders. "And I'm not gonna do anything to change it."

"That's right," said Jonathan. "And I'll make sure that he sticks to it."

"But it's all wrong," Joan protested. "Buffy and Spike…"

"What have you been up to, pet?" Randy's voice interrupted her. "Nothing good, sounds like."

Joan turned around. "Oh. You weren't supposed to hear this."

"Vampire hearing, luv," Randy reminded her. "And you weren't keeping your voices down. You've been trying to bugger things up for the versions of us in the computer, right?"

"They should be together," Joan insisted. "Buffy and Spike. I'm just trying to put things right."

"They're not the same as us, pet," Randy said. "Got baggage that we didn't have. Can see your point, yeah, but I think it's a bloody stupid idea to try to fix things for them. 'Specially by bumping off their significant others."

"Don't tell me that you're not wigged at seeing those other versions of us paired up with other people," Joan said, "because you are. I know it."

"Yeah, it freaks me out a bit," Randy admitted, "but they're not us. Other versions, you said, and that's the important thing. Anyway, look at it from the other way round. S'ppose this was the computer world, right, and there was a different you out there who was, I dunno, shagging that Riley Finn bloke. And she looked in on us, yeah, and decided to bump off me and that Sam bird so that you and Riley Finn would get together. You'd be bloody pissed off at that, wouldn't you?"

Joan squirmed. "Yeah, I guess I would," she admitted. "But this is the real world."

"Principle's the same, though, innit? Just leave it, luv. Let Buffy and Spike shag who they want to shag."

Joan's shoulders slumped. "Oh, all right. I'll leave them alone. Just don't ask me to watch."

Warren heaved a deep sigh. "I'm glad. They so don't need anyone messing with them. 'Cause they're coming to this really dangerous part and it's gonna be hard just keeping them alive. They're gonna need everybody they have."

"How come?" Joan wondered. "It's not the end of the game, is it? I thought they weren't anywhere near that."

"It's only half-way through," Jonathan confirmed, "and there's the expansion pack after that anyway. They're all supposed to make it through alive, well, all but one anyway, and I never found it too hard when I was playing it as a game. The trouble is that it isn't just the peasants in the street who are starting to do their own thing."

"What do you mean?" Joan asked.

"The villains," Warren said. "They've gotten smarter too. We've already had to wind the game back three weeks because the good guys were in such a tough spot and Anya kept on getting killed. It's taken them a lot more than three weeks to get back to the same point, 'cause this time around Buffy is making sure that they're super well prepared and so they're doing a whole lot more of the side-quests, but they're still gonna walk right into an ambush. And then they get dumped into a dungeon without any of their fancy equipment. I don't know if I'll be able to get them all through it alive."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

"A café is a drinking establishment that serves mainly coffee, is that right?" Sorkatani queried. "There are none such in this world, not that I know of, and the word will mean nothing to most people. There is a tavern in Baldur's Gate called the Blushing Mermaid, however, and most people call it simply the Mermaid. Imoen and I would sometimes spend an evening there during that quiet period after we had defeated Sarevok. Substituting 'tavern' for 'café' would make it more understandable to us."

"It would indeed," Giles said. "Very well, then. '_Come on down to the Mermaid tavern and I will buy you a bottle of wine_'. An excellent suggestion, my dear. Does everything else make sense now?"

"It does," Sorkatani confirmed. "Although, perhaps there is still one more thing. 'And smash our empty glasses down'. That makes it sound as if the glasses are being broken. Glass is expensive and we take care of it."

"They are being broken in the song," Giles told her. "It is part of the culture in that place in our world. Ah, if we perhaps make it '_slam our empty glasses down_'?"

"That would be better," Sorkatani agreed. She smiled. "Shall we try the song now?"

Giles picked up his guitar and then laid it down again as he saw Buffy and her party entering the room. "Ah, Buffy. I see that you are all present and correct. You were successful, I take it?"

"We got it," Buffy confirmed. She raised her hand and displayed a ring. "It went off without a hitch. Nobody was Mazed, nobody got Stoned, it was just a lot of hard work beating on the lich. We have the ring."

"Long as this doesn't mean there'll be a Dark Lord chasing us all over the bloody place until somebody loses a finger and someone else ends up in a volcano," Spike muttered.

"There was even enough gold in the crypt to cover our expenditure on scrolls," Anya said. "And a valuable pearl necklace. This one was all profit."

"Where's Yoshimo?" Buffy asked.

"I sent him on a mission to learn more about Tolgerias the Cowled Wizard," Sorkatani replied, "for I distrust Tolgerias greatly." She grinned. "Although in truth I do not expect him to learn much. It was an excuse to get Yoshi out of the way so that I could rehearse my song without his knowledge."

"Oh, sorry, you get right on with that," Buffy said. "When he gets back I'll give him the ring."

"It's for him?" Sorkatani's eyebrows rose. "I thought that you sought it for yourself."

"Hey, I heal pretty quick anyway," Buffy said. "I don't need its main feature. No, this one's for Yoshi. He got Daystar for me, remember?"

Sorkatani opened her mouth to reply and then her eyebrows creased as she saw a newcomer entering the theatre. "Galvarey," she said in a carefully neutral tone.

Everyone looked towards the armored man who was walking down the playhouse aisle. "This is kinda a replay of yesterday," Xander commented. "Only he's already apologized. So what does he want?"

"Greetings, Sorkatani," Galvarey said. "And the others of your company. I bring news." He ascended the stairs at the side of the stage and stood in front of Sorkatani and Giles. Jaheira glowered at him from behind Sorkatani.

"Go on," Sorkatani said.

"I have been investigating the situation at Spellhold, as you requested," Galvarey continued. "I have learned little, I am afraid, and I will be able to learn no more. The Harper Heralds have responded to my report in which I confessed to my error regarding you. I have been reassigned away from Athkatla. My new post is to be in Tethyr."

"Tethyr?" Jaheira's eyes widened. "That is a death sentence."

"Perhaps not," Galvarey said. "The new Queen, Zaranda Star, is more favorably disposed towards the Harpers than is the populace at large. I am to be among her retinue and under her protection."

"Tethyr has a new Queen?" Giles' eyes lit up. "Perfect. '_Tethyr's got a new Queen_'." He took out a notebook from a pocket and wrote quickly. "Now, what else rhymes with 'queen' apart from the original, and inappropriate, 'vaccine'?"

"Obscene," Spike suggested. "Machine, clean, keen, been, lean. You rewriting what I think you're rewriting?"

"I do have a local version of 'We Didn't Start the Fire' in mind, yes, Spike," Giles confirmed. "I would be happy to accept assistance if you feel able to contribute."

"Zaranda's position is hardly secure," Jaheira advised Galvarey. "The Interregnum has lasted through over twenty years of constant bloodshed and mistrust. She has gained power, yes, but can she hold it?"

"We shall see," Galvarey said. "It is my duty to ensure that she does." He focused once more on Sorkatani. "It is as I suspected. The Cowled Wizards no longer control Spellhold. The last few groups who went there escorting prisoners did not return. They cannot communicate with the Asylum and their scrying has revealed nothing. They continue to send their captives to Spellhold, those that they term 'deviants', but they do not know what fate awaits them there."

"And yet they still consign their prisoners to an unknown fate?" Sorkatani's eyes were wide circles. "That is barbaric."

"And stupid," agreed Galvarey, "for who is to say that the force that has taken over Spellhold might not make use of the captives as an army with which to attack the Cowled Wizards? I doubt if such is the case, actually, but in their place I certainly would have taken the possibility into consideration. The Cowled Wizards are fools and knaves."

"The whole magic license thing is just a racket," Willow chimed in. "Just a way of screwing money out of wizards and witches."

"Have you learned aught of Irenicus?" Sorkatani asked.

"Very little," Galvarey replied. "He came to this city some months ago but kept himself to himself. Other than purchasing the property on Waukeen's Promenade he did nothing that was worthy of note. At least openly. It was only at the time of your own arrival in this city that it became known that Irenicus was one of the powers behind the new Thieves' Guild that seeks to challenge the Shadow Thieves."

"And Bodhi?"

"Even less is known about her. Few see her and live to tell of it. It is clear that she is also associated with the new Guild, and thus with Irenicus, but none know the nature of the link. Some say that she is his lover, some that she is his sister, and others that he was in her thrall."

"He is in no-one's thrall," Sorkatani declared. "Never have I seen a wizard of such power, other than Elminster of Shadowdale, and yet Irenicus went meekly with the Cowled Wizards to Spellhold. And lo, Spellhold is now lost to the Cowled Wizards."

"It cannot be coincidence," Galvarey said. "What was their prison is now the stronghold of Irenicus. When you go there you will be walking into a trap."

"I know," Sorkatani admitted, "but while he holds Imoen I have no choice. I can only hope that I will have force enough to spring his trap and turn it upon him."

"I would counsel against it, but I do not see any alternative, if you are to rescue your companion," Galvarey said. "You had best move swiftly, Sorkatani. There is news of trouble on the Sea of Swords. The sahuagin are active. They have attacked ships and have even raided Baldur's Gate."

"I heard the Town Criers say so, but so much of the news that they call out is mere rumor and falsehood that I took no notice," Sorkatani said. "It is true, then? Were many hurt?"

"Some forty dead," Galvarey told her. "The Flaming Fist drove them back before they penetrated far into the city and slew many."

"Sahuagin?" A furrow appeared between Buffy's eyebrows.

"The shark men," Sorkatani explained. "Their realm is beneath the sea. If they are raiding then our sea voyage may be perilous, for they strike at ships from below, and attack without warning." The corners of her mouth turned down. "We must move swiftly indeed. We may even have to give up on the farewell concert."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

"Galvarey's going to Tethyr?" Warren frowned. "That's not supposed to happen."

"He's supposed to be dead well before this point," Jonathan pointed out. "I guess he has to do something, and the Harpers sending him off somewhere else is pretty logical."

"There must be a whole lot happening that's right outside the game story," Warren mused. "I guess that explains why it keeps needing more and more disk space." He raised a hand to his head and ran it through his hair. "Crap. Galvarey might spread the super-detailing into Tethyr way ahead of when the characters get there in 'Throne of Bhaal'."

"So, a bigger hard disk again?" Jonathan cocked his head to one side. "It's already about as big as they make."

"We need a RAID set-up," Warren decided. "Two disks running as one." He groaned. "That means a new motherboard."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

"Galvarey told us little that we had not guessed," said Sorkatani, "yet it was useful confirmation." She bit on her lower lip. "We walk into a trap, as I had feared, and I see no way around it. I have given Irenicus ample time to prepare and that might have been a mistake."

Jaheira leaned towards her. "I wonder about Viconia's confrontation with Sir Keldorn. It was no accident. He was transported to that spot by some enemy, no doubt a wizard, and I know of no such foe of Viconia."

"Nor do I," Viconia confirmed, "other than a certain deity, and she would not use a paladin to strike at me."

"I suspect, then, that the intent was to weaken our party," Jaheira went on. "The obvious suspect is Irenicus."

"You believe that he is scrying us?" Sorkatani grimaced. "Then we cannot hope to surprise him."

"And he may strike again," Jaheira warned. "We should make sure that none of us goes out alone."

"Hey, Yoshimo's out on his own, right? Will he be okay?" Buffy wondered.

"He has the Cloak of Non-Detection," Sorkatani said. "It shields him against scrying. He should be safe from Irenicus."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

The heavy double doors swung open and Yoshimo walked into the crypt. A vampire emerged from a side door and bared its fangs. It scurried towards Yoshimo and he drew his katana. The vampire hesitated. Another vampire appeared at the other side of the chamber, behind Yoshimo, and the first vampire raised its hands like claws and advanced again.

"Stop!" the second vampire commanded. "This one is not to be touched. Harm him and the mistress will have you impaled over the pool of boiling blood."

"I need no protection against such trash, Lassal," Yoshimo said.

"Perhaps not," Lassal admitted, "but there is no time for pointless fights. The mistress awaits you below."

"Very well," said Yoshimo. "Take me to Bodhi."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

Disclaimer: song lyrics quoted in this chapter come from 'Dub Be Good To Me' by Beats International and from 'Carey' by Joni Mitchell. They are used without permission of the copyright holders and with no intention to profit.


	41. Chapter 41

**Chapter Forty-one**

Sorkatani came awake with Willow's scream ringing in her ears. Her hand went to Celestial Fury and she leaped from the bed. She had thrown the door open, and rushed out into the corridor, before it dawned on her that she was in the sleeping quarters of the Playhouse, there was no screaming, and there were no enemies present.

Another door opened and Buffy charged out, stark naked, and with Daystar and the Blade of Roses raised ready for battle. She stopped in her tracks as she saw Sorkatani.

"A dream," Sorkatani said. She lowered Celestial Fury.

Buffy made as if to sheath Daystar, found no scabbard at her side, and then realized that she was naked and held the sword down in front of her groin. "I guess," she said. "You had the same one? Scary, huh?" She raised her left arm, holding the Blade of Roses, to cover her breasts.

"Scary and distressing," said Sorkatani. "Tara… the vampire… so much blood."

"We can't let it happen," Buffy declared. "We're gonna have to make sure that she's protected."

"Indeed," Sorkatani agreed, and then her brow furrowed. "Your gift to Yoshimo. You dreamed, then, of him perishing in like fashion?"

Buffy looked down at her bare feet. "Uh, not exactly, but yeah, you're close. Too close for me to take the chance."

"That is why you were so determined to seek out the liches and obtain the Ring of Gaxx? For Yoshimo, to protect him from the fate that you had foreseen?" Sorkatani smiled broadly. "I thank you, Buffy, for his death would be hard for me to bear." The smile faded. "Yet so too would Tara's death, for I am fond of her in a different way, as I think we all are. Willow would be… devastated. It must not happen."

"Damn right," Buffy agreed.

"Dearest?" A voice called out from the bedroom that Buffy had just vacated. "What is wrong?"

Buffy's cheeks became tinged with pink. "Uh, it's okay, I'm just talking to Tani," she called back. "I'll be back in a minute."

Sorkatani's eyebrows twitched upwards. "I did not know that you were… uh… with Anomen," she said.

"Uh, this is the first night," Buffy revealed. "It just kinda happened." She flicked a glance back towards the bedroom door. "I'd better get back. Somebody else might come out and I, uh, didn't think to put on any clothes."

"Good night, then, Buffy," Sorkatani bade her. "We shall talk in the morning."

Buffy rotated her wrist, displaying a flash of nipple in the process, and looked at her watch. "Which is in, like, just a couple of hours," she said.

Across the corridor a door opened and Willow's face appeared.

"Those miraculous timepieces still amaze me," Sorkatani commented.

"Hey, it seems to gain, like, five minutes every month," Buffy said. "Back home it's not wrong by one minute in a whole year."

"Dearest?" Anomen called again.

"Buffy? What's up?" Willow asked. Further along the corridor yet another door began to open, this time the one leading to the room shared by Spike and Viconia.

"Meep!" Buffy yelped. "Uh, nothing, nothing. Back to bed now." She scurried back into Anomen's room and closed the door.

Spike emerged into the corridor, shirtless, just in time to catch a glimpse of Buffy's butt as she fled. He grinned and raised an eyebrow. "What's going on, Tani?"

"We both had dreams," Sorkatani told him. She fidgeted with the neckline of her flannel nightdress. "Prophetic, perhaps. I shall say no more at this time."

The grin disappeared from Spike's face. "Bugger. Slayer dreams never mean anything good."

"But they give us a chance to fix things," said Willow.

"Well, yeah," Spike agreed, "but it's the same as with prophecies. Never bloody mean what you think they mean."

"I hope not," said Sorkatani. She shuddered. "I would not wish this to come to pass. I shall dress now, and rise, and later I shall discuss this with Buffy."

"And us, right?" Willow pressed.

"I think not." Sorkatani shook her head. "And this is not the time or place for any discussion." She spun on her heel and returned to her room.

Willow and Spike looked at each other and their eyebrows lifted in unison. They shared a half-smile and then followed the examples of Sorkatani and Buffy. Their doors closed and silence returned to the Playhouse.

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

"Woo-hoo!" Warren exclaimed. "Go me! We have full RAID 0+1 function. More than eighty gigs of free space and full coverage against disk failure. No new motherboard required and entirely with the disks we already had. Total expenditure zero and I did it all in one afternoon."

"And we can always change it to just RAID 0 if we run short of space again," Jonathan suggested.

"We could," Warren agreed, "although that way we could lose everything if just one disk failed. Better to add more disks to the array. With any luck we should have plenty of money by the time these disks fill up and we won't need to risk it." He unfastened the anti-static strip from his wrist and tossed it into a toolbox. "Load up the last save, dude, let's see it in action. Make it so."

"Aye aye, Keptin," said Jonathan. He restarted the game, clicked through the intro screens, and loaded the saved game. He leaned back in his chair and watched as Sorkatani and Buffy dashed out of their respective beds. "Hey, they remember the last thing that happened before we came out of the game and reloaded," he commented. "That's, like, weird."

"The same thing happened the last time," Warren reminded him. "Or something like, anyway." He pursed his lips and rolled his eyes. "We rewound things three weeks on account of Anya dying, Buffy got it into her head that she could save Yoshimo, and they spent the next two months running around grabbing every magic item they could lay their hands on. If they do the same thing this time we're never gonna get them past Spellhold."

"They'd pretty much done all the sub-quests by that point," Jonathan reminded him, "and Sorkatani was pushing for them to move out as soon as possible on account of the sahuagin attacking ships. This was just before the Planar Sphere, right? There isn't anything left to delay them." He bit on his lower lip. "Uh, dude, suppose we can't get them past Spellhold at all? Like, last time it was a trap that squished Anya, which I guess is an acceptable hazard, but this time Bodhi killed Tara just to make a point. Suppose she does it again? There was nothing that the guys could do about it."

"I'm not gonna let anything happen to Tara," Warren said. "I don't want to mess with things too much, in case we spoil the plot and they don't go to the Underdark, but I will if I have to. Let's see what happens this time around."

"Yeah, okay. Hey, I wonder how come Buffy's watch runs fast?" Jonathan wondered. "Joan wears a quartz digital, so Buffy's will be the same watch, right?"

"I guess the day on Toril must be just a little longer than on Earth," Warren suggested. "A few seconds over twenty-four hours, maybe." He glanced at his own watch. "Hey, it's later than I thought. We'd better get a move on. I don't want to keep the girls waiting."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

"So, you and Anomen are, uh, doing it?" Willow's eyes were wide and the corners of her mouth were turned up in an impish little smile.

Buffy squirmed in her seat. "I guess there's no point in denying it. Yeah, we are. After he got turned to stone I kinda thought, well, we could get killed any time, we might as well seize the day."

Sorkatani sighed. "I would seize the day with Yoshimo, if I had the chance, but he will not let himself be seized. He claims that he is not worthy of me. Yet should I not be the judge of that?"

"Well, yeah," said Buffy, "although I guess it's better than the other way around."

"He'll come around," Willow assured Sorkatani. "He totally adores you." Tara nodded agreement.

"I know," Sorkatani said, "but perhaps only as a companion and leader." She shook her head. "He has said things that lead me to believe that he might be more… receptive after we have rescued Imoen. I can but hope." She frowned briefly, but then smiled and turned her attention to Buffy. "So, you and Anomen? Are you, then, in love?"

Buffy sucked in one side of her mouth and then the other. "I'm fond of him, but maybe it isn't love," she admitted. "But, well, I kinda missed sex. And everybody else is doing it, or pretty much. Xander and Anya, Willow and Tara, Spike and Viconia, Giles and Jaheira – even Minsc and that barmaid Oranna."

"Not everyone," said Sorkatani.

"Well, not you," said Buffy, "but hey, you don't miss what you haven't had."

"True," Sorkatani said, "I have never made love. Yet I have read many books that make it seem a very… interesting experience."

"Books? They have porn in this world?"

"I know not the word 'porn'," Sorkatani said. "These were works of entertainment about the… relationships between men and women. They were kept locked away, in Candlekeep, but that merely fueled our interest and Imoen obtained them for us. 'The Lustful Man from Calimshan'; 'The Human Succubus'; 'Memoirs of a Candlekeep Scholar'; 'The Maiden and the Bard'; 'Moniské and the Barbarians'; and 'The Acolyte of Sharess'."

"I bet they featured lots of heaving bosoms, and bodices getting ripped," Buffy speculated. "There was probably tumescence, too."

"There were certainly members in a tumescent state, and bodices were indeed ripped," Sorkatani confirmed. "I do not recall the bosoms heaving. It seemed that mainly they were being splattered with…"

"Hello, Dawn," Tara interrupted loudly.

Buffy whirled around in her seat. "Hi," she greeted her sister. "How goes it?"

"Hi, Buffy, hi Tara, Willow, Tani," Dawn said. "You talking about boys, huh?"

"No, we're working out our plans for going into the Planar Sphere," Buffy said, not meeting Dawn's eyes. "Yoshimo says Tolgerias has been looking at the same books Giles and Tani found, so, I'm thinking that he's gonna try to follow us into the Sphere. We gotta be ready to deal with him as well as whatever is already in there."

"Sure thing," said Dawn. "Just let me know what you want me to do." She turned away. Buffy relaxed and breathed out. Dawn turned around again and grinned at her sister. "Uh, Buffy, trying to keep me from finding out that you're boinking Anomen isn't gonna work seeing as how we share a room. You didn't come to bed last night, so either you had a major case of insomnia or you found somewhere else to sleep. I'm going with option two."

She walked off quickly before her sister could reply. The corners of Dawn's lips quirked upwards in secret amusement. She'd been within hearing range for quite a while before Tara had noticed her; using that Thief ability to sneak around, just like a ninja, for her own amusement. Those books sounded… interesting. Okay, that 'splattering' thing was just, eww, gross, but kinda hot too. Sorkatani was trained as a librarian, and librarians couldn't resist talking about books, and so it shouldn't be too hard for her to find out more about the works in question. Getting hold of them would be harder, probably, but she was sure that she would manage it.

It wasn't like she had any real guys to think about; Taar Windspear was the only cute boy she'd met since she came to this place, and she'd only met him that one time and there'd never been any other chance to get together with him. That blue-haired Haer'Dalis guy seemed to be interested in her, maybe, but he was way too old and a little creepy. Some hot reading was going to be the closest she could get to any real action. If Buffy moved in with Anomen full time, which seemed probable, Dawn might spend a few of her future nights alone curled up with a good book; or at least a naughty one.

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

"So," Buffy said. "Do we tell the others?"

"I don't know," Sorkatani said. "I usually feel that honesty is the best policy. Yet our vision would worry Willow greatly, I know, and she would watch over Tara like a mother bear with her cubs. In so doing she might miss something of importance affecting herself or another of our party."

"That's pretty much what I thought," Buffy agreed. "We tell Giles, yeah, but maybe nobody else."

"We must make sure that she has as much protection as possible," Sorkatani declared. "There are talismans and amulets that are efficacious against vampires, I have read, but they are rare and highly prized. As to what else we can do, well, you are the expert."

Buffy shook her head. "Here, not so much. Your vamps aren't quite the same as mine."

"True." Sorkatani nodded. "Spike is proof of that."

"Hey, he's not exactly typical of the vamps in my world either," Buffy said. "But yeah, if you don't count the walking in the sunlight thing, which he could never do back home – except on that one day, and that was on account of a magic ring – and the whole not being evil thing, you can use him to spot the differences."

"Spike does not drain the life energies from those he bites," Sorkatani said, "and they do not become vampires."

"Yeah, when he drinks blood it's just the red stuff he's taking," Buffy confirmed. "He'd have to make the, uh, victim drink some of his blood for them to get vamped."

"I did not even think of the possibility when we first met," Sorkatani remembered. "Nor did it occur to me that healing spells have the reverse effect on vampires in this world."

Buffy's eyebrows shot upwards like a pair of fifteenth-century Chinese astrologers riding thrones propelled by forty-seven bamboo rockets. "Can I say, huh?"

"Spells to heal wounds inflict wounds on a vampire, or a wraith, or other such undead," Sorkatani clarified. "It did not occur to me that you did not know this, but if vampires such as Spike are what you are used to, I suppose that it is not surprising. It is not a method of fighting them that is often used, for it means touching the flesh of the undead and that can be hazardous in itself, but it can be done. Had Spike been the same then, when Jaheira cured his injuries in the dungeon of Irenicus, she would have made them worse instead."

"Weird," said Buffy, and then her forehead creased into deep furrows. "Oh, crap. We saw Tara getting bitten. That means she's gonna become a vampire if we don't stop it happening. That would be even worse than her getting killed."

Sorkatani sighed. "She may not become a vampire, for that happens only if the drain of life energy kills the victim rather than the blood loss, but it is a possibility. We must prevent it at all costs."

"Yeah." Buffy twiddled her fingers. "Uh, Tani, something's just occurred to me. You're pretty set on getting into this Planar Sphere thing, just the way I was on getting hold of the Ring of Gaxx, and I'm wondering if it's for the same reason. I mean, I had the dream where it was Yoshimo who was killed, or at least he was the only one missing, and you were all broke up and I figured that was probably the reason. Did you have one where somebody else died and you think there's something in the Sphere that could save them?"

"No," said Sorkatani. "There was only the one when you joined me at the fireside. I had woken with feelings of dread, and a sense of impending loss, but I knew not whom it related to. There have been no others since we met, until last night."

"Then what's the big deal about the Planar Sphere? Okay, that Valley-Girl guy has a tough deal, with Tolgerias wanting to use him as a key to open it up, dead or alive, but hey, he could have hid out in the wilderness a while longer."

"If the Sphere can travel through the Planes," Sorkatani explained, "then perhaps it can travel over the surface of Toril too. I hope that we can use it to transport ourselves to Spellhold. Arriving suddenly, with no warning, and catching Irenicus by surprise."

"Hey, that's not a bad plan," Buffy agreed. "I hope it works out."

"You wished to use the Sphere to travel to your own home world," Sorkatani went on. "Is that still your desire?"

Buffy shook her head. "Not any more. If my mom had still been alive… but she isn't. There isn't anything for me to go back to. Everyone I care about is right here."

"I have no great inclination to return to Baldur's Gate either." Sorkatani's lips twitched into a half smile. "Not that it is an equivalent situation, as I could ride back to Baldur's Gate in a ten-day if I needed to, but in my case too it is my friends who matter and not the place." She stood up. "But my roster of friends is one short, alas, and it seems that always there is one more thing that must be done before I can set off in search of Imoen. Let us make haste to settle this matter of the Planar Sphere."

The two girls left the side room and walked out into the auditorium where most of their party was assembled. There was another person present; a soldier from the guard of the De'Arnise Keep. "Lady Sorkatani," he greeted her. "I beg your pardon for this intrusion, but I bear an important message. Your presence is required at the Keep as a matter of urgency."

Sorkatani grimaced. "What did I tell you? Always one more thing."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

"Good day to you, Lady Sorkatani," the merchant bade her. "I am sure that you are wondering what brings us to your hold." He wore gold rings on his fingers and his robes were trimmed with ermine.

"I'm sure that you're going to tell me," Sorkatani replied.

"My colleague and I are moneylenders," the merchant continued. "We have come to collect a debt owed to us by the late Lord De'Arnise."

"A debt in the sum of ten thousand danter," his companion chimed in.

"We are, of course, aware that Lord De'Arnise is dead," the first moneylender went on, "but the debt is attached to his property. Therefore it falls upon you, Lady Sorkatani, to repay it."

"That is preposterous!" the castle's major-domo interjected. "There is no such debt. I would know of it."

"My father had no debts," Nalia confirmed. "There was always coin enough for any eventuality – until the keep was pillaged by the invaders."

"And that coin was borrowed from us," the second money-lender explained glibly. "In the circumstances we shall waive the interest due, but we really must insist on immediate repayment."

"You have proof of this, of course," said Sorkatani.

"Indeed we have. A scrip, signed and sealed by Lord De'Arnise."

"Let me see that!" The major-domo reached out his hand for the document.

"There are copies on file in Athkatla," the money-lender informed him as he handed over the scrip. He stood back and folded his arms.

"The signature does look like that of Lord De'Arnise, and the impression of the seal is undoubtedly genuine," the major-domo confirmed, "but the seal went missing during the occupation of the keep. There is no way of knowing when it was applied to this parchment."

"Viconia? Tara?" Sorkatani glanced at the clerics. "Anomen?"

"What do you require, my lady?" Anomen asked.

Viconia was more attuned to her leader's thought processes. "I cannot tell, Jabbress," she said. "My abilities have been anticipated and a counter-spell is in operation."

"They might be telling the truth, they might be lying," Tara agreed. "Kinda suspicious that they were prepared, though."

The money-lenders smiles did not waver. "We have professional secrets to protect," one of them said. "Matters of client confidentiality, you understand."

Viconia snorted. "How convenient."

"Our business is in urgent need of an inflow of capital," the moneylender continued. "We recently bought up debts owed by a dozen of your tenants, some one thousand danter in total. If you are slow in repaying Lord De'Arnise's debt we will have no option but to foreclose on the other debts."

"I'm sure that you would not wish to bring hardship upon your tenants," the other one added. "Prompt repayment would be in everyone's best interests."

Buffy had watched the proceedings in silence up to that point but now she spoke. "This smells like a scam to me," she declared.

"I agree," Sorkatani said. "Captain Cernick, take these men out and have them executed."

The money-lenders paled. One turned to his companion and hissed "You said this wouldn't happen! You swore that she was an easy mark!"

"Silence!" the other one hissed. Too late.

"A rather incriminating remark," Giles commented.

Dawn grinned. "Or, as we'd say, 'Oops! Busted'."

A smile of relief spread across Buffy's face. "You kinda had me going there. I'm glad it was just a trick."

"It is useful that they have condemned themselves out of their own mouths, yes," Sorkatani said, "but it is no trick. They shall hang for this crime."

"You're gonna hang them? Sorkatani, you can't mean it," Buffy protested. "Don't do it."

"It is my right under the law," Sorkatani told her. "Were I to let this pass I would be leaving myself, and my people, open to further such acts. I must send a message that cannot be misunderstood."

"Can I eat them?" Spike asked. "Seeing as how they're going to die anyway."

"You can not!" Buffy snapped.

"I cannot grant your request, Spike," Sorkatani told him. "I can only have them hanged."

"Bloody waste," Spike grumbled.

"Sorkatani, you just can't do this," Buffy said. "Hanging people for trying to pull a scam on you… it's just… wrong." Her eyebrows descended low over the wide circles of her eyes.

"On the contrary, it is my lawful right," Sorkatani replied. She sighed. "I do not relish this grim responsibility but my lands and people must be protected."

"Yeah, but you don't have to kill them." Buffy turned to the others. "Giles, can you stop her?"

Giles raised his eyebrows. "I don't have any authority over Sorkatani," he pointed out. "I agree that the punishment seems excessive but there isn't anything that I can do about it. If it really is legal then it's her decision."

"If I spare them then others will follow their example," Sorkatani said. "I plan to leave Nalia as castellan here when we depart for Spellhold. It must be made clear that I will not tolerate hostile acts."

"There has to be another way," Buffy insisted. Willow and Tara chorused their agreement. Xander opened his mouth to speak but Anya whispered into his ear and Xander's mouth closed again with the words unspoken.

"You didn't hang Galvarey," Buffy went on. "What happened to 'Love, give, forgive'?"

"I forgave Galvarey because of his Harper membership," Sorkatani said. "Perhaps I was wrong to do so. No doubt my leniency encouraged this pair to attempt their fraud, believing that there was little risk of repercussions. And 'Love, give, forgive' hardly applies to these… bloodsuckers. No offense meant, Spike."

"None taken, Jabbress," Spike assured her.

Buffy ran a hand through her hair. "I just don't believe this. It's because you're pissed at being dragged away just when we were going to hit the Planar Sphere, right? Or, hey, is it just that time of the month?"

Sorkatani shook her head. "It is logic that guides me in this matter, Buffy, not emotion. I take no pleasure in ordering their deaths but feel that it is necessary. Still, I would not jeopardize our friendship over such an issue. If you wish me to spare their lives then I will do so. Branding and flogging will suffice."

"No branding!" Buffy insisted. "That's barbaric."

Sorkatani rolled her eyes. "Oh, very well. I shall merely have them flogged. Fifty lashes."

The money-lenders had been staying silent during the exchange between Sorkatani and Buffy, fearing that they would antagonize their unexpected ally, but now their gasps of horror drew all eyes to them again. "I would rather hang," one said.

"Fifty is way too many," Buffy stated.

"For the sake of our friendship, then, I shall be lenient. Ten lashes each and they shall be fined a thousand danter. The fine shall be used to purchase the debts of my tenants."

"I can live with that," Buffy agreed.

"Very well. Captain Cernick, if you would have your men carry out the sentence?"

"Of course, my lady." The captain signaled to a pair of burly guardsmen and the money-lenders were hustled away.

Once the guards and prisoners had left the room Sorkatani smiled broadly. "That all went very well. Thank you, Buffy."

"Can I say, huh?" Buffy's eyebrows went up and down. "Hey, was that a set-up?"

"In truth it was never my wish to have them executed," Sorkatani told her. "Yet if I simply spared them then it would be an invitation to other such attempts. Now they will believe that I would have had them slain and that they owe their lives to your intervention."

"Good cop, bad cop," Anya remarked. "It seemed to work very well, especially as you had Buffy fooled."

"I wondered," Giles said. "It did seem somewhat out of character for Sorkatani, but the logic was undeniable."

Buffy pouted. "You could have let me in on it."

"I did not plan it in advance," Sorkatani reminded her. "Yet had you been given prior warning your protestations may have lacked the necessary intensity." She sat down and leaned back. "This interruption was tiresome. Perhaps we should now leave our investigation of the Planar Sphere for another time and, instead, set off for Spellhold at once."

"And leave Valley-Girl hiding in his attic for, like, maybe weeks – I mean, for more than a ten-day? That would be kinda mean, after we've promised that we'd be helping him out soon," Buffy said. "And, hey, maybe we will be able to use it to fly to Spellhold?"

Sorkatani grimaced. "I hold out no great hopes. More likely it will fly us all to Maztica, or to a realm of demons, or even to your world. But we shall see."


	42. Chapter 42

**Chapter Forty-two**

"I do not see Valygar," the apprentice reported from the window. "Another reconnaissance trip, therefore."

"In such panoply of force?" The second apprentice shook his head. A smile flickered on his lips as he saw an opportunity to score points against his colleague in the eyes of their master. "This is the real thing. Valygar must be invisible, and probably shielded by a spell of non-detection as well." He tilted his head slightly to one side and frowned as another possibility occurred to him. "Or else they have a sample of his blood with them. That might work. Had we thought of that possibility earlier then Valygar might have been willing to co-operate."

"He would not." Tolgerias raised his gaze from his crystal ball. "He fears, quite correctly, that we would ally with Lavok instead of destroying him. I certainly would accept such an alliance, if the terms were favorable enough, however his destruction shall serve me well enough. All the better if it is carried out by the Perfect Warrior and her associates. They can take all the risks and I shall reap the rewards."

"They are a formidable force," the first apprentice remarked, as he left the window and took up his position at the table. "Disposing of them, after they have cleared the Sphere for us, might be a difficult undertaking."

"You are worried? About the danger posed by a bunch of meat-headed sword swingers?" Tolgerias raised one eyebrow. "Do you doubt my prowess? I am a mage of the twenty-first rank. They pose no threat to me."

"Not to you, of course, Master," the apprentice hastened to agree, "but remember that we are of but the tenth rank. Our rejoicing at your inevitable victory will be somewhat diminished if we have perished in the conflict."

Tolgerias uttered a short guttural laugh. "If you wish to share in the rewards you must share in the risks. You have wands and summoning scrolls, have you not? Use them skillfully and stay alive. I shall take care of the Perfect Warrior and the Vampire Slayer."

"And their witch? By all accounts she is skilled in the arcane arts."

The laugh was repeated. "Skilled? Of the fifteenth rank, or perhaps some small degree higher, I would judge. Far above you, perhaps, but to me? An insect to be crushed beneath my feet."

"An insect that is one of a swarm," the apprentice reminded his master, "and not the only one with a sharp sting. Have we not heard that Sir Xander has a Holy Sword?"

"True," Tolgerias conceded, "but against the power of my spells it will be of little avail. Still, their numbers are great, and I accept that your concerns are genuine. Fear not. I have made plans for all contingencies and have hired meat-headed sword swingers of my own. They, plus our summonings, shall keep the swarm at bay whilst I cast the spells that shall destroy them." He frowned briefly. "They really should have been here by now. Still, there is no immediate urgency, and warriors are known for their muscles and not for their intelligence or punctuality. Focus your attention on scrying."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

Minsc walked into an apparently empty space and collided with an invisible form. Willow staggered aside and yelped as she crashed into the solid steel wall of the corridor.

"Willow! I am sorry." Minsc reached out a helping hand in Willow's approximate direction. It made contact with her right boob and he snatched back his hand as soon as he realized what he had touched. "It was clumsy of me. Are you hurt?"

"No, I'm okay," Willow told him. "Don't worry about it. I guess it's kinda tricky moving around in a small space like this when you can't see everybody."

"I am supposed to protect a witch, not to trample one under my big feet," Minsc said. "Boo says that I should be more careful."

"No, I'm fine," Willow assured him. "Hey, I totally understand the problem." She looked at Valygar, or at least at the space where she guessed the invisible ranger to be, and her forehead developed an unseen crease. "I just hope all this Invisible Girl stuff is worth it and we managed to sneak in under those wizards' radar."

"Their what?" Minsc's blank frown was matched by similar expressions on the faces of all the other Faerûnian members of the party within Willow's line of sight.

"Uh, something we have in our world," Willow explained, as the party reached the end of the corridor and emerged into a more spacious chamber. "Like, a kind of mechanical scrying for spotting flying machines and ships in the dark."

"I guess we'll find out if it worked eventually," Tara said. "Either that Tolgerias guy will turn up, or else he won't."

"There's a spell to detect scrying," Willow said, "but I haven't found it yet. Hey, if this Lavok character is such a great wizard, maybe he might have it."

"Lavok is a creature of the vilest evil," Valygar put in. "His spells will be accursed black magic. Touch them not."

"It's not the magic that's good or evil, it's the person using it," Willow stated. Valygar snorted but made no other reply.

Those at the front of the group had been checking out the room. "Two locked doors and one unlocked," Yoshimo reported. "I can open one of the locked ones, I am sure, but the central one seems to be short an essential part of the mechanism."

"It may open at Valygar's touch, as did the Sphere itself," Sorkatani suggested, "but in any event we should investigate the unlocked door first."

"In case something comes out of it behind us while we're busy with the others," agreed Buffy. She advanced to the door and threw it open. It led, not to another room, but to a short length of narrow corridor with another door beyond it. "Crap. Just about wide enough for two but not if we have to swing swords. Who's gonna take point?"

"Spike," Sorkatani suggested. "He is the best fighter, other than ourselves, and he has great skill in spotting traps."

Buffy nodded. "Although he can't defuse them worth a damn."

"Hey, heard that, Slayer," said Spike. "I do all right. 'S just that Yoshi, Anya and Dawn are better, is all."

"Yeah, well, if you spot any just back off and leave them to the experts." Buffy stood back and made way for Spike. "We're kinda cramped in here with a group this size," she commented to Sorkatani.

"Perhaps there will be more space once we are inside the Sphere proper," Sorkatani said. She followed behind Spike. Jaheira, whose spear made it possible for her to fight unhindered from past a comrade, fell into place behind Sorkatani. Buffy clicked her tongue against the roof of her mouth but made no objection to the eminently sound tactical positioning.

"No traps," Spike reported. "Not locked." He turned a steel handle and pushed. The door swung open. A circular chamber lay beyond it, with metal pipes visible on the walls, and a mixture of sleek metal storage units and wooden boxes stacked on the floor. Beside the boxes stood a tall and broad figure, dull brown in color, and shaped like a crude parody of a human.

A clay golem. It reacted instantly to the door's opening and charged for Spike. He uttered one brief exclamation of "Bugger!" and then was fully occupied in defending himself. His sword was almost useless against the construct and all he could do was use it to parry the golem's punches. He kicked it solidly in the mid-section but to little effect. Jaheira thrust past his head with her Spear of the Unicorn and made a small puncture in the clay body. It caused almost no damage to the non-living being. Then Sorkatani put a hand on Spike's shoulder, vaulted up until her head almost touched the corridor's ceiling, and brought Celestial Fury whistling down.

She chose to strike with the back of the blade rather than the edge but achieved the intended result. Energy crackled from the enchanted blade and the sub-sonic boom of its shocking effect made Spike's teeth vibrate in their sockets. The golem froze in its tracks. "Everybody back up!" Sorkatani commanded. "We must have room to fight this thing."

The party retreated with all haste and formed a semi-circle in the larger room. When the stunning effect wore off and the golem pursued it was immediately set upon from all sides. Hammers, maces, and flails crashed against its clay torso. It landed one blow on Minsc, causing him to spin around, topple forward, and crash into Willow once more, and then the golem shattered into a dozen pieces.

Willow lost her grip upon the Staff of the Magi and was suddenly visible; or rather partially visible, as most of her was hidden by the ranger lying on top of her. "We so have to stop meeting like this," she gasped out.

Minsc scrambled to his feet. "Again I am sorry," he said, holding out his hand to Willow. She took it and allowed him to pull her to her feet. "Woe is Minsc, for he has flattened the one who he wishes to be his witch."

"You okay, sweetie?" Tara asked.

"A little squashed," Willow told her, "but not enough to matter. You okay, Minsc? You took a hard hit there." She noticed a bruise starting to appear on the ranger's cheek and she noticed also, rather to her surprise, that Minsc was blushing.

"I think Minsc will be fine if he just has a cold shower," Tara said, her tone uncharacteristically sharp.

"Huh?" Willow's brow furrowed as her gaze swung to Tara and then back to Minsc. She looked down from Minsc's face and then her cheeks colored. It seemed that Minsc's long-ago comment about regarding Willow as a sister was no longer accurate – unless they did things very differently in Rashemen – if lying on top of her so briefly could have this much of an effect upon him.

"Uh, I guess we can, uh, check out that room now," Willow said, averting her eyes. She was simultaneously embarrassed and flattered. Minsc's bedmate Oranna, she of the spectacular pair of boobies, hadn't inspired anything like as big a reaction from him as far as Willow knew. Presumably Minsc had been the hunted rather than the hunter in that relationship. Willow looked back to Tara and saw that her lips were a tight line and her brows were low over her eyes.

This lasted only for a moment and then Tara's lips twitched, turned up at the corners, and a smile spread over her face. "All of us, not just you and Minsc," she said. "That might not be the best idea right now."

"I shall join Sorkatani," Minsc announced, his cheeks still crimson, and he hastened off toward where his leader was already investigating the store-room accompanied by Spike and Yoshimo.

"So," Tara commented, "our cuddly ranger friend still has a thing for his witch."

"I, uh, it's nothing that I did," Willow assured her. "You're not, uh, jealous, are you?"

"A little," Tara admitted. "Why don't I affect him like that?"

Willow's jaw dropped. "Huh?"

Tara's smile grew broader. "Just teasing, hon." She turned and walked after Minsc.

Willow stood still for a moment, watching Tara walk away, and her brows furrowed. Was Tara really just teasing? There had been that thing with Tazok, and hey, Minsc was one whole lot cuter than the half-ogre, and if Tara was gay on account of meeting only the wrong kind of guy when she was starting out on dating, well, Minsc was about as nice a guy as you could meet in two worlds, and just maybe… Willow's thoughts wandered into unfamiliar territory. Suddenly she felt her cheeks flaming with heat, knew that she had turned as red as the late and unlamented Firkraag, and she ducked quickly down to snatch up the Staff of the Magi and seek sanctuary in invisibility.

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

Tolgerias nodded as he stared into his crystal ball. "That store-room will do very well, as our entry point, once they have moved deeper into the sphere. Have you fixed it in your minds?" He heard the apprentices voice their confirmation and then he raised his eyes from the globe. "Where in the Hells are my mercenaries? We may not have much time. Now that Valygar has entered the Sphere Lavok could decide to depart from this world as soon as he detects his descendant's presence. They were supposed to be here before sunset and that was almost an hour ago."

"As you said, Master, warriors are known for their muscles and not their punctuality," an apprentice remarked. "We cannot make our move until Sorkatani's people have pressed on, further into the Sphere, and away from our chosen landing spot. There is yet time."

"They had better hurry up," Tolgerias grumbled. "Without the mercenaries I shall have to rely upon summoned demons and that carries risks of its own."

"I think I hear someone at the door now," the other apprentice announced.

"About time," Tolgerias said. He returned his attention to the crystal ball and watched as Sorkatani's party completed their looting of the store-room and returned to the chamber closest to the entrance.

The door of the wizard's room opened and a brawny figure in armor stepped through. He was followed by a leather-clad man, wiry and thin, with a bandolier of throwing knives slung across his chest. Another man in plate armor completed the roster of the mercenaries hired by Tolgerias.

"So you are here at last," the wizard snapped. "I trust that you are…" Tolgerias stopped in mid-sentence as more figures entered the room. "Who are you? I hired only these three. If you wish to be employed on the same terms, well, that is certainly possible, but we have little time to discuss the matter."

The unexpected arrivals were three in number. A tall man, pale of complexion, who bulged with muscle but carried no visible weapon. A slim but curvaceous young woman who wore the diaphanous silk skirt of a Calimshite harem girl, skin-tight blue pants, and a short sleeveless jacket that was partially open at the front to display an impressive cleavage. The last to enter was another attractive female but her pointed ears indicated that she was of the elven race. Her garb of black leather appeared to have been designed for show rather than practicality. It exposed a great deal of skin, the pallor of which suggested that she was a Moon Elf, and the centre of her chest and the lower part of her breasts were the only parts of her torso that were adequately protected.

It was she who spoke. "I am no mercenary, wizard. I have a proposition for you." Her voice was deep and sultry but with an arrogance in her tone that took away any seductive effect.

Tolgerias stared at her and his eyes narrowed. He snapped his fingers to activate a spell trigger and in an instant he was covered with a protective Stoneskin. A second gesture activated Spell Turning. "Who are you and what do you want?"

The woman stretched out a pale hand and gestured in the direction of her companions. "This is Lassal," she introduced the man, "and Tanova." The curvaceous woman bowed toward the wizards. Her jacket gaped even wider and one of the apprentices swallowed hard. The elf girl lowered her hand, ran her tongue over full red lips, and continued. "My name is Bodhi. I wish to talk."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

An imp flapped across the room, flew over the huge round table, and spat out a scalding jet of steam at Spike. He grimaced, although he was well protected against fire and the heat had scarcely hurt him, and slashed at it with his sword. It changed course abruptly and managed to dodge the blow, although barely, but Celestial Fury slashed through the air and the little creature lost a wing. It spiraled to the ground and Spike stamped on it. "Hate those buggers," he growled. The imp gave a muffled squeak from under Spike's foot. He rolled his eyes, moved his foot aside, and stabbed down with his sword. The squeak was cut off short and Spike flipped the little corpse away into the space under the table.

Sorkatani had already sheathed Celestial Fury and was staring at the scene displayed on the table's surface. "That is Athkatla," she said. "All laid out before us with this Sphere at the center."

"Indeed," Jaheira agreed. Her eyebrows arched upward as she moved to stand beside Sorkatani. She rested the butt of her spear against her foot and leaned against the table.

Giles joined her a moment later, as the entire party trooped into the room, and he stood beside Jaheira and laid his hand on her back just above her buttocks. "An impressive effect," he commented. "Remarkable."

"Camera Obscura, innit?" said Spike. "Seen them before, back in the day."

"This is a rather larger example than the one that I have visited at Clifton Down," Giles said. He glanced up at the ceiling and then back down at the table. "Clearer, too, despite it being darker outside than it is in here. I wonder how it works."

"A magic mirror, I think," Willow put in. "Hey, this is cool. You can even see the people walking in the streets."

"They don't show up big enough to be recognizable," Buffy said. She lost interest after one cursory glance and turned away to examine the rest of the room. Anomen followed at her heels.

"Looks like we're missing out on some fun," Spike said. He pointed at the image of a building that lay between the Copper Coronet and the Planar Sphere. "Saw some geezer just get chucked out of a window there."

"There's no point in us going back out there just to join in some random brawl," Buffy said. "Hey, there doesn't seem to be anything else in this room. I think it's time to check out door number three."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

Tolgerias narrowed his eyes and stared at the elf woman. "You are a vampire," he said.

Bodhi opened her eyes very wide. "I am? Ah, that explains a lot. The thirst for blood, and the sensitivity to sunlight, and the insatiable sexual appetite. Actually scratch the last point. I've always had that."

Tolgerias permitted himself a brief half-smile. "A vampire with a sense of humor. Remarkable." He raised his voice slightly and snapped out a command to his apprentices and mercenaries. "Don't look at their eyes!"

"Fear not, wizard, your minions have not taken their eyes from Tanova's chest since we entered," Bodhi told him.

"They are young," Tolgerias said. His forehead furrowed. "It is rare for an elf to become a vampire. I have not heard of it happening within the last five centuries. Usually an elven victim of a vampire attack simply dies." He did not bother to ask how the vampires had gained admission to the house. It was not his own property, having been only rented on a short term basis to serve as an observation point overlooking the Planar Sphere entrance, and without an owner-occupier the prohibition against a vampire entering a dwelling uninvited did not apply.

"I'm a special case," Bodhi said. "I note that you are not avoiding my gaze yourself, wizard."

"Your charms can have no effect upon a mage of my rank," Tolgerias said. His half-smile returned. "Or at least your magical charms. I am not blind to your physical attractions and your wit has impressed me." The smile disappeared again and his voice sharpened. "We have little time to talk, for I have a mission that can not wait, but it is possible that we can do business. Tell me what you want, lady, but make it quick."

"You are going to attack Sorkatani once she has dealt with whatever perils lurk within that iron sphere," Bodhi stated. "I can't let you do that."

"Oh?" Tolgerias raised his eyebrows. "You seek to protect her? Why? Are you connected to the most unusual vampire who travels with her?"

Bodhi shook her head. "No. Sorkatani has something that my brother needs. She has to stay alive for a little while longer."

Tolgerias sucked in his cheeks. "I have no interest in her as such. She is merely an unwitting tool. Yet the treasures that lie within the Planar Sphere are of great interest to me and I have invested much time and effort in this project. If you wish me to stay my hand, and to allow Sorkatani to walk off with my prize, you must pay me well to do so."

"No, I don't think so," Bodhi said. Her lips curled back enough to reveal her fangs. "If you don't back off I'll just kill you."

"You cannot threaten a mage of the twenty-first rank," Tolgerias growled. "Have a care, vampire. You are outnumbered two to one."

"Wrong," Bodhi informed him. "It is you that are outnumbered. The men that you hired work for me." Her smile widened. "I grow tired of this. Kill them."

The three mercenaries drew weapons and fell on one of the apprentices. Blows rained down and the young mage collapsed to the ground in a welter of blood. Lassal pounced upon the other mage but he was able to utter a summoning spell before Lassal managed to seize him. A seven-foot ogre materialized in the room and struck the vampire with its club. The apprentice wriggled free of Lassal's grasp and backed away, quarterstaff raised, and began to chant another spell.

Tolgerias drew a symbol in the air. The mercenaries froze in place with their swords half raised. Tanova chanted a counter-spell and the symbol disappeared. The mercenaries swayed, shook their heads, and then began to advance toward the remaining apprentice once more. He was now Hasted and was able to fend them off with his staff.

The ogre charged at Bodhi and struck out. She reached up, caught the creature's club as it fell, and brought the weapon to a halt. She twisted the club from the ogre's grasp and tossed it aside. She followed up by lashing out with the back of her hand with such force that the ogre was knocked from his feet and crashed down upon the table that had supported the scrying crystals. The wood shattered and the magical orbs rolled upon the floor.

Tolgerias spoke one word and the leading mercenary dropped dead in his tracks. The wizard raised his hand and a ray of force shot out from a ring. It struck Lassal and sent the vampire shooting back across the room. He crashed into the window and toppled out into the street. Next Tolgerias unleashed a spell of Disintegrate upon Tanova. The vampire mage was shielded against the spell and she retaliated with a spell of her own, Ruby Ray of Reversal, to strip away the Spell Turning that shielded Tolgerias. He grimaced and cast the same spell upon her.

The surviving apprentice had now summoned up a giant spider as well as the ogre. It sank its fangs into the leather-clad mercenary's leg. The man's comrade struck the spider a heavy blow with his longsword and green arachnid blood gushed from the wound.

The ogre began to clamber to its feet. Bodhi seized it around the neck and propelled it toward the apprentice mage. He had been forced into a corner and had no room to maneuver. She rammed the ogre into him like a living battering ram and caved in his chest. With its summoner slain the ogre vanished. The spider disappeared too and the injured thief was able to withdraw a potion of antidote from his pouch and gulp it down.

The magical duel between Tolgerias and Tanova was at a stalemate. His magical ability slightly surpassed hers, and his repertoire of spells was wider, but he had been expecting to fight in steel rooms against a party almost exclusively consisting of humans. His most deadly spells were useless against a member of the Undead and his fire spells could not be used in this confined, and inflammable, space. He might still have won in the end, had all other factors been equal, but now he was faced with the two remaining mercenary warriors and both of the vampire girls. A sword blow glanced from his Stoneskin. Tanova cast another spell that disrupted the Abi-Dazim's Horrid Wilting that Tolgerias had been about to unleash. Lassal, who had recovered from his fall, re-appeared in the doorway.

Panic flared in the wizard's eyes. The situation was desperate but he still had one avenue of escape open to him. If he teleported to the store-room in the Planar Sphere...

Bodhi seized Tolgerias by the neck. Her other hand clamped over his face and her fingers closed on his nose. She pinched his nostrils shut and jammed the heel of her hand into his mouth. Tolgerias struggled for breath, tried to pry away her hand but to no avail, and then rotated his hand to aim his ring at Bodhi. Tanova caught his wrist and twisted it around. The force beam missed its target and blasted a hole in the ceiling.

"I like you," Bodhi told the struggling wizard. "I don't think I'll kill you after all. Well, not permanently. You can become a member of our little family. Won't that be nice? You'll even get to fuck me." She put her face against his neck and licked along the line of his carotid artery. "Get rid of that Stoneskin, Tanova. I want to feed."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

The central door on the innermost side of the chamber was operated by a heavy metal wheel. It reminded Spike of the doors inside the German U-boat on which he had taken an involuntary trip in 1943. Valygar took hold of the wheel and attempted to turn it. It didn't move. He had become visible during the fight against the clay golem and the others saw his failure. Sorkatani took his place, with no greater success, and then Buffy tried. The wheel still refused to turn.

"I guess there's something else we need to do," Buffy said. She poked at the control panel that was set into the door below the wheel. "Will? Can you make any sense of this?"

"It looks like there's a piece missing," Willow deduced. "There was a kinda lever thing in that store-room. I think it fits here."

"I knew it had to be important," Anya said. She produced the lever from her pack and handed it to Willow, who had abandoned her own invisibility for the time being.

"Yep, it fits," Willow confirmed. She rotated the lever through ninety degrees and then pulled it downward. A metal bar moved away from the wheel. "That should do it." She heaved on the wheel and managed to rotate it through quarter of a turn. "It's kinda stiff."

"Where strength is needed, call for Minsc," the ranger boomed, ignoring the fact that three of the party members were stronger than him. He stepped up and took hold of the wheel. It turned easily in his hands. "With Willow's brains and Minsc's strength we have solved the problem."

The door swung open. Another long metal-walled corridor was revealed behind it. "A confined space again," Sorkatani said. "The same formation as before?" She sheathed the scimitar that was her current left-hand weapon and pulled out a mace in its place. "I think it likely that we shall face more golems," she explained. "Such servants do not need food and Lavok will have crewed this ship with them."

"Or the Undead," Buffy said, "but yeah, the golem things are the likeliest." She returned the Blade of Roses to its scabbard and drew a small war-hammer. Anomen hefted a larger hammer and stood at her side.

Spike stepped through the door and advanced slowly along the corridor. Sorkatani followed him, then Jaheira, then Tara and Willow, and they moved on until everyone had passed through the doorway. As soon as Xander, who was bringing up the rear, set foot on the metal gangway the door behind him swung shut. A loud clang reverberated through the corridor and there was a grating noise as the wheel turned by itself.

"Uh-oh, kinda ominous," said Xander.

"What did you do? What did you do?" Anya exclaimed.

"Hey, I didn't touch anything!" Xander protested.

A disembodied voice spoke. "Planar travel has been initiated. You will not be able to leave the sphere until we have reached our next destination. Please remember that the outer door cannot be opened unless the inner chamber door is shut."

"Hey! Where are we going?" Buffy shouted.

The voice supplied an answer but, as it spoke again before Buffy had finished posing her question, probably only by coincidence rather than as a direct reply. "We shall be arriving in the Abyss in approximately seven hours. Thank you for traveling by Lavok's Planar Sphere."


	43. Chapter 43

**Chapter Forty-three**

"The Abyss," said Buffy. "That's where all the demons hang out, right?"

"It is indeed," Anomen confirmed. "A realm of evil and depravity."

"Least there's a bright side, then," Spike commented. He was immediately the target of several scowls. "I mean the depravity bit," he said. "Oh, bugger, just trying to look on the bright side."

"Humans in the Abyss will be subjected to unimaginable torments," Anomen went on. "The fell creatures of that realm are powerful beyond all measure."

"If they mess with me, I Slay them," Buffy said. "Anyway, I guess we don't have to get off this ship when it stops there. We can stay in here. I'm guessing this Sphere is pretty impregnable."

"The Cowled Wizards found it so," Valygar said. "Only one of the line of Lavok can open this Sphere from the outside without his consent."

"So we should be safe in here," Buffy said.

"Unless this Lavok's been there before getting his end away with the demon birds," Spike suggested. "Succubi or whatever."

"Succubi cannot conceive with humans," Anomen stated. "There will be no such offspring." Sorkatani frowned, and opened her mouth as if to contradict the cleric, but then said nothing.

"I am the last living descendant of Lavok," Valygar declared. "With me shall perish that accursed line."

"Hey, don't be so gloomy," Willow said. "We're gonna get out of here just fine." She cast her eyes over Valygar. He was a good-looking guy, if you liked guys that is, but boy was he depressed. And depressing. Eeyore had nothing on him. "You'll get to have a family one day."

"I am sworn to celibacy," Valygar replied. "There shall be no more generations of the House of Corthala when I am gone."

"Celibacy? That is foolish, ranger, for you are a handsome man and many women would be eager to part their legs for you," Viconia commented. "There are ways to avoid getting the woman with child." Her expression, as much as it could be seen in the confined space, appeared to be admiring.

It was no surprise to Willow that Viconia apparently regarded Valygar as attractive. Valygar was black; as dark as, for instance, Samuel L Jackson. In a previous conversation Viconia had revealed to Willow that she had always felt closest to Dynaheir, in Sorkatani's previous group of companions, mainly because of the Rashemeni witch's skin color. Minsc was a light coffee color but apparently Dynaheir had been almost as black as Viconia. There seemed to be little or no color prejudice between humans, at least so far as Willow had seen, in this world – as Terry Pratchett had said about the characters in his 'Discworld' books, black and white lived together in perfect harmony and ganged up on green – but it was a much bigger deal when it came to elves.

"Can we get a bleedin' move on instead of standing around in this sodding corridor for bloody ages?" Spike complained. His lips formed a tight line and his eyebrows had descended low over his eyes.

"Of course, Spike," Sorkatani said. "Open the door."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

The three knights were gaunt to the point of being emaciated. Their movements were slow and their hands trembled as they lifted the food to their mouths.

"I see signs of the early stages of scurvy," Giles observed. "What little they have been eating obviously didn't contain much Vitamin C."

"So, out with the lime juice, then? If we had any, which we don't," said Xander.

"Actually, limes are much lower in Vitamin C than are the other citrus fruits," Giles replied. "The British Navy chose limes because they were grown in British colonies, unlike lemons and oranges, and not because they were the most efficacious preventative."

"Yeah, that's… interesting, Giles, but not really the point at issue." Buffy looked to Anomen. "Will this food that you conjured up fix the scurvy thing?"

"The ailment that sailors suffer when they have been long from the land, living on dried meats? I believe so. The holy foodstuffs contain all that is necessary to sustain life."

Xander nibbled on a piece of the bread-like substance and grimaced. "Tastes like cardboard."

"It is nourishing but hardly pleasant," Anomen agreed. "It will restore their strength, and in time will act to cure this 'scurvy', but it will be days before they are fit to fight at our side against whatever lies behind those barricaded doors. Healing spells can do little to rectify the effects of starvation."

"I have no intention of being here for days," Sorkatani declared.

"We might have no choice, Jabbress," Viconia reminded her. "Unless we can gain control of this device and return it to some destination at which we can disembark."

"That is my intention," Sorkatani said. "To Spellhold if possible. Back to Athkatla as the next best choice."

"To Spellhold?" Yoshimo's eyes opened very wide. "A clever idea, Jabbress. We would avoid the sea voyage and arrive without warning."

"Exactly." Sorkatani nodded and her fingers caressed the hilt of Celestial Fury. "I hope that it is possible."

"We can but try," Yoshimo said. He pursed his lips and his eyes narrowed. "It would be useful to know more of what lies ahead of us. Such barriers would not impede golems and our first assumptions may have been in error. It is a shame that these knights cannot tell us what they have encountered."

Giles nodded agreement as he listened to Minsc rumbling out an enquiry, in Rasheemi, that met with the same blank incomprehension as had all the previous attempts to communicate. "Perhaps we shall yet discover some mutually comprehensible tongue," he said. As Minsc fell silent Giles took over and spoke in a language that was ancient before the pyramids were built.

"I understood that," Sorkatani said.

"Good lord." Giles put a finger to the bridge of his glasses. "You understand Sumerian?"

"Untheric, I would call it," replied Sorkatani. "Yes, you asked if they were regaining their strength. I can read the language, and have heard it spoken, although I would not venture to try speaking it myself. An ancient empire, far away from here, that is no longer a great power. It is said that they came to this world from another, long ago, as did the Mulhorandi."

"Fascinating. Absolutely fascinating. That other world must have been our Earth."

"We shall talk more of this another time," Sorkatani said. "For the moment we must concentrate on the task at hand." She tried a question in the language of the Tuigan hordes of the Endless Wastes. The knights did not even seem to realize that she was addressing them. Yoshimo spoke in the dialect of Kozakura and was similarly ignored.

"There is a spell that would give me the power to converse with them. Give me an hour in which to meditate and I shall solve our problem," Anomen offered.

Buffy shook her head. "An hour is too long. I'm thinking that being in control of this ship before we arrive in the Abyss would definitely be of the good. Especially when it comes to making the decisions about opening the door to the outside."

"True," Sorkatani agreed. She cocked her head and listened as Anya spoke in the Old Norse of ninth-century Sweden. "Another language of your world, I take it? I understand it not but there are sounds in it that seem familiar. I think that there must have been other contacts between our worlds in the past."

Jaheira clicked her tongue. "We waste time, jabbress. We must move on soon. It would have been useful to be forewarned about what lies ahead but it is not to be."

The female member of the trio of knights raised her eyes to look at Jaheira and then spoke up, somewhat hesitantly, in a language that none of the party had yet thought to try. An awkward and ungrammatical pidgin version of Elven.

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

Buffy sat on the edge of the table and swung her feet to and fro. "Okay, somebody give me the Cliff Notes version," she pleaded. Her knowledge of the drow and elven languages was almost nil and she had understood nothing of the conversation with the knights. "What's behind door number one?" She pointed at the steel door that had been on the left as they had entered the room.

"Cannibal hobbits," Dawn told her. The variant of elven spoken by the knights resembled a cross between Viconia's Ilythiiri and the Keltoran dialect of Tal'Quessir spoken by Jaheira. By now Dawn spoke Ilythiiri fluently and she had been able to follow the conversation with no rather less difficulty than understanding Korgan's heavily-accented Common.

Buffy gritted her teeth. She was unaccustomed to being outdone by her sister and she hadn't missed the touch of smug superiority in Dawn's tone. "Cannibal hobbits," she echoed. She glanced toward Giles. "Is that right?"

"It agrees with my own interpretation, certainly," Giles confirmed. "Pigmies, presumably halflings or a variety of gnome, who killed and ate one of these knights' companions during their initial attempt to explore the Sphere. Numerous, ferocious, and dangerous."

"What about door number two?"

"Sahuagin, from their description," Sorkatani said, "or some similar species of fish-man, such as the kuo-toa."

"Cannibal hobbits to the left, the Creatures from the Black Lagoon straight ahead. Check. And the door to the right?" Chairs had been piled up into barricades, presumably by the knights, to block access into the room through the two doors first mentioned. Access to the final, smaller, door was unimpeded.

"Toilets," said Spike. "Already had a gander. Little wash-room and toilet. Taps that shut themselves off just like a modern hotel."

"A sensible precaution in a closed environment," Giles commented.

"A bathroom? Is there a shower?" For a moment Buffy was completely distracted from the task at hand.

"Nah, Slayer, just a washbasin," Spike dashed her hopes.

"Bummer. Okay, back on topic. Which way should we go first?"

"Apparently the central door leads to only one chamber. It would make sense to start there," Giles suggested.

"I'm good with that," Buffy said. "Okay, people, let's go fish."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

The sahuagin were few in number and confined to a small area with no scope for maneuver. Despite that they attacked the moment the door was opened. The sahuagin displayed no great strength or speed, indicating either that the species was less formidable than its reputation or that these examples were weakened by hunger, and all were dead in little over a minute. A search of the bodies and the chamber turned up nothing of use save for a minor Cloak of Protection and a few crossbow bolts tipped with a paralyzing toxin. The floor was knee-deep in water and a drainage vent had been deliberately blocked. Xander cleared the vent, in case the flooded chamber interfered with some of the workings of the vessel in which they were traveling, and the water drained away. They closed the door once more and moved on.

The halfling cannibals were more of a challenge. They charged almost at once, a howling berserk mob, outnumbering the party more than two to one. They had two spell-casters of more than average ability backing up their warriors. Their tactics were good; they met the intruders at the point where the narrow corridor widened out into a large chamber, so that several halflings at once could face Spike and Sorkatani, and no doubt they expected to overwhelm them. Jaheira had an unpleasant surprise when she sought to neutralize the halfling wizards with a spell of Insect Plague. No swarm of insects materialized. This closed environment, separated from the natural world, was no place for a druid. For a moment everything seemed in favor of the cannibal horde.

It wasn't enough. Sorkatani killed three halflings with three sword strokes and stepped forward over their corpses. Spike rammed his blade through one of the little savages, released the sword hilt, and seized another halfling by the throat. He snatched the creature up and used it to batter the others aside. Buffy and Jaheira emerged into the open, followed a moment later by Minsc and Willow, and the halflings' initial advantage of position was gone.

As the halfling fighters fell, however, their spell-casters were able to unleash more deadly spells with less fear of slaying their own side. A lightning bolt crackled through the air and struck both Sorkatani and Minsc. The Perfect Warrior cried out in pain and froze in her tracks. She dropped her left-hand scimitar and it fell to the ground. A tattooed halfling warrior wielding a longsword, a human weapon no doubt looted from the knight whom they had slain previously, seized the opportunity to attack. He ran in and smote her upon the right arm. She lost her grip upon Celestial Fury and it was sent flying through the air to land some yards away.

The halfling raised his sword, swinging it with ease even though it was nearly as long as he was tall, and struck again. Jaheira thrust out with her spear to intercept the blow but her weapon was swept aside and Jaheira stumbled. The sword struck home and pierced Sorkatani's armor of dragon scales. The gleaming red acquired a darker tinge as blood gushed from the wound.

A triumphant grin appeared on the cannibal's tattooed face as he drew back his weapon for what was intended to be a finishing blow. Sorkatani moved so quickly that she seemed almost to flicker from one position to another. Her foot blurred up and around and smashed into the halfling's jaw. The little creature was lifted from the ground and hurled through the air. He landed on his back in front of Jaheira. She jabbed down with the Spear of the Unicorn and pinned the halfling to the ground.

Willow dropped a Cloudkill on the halfling wizards. They fled the poisonous cloud, choking and temporarily neutralized, and Willow raised a wall of fire to bar their paths. Yoshimo, Giles, Anya, and Dawn loosed arrows and crossbow bolts at the wizards as they emerged from the flames. Xander raced forward with Carsomyr held high and reached the diminutive mages before they could recover.

Anomen and Viconia both cast healing spells upon Sorkatani. Tara tended to Minsc. Buffy looked around for more foes to battle and found no-one. The battle was over.

"Don't you dare forget your sword this time, Spike," Anya ordered.

"No problem," Spike said. "Decent piece of kit, that one. Know exactly where I left it." He was still holding an unconscious halfling, no longer required as a living bludgeon, and he raised the limp form to his mouth. "Waste not, want not," he said. "Dunno when we'll get out of here and it's not like there's anywhere to buy blood." He went into game face and sank his fangs into the halfling's throat.

Buffy grimaced but said nothing.

"That is a sight that goes amiss with me too," Anomen said to her. "Yet Spike must feed, and in this strange device there is no other source of blood besides our foes."

"I know, I know," Buffy agreed. "I'm just never gonna get used to seeing him doing it."

Spike drained the halfling dry and tossed the corpse aside. "That's a thought," he said.

Buffy frowned. "What, that I don't like seeing you feed? Like I haven't made that plain ever since we came to Faerûn?"

"Nah, about me being a bit buggered if there isn't anywhere to get blood," Spike replied. "Not just in here, but later, if we're going on a sea voyage. Have to take some animals along, or something. Don't want to spend the whole trip hoping for a pirate attack so that I can get something to eat."

Yoshimo frowned. "I had not thought of that," he said.

"No reason why you should have, mate," Spike said. "My problem, my job to fix it."

"It is not uncommon for sailors to take some livestock aboard ship," Yoshimo told him. "There were pigs upon the vessel on which I traveled to the Sword Coast. No doubt something of the sort can be arranged when we sail to Spellhold."

"If we cannot get there in this device," Sorkatani put in. "I yet have hopes." She was kneeling beside the body of the halfling who had injured her. "Ah, I thought that he was stronger than should have been possible for one his size," she said. She stood up and held aloft a pair of gloves. "Gauntlets of Ogre Power," she announced. "The Hands of Takkok. If we gain nothing else from this expedition it has been worth while."

"Cool," said Dawn. "Who gets to wear them?"

Sorkatani's brow creased. "I know that you would like them, Dawn, but I do not think that it would be the best use of these gauntlets." She saw Dawn's lips beginning to form themselves into a pout and she held the gloves out to the younger girl. "See for yourself, Dawn. They are stout leather, reinforced with strips of metal, and not suitable for performing delicate work. You could not pick locks, or make traps safe, with these on your hands."

Dawn examined the gloves and then handed them back. "Okay, yeah, I guess you're right," she conceded. "So who does get them? You?"

Sorkatani shook her head. "They give the wearer the strength of an ogre. No more and no less. I would be weakened if I donned them, as would Spike or your sister, rather than strengthened. No, they should go to one who fights in the front line but does not already have such exceptional strength. Minsc would gain little. Anomen's strength I would judge to be almost as great as Minsc's and, again, bestowing the gauntlets upon him would be a waste. Xander would benefit more, and if he had the gauntlets Carsomyr would be an even more formidable weapon, but my vote would go to Jaheira. Her skill in combat is not matched by her strength."

"Perhaps Xander and I should draw lots," Jaheira suggested. "I could make good use of the gauntlets, true, but so could he. I have my spells to augment my fighting skills." She grimaced. "Although in this place it seems my spells are not to be relied upon. We are far from the natural world."

Xander rejoined the group in time to hear that part of the conversation. "I'm good with drawing lots," he agreed. "The extra strength would be cool, but I do okay anyway."

"Uh, maybe you could both have something," Tara put in. "I have the Giant Strength girdle so that I can use this Hammer of Thunderbolts, but, well, I don't really use it much. If I pass the hammer on to Anomen, and the girdle to Xander, and Jaheira gets the gloves, I think that would work out."

"No!" Buffy and Sorkatani exclaimed simultaneously.

Tara's eyes widened. "Is there a problem with that?"

Willow stared at Buffy. "You know something that I don't?" Buffy and Sorkatani exchanged glances. Willow's stare intensified. "Come on, spill," she urged.

"We, uh, had Slayer dreams," Buffy divulged. "We didn't say anything 'cause we didn't want to worry you."

"Slayer dreams?" Willow gulped. "The other night when both of you rushed out into the corridor in your night clothes? Or, like, lack of night clothes in Buffy's case? They were about Tara?"

"They were," Sorkatani confirmed. "We resolved to make sure that they did not come to pass and are watching over her. It occurs to me that this offer of Tara's may be the point at which we can change things to prevent the dreams from becoming a reality. The Girdle of Giant Strength, and the Hammer of Thunderbolts, must stay with her so that she is best able to protect herself."

Willow moved closer to Tara. "You should have told us," she said to Buffy.

"Blame me as well, Willow," Sorkatani said. "Buffy and I discussed it and the decision was mutual. Fear not, abbin, I will not let anything happen to Tara. These dreams are warnings and not prophecy. There have been times when I have dreamed of my own death, and I have taken heed of the dreams, and avoided that fate when the time came."

"So, what did you see in the dream?" Tara asked. Her face had paled slightly.

"A vampire," Buffy told her. "I think maybe Bodhi, although I never got a good look at her in the cemetery so I can't be sure. It was in some big old manor house. She bit you. Bad." She twirled Daystar. "Don't worry, Tara, like Tani said, we're not gonna let anything happen to you."

"I still think you should have told us," Willow said. "Hey, is there anything else you're not telling us?"

"Yes," Sorkatani said immediately, much to Willow's surprise. Sorkatani's eyes flickered sideways but her head remained very still as if she was restraining the impulse to look at some specific member of the group. "I shall tell you more at another time. For now I can only say that I apologize for my silence on this matter and that I crave your pardon."

"Uh, that goes for me too," Buffy said. "Sorry, Will, Tara."

"I guess it's okay," Tara said. "Uh, if this vision was about some manor house, I guess it's nothing to do with where we are now. So I could still pass on the hammer, and the belt, and take them back once we're out of here. I think Xander could use the girdle better than I can right now."

"I guess," Buffy said. "But you make sure you take them back before we go into any place anything like a house."

The exchange of items was duly carried out. Anomen tapped the Hammer of Thunderbolts with the heel of his hand and beamed. "With this weapon I can truly smite evil."

"Return it to Tara once we're out of this Sphere," Buffy reminded him.

"But of course," Anomen agreed. "A loan only, but one for which I am grateful."

Xander belted on the girdle and then took Carsomyr in his right hand and raised it high. "I… have… the power!" he declaimed. The great-sword was still too unwieldy to use in just one hand but its weight was nothing to him now. "Way cool."

Jaheira donned the gauntlets with less display. "I shall use these well," she said, "as I did the gauntlets that we took from Desrata in Baldur's Gate." She prodded the ground with her spear. "It is strange. The iron floor here has been covered with soil. Was it used to grow food?"

"I guess so," Buffy said. "There are a few kinda withered plants around. Like it didn't work out."

"The soil is barren, dry and cracked," Jaheira continued, "and yet I can hear water running."

"It's getting a little muddy around the edges of the room," Xander observed. "Like, maybe that pool in the shark-men's hang-out was meant to be running into here and I set things right when I pulled the plug."

"We shall not be here long enough to see the results," Jaheira said. "Let us move on."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

Buffy kicked the corpse of a giant spider out of sight under a table. "I don't get it," she said. "We smash a bunch of golems into pieces one minute and we have to put another one together now?"

Giles lowered the book that he had been examining. "It appears so," he confirmed. "The inner doors will open for a maintenance golem but not for us."

"The same was true in the dungeon of Irenicus," Sorkatani reminded Buffy. "We did not have to fight the golem there. I believe that the same will be true here. Regardless, we have no other choice other than to sit here and wait until we arrive in the Abyss."

"Or until Lavok chooses to open the doors to admit us," Yoshimo said. "It is strange that he has not done so."

"The evil wizard fears our mighty forces," Minsc declared.

"That may well be the explanation," Sorkatani agreed. A grin came to her face. "Then again, he might just be having a nap."

"And that 'we are taking off for the Abyss, please fasten your seat belts and extinguish your cigarettes' announcement didn't wake him?" Spike returned Sorkatani's grin.

The grin spread to Tara. "He wears earplugs?"

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

The party emerged into the control chamber and fanned out into a battle formation. A tall ebony figure, clad in the traditional symbol-decorated robes of a high-ranking wizard, glowered down at them from an elevated platform.

"Foolish mortals," he boomed out. "You have entered only…"

His oration was cut short as a barrage of spells, slingshots, arrows and crossbow bolts struck him. His initial retaliation was less lethal than would have been expected, presumably because of his unwillingness to damage the body of Valygar as he intended to possess it for his next incarnation, and Willow neutralized Lavok's first spells without difficulty. Buffy, Sorkatani, and Spike charged in to close quarters. Only then did Lavok unleash a truly deadly spell, Abi-Dazim's Horrid Wilting, and the attackers suffered agony as their tissues shriveled. They recoiled from the deadly cloud, choking, but not before Buffy had seized Lavok by the leg and thrown him from his platform.

The wizard landed hard on the steel floor. He was well protected by powerful enchantments, and suffered little injury from the impact, but his next spell was disrupted and he was vulnerable to attack. Minsc brought his sword Lilarcor down upon the mage in a mighty blow. Lavok shrugged off the hit and began to stand up.

"No effect?" Minsc gasped. "I need a bigger sword."

"Hey!" Lilarcor protested. "It's not my fault if the guy is shielded. Tell the little red-head to get rid of it."

Willow needed no prompting from a talking sword. She was already casting spells to strip Lavok of his shielding. "I'm on it!" she shouted. Sparks of energy crackled from her fingers.

Xander swung Carsomyr with all his magically-enhanced strength behind the blow. He hit Lavok across the middle of the back and sent the mage crashing back down to the floor. Anomen hit Lavok on the head with the Hammer of Thunderbolts. Minsc struck once more. Xander brought his Holy Sword down again and made solid contact. There was a flash of light and Lavok seemed to shrivel and shrink. Droplets of blood splattered across the steel decking.

Valygar tossed his bow aside and drew his sword. "You are defeated, Lavok," he declared, advancing to stand over the fallen mage. "I am Valygar Corthala, your last descendant. I shall not allow you to take my body to extend your evil life."

"I am dying," the body on the floor gasped out. "It shall be a relief. The force that possessed me has caused me to do much evil." His very appearance had changed. No longer was he a tall, commanding, figure. Instead a frail and elderly man, his head covered with sparse white hair, lay on the floor.

Valygar raised his sword over the wizard's throat. "It ends here," he said.

Xander lowered Carsomyr. "Wait up," he said. "He's not showing up as evil any more."

Valygar frowned. "A trick," he said.

"Hey, these paladin powers aren't easy to fool," Xander pointed out. "I don't think he could pull off any fancy spells while we were beating the crap out of him."

"Xander is right," Sorkatani declared. Her voice rasped from her dry throat but she had escaped from the toxic cloud before taking serious harm. Tara cast a healing spell upon her, as Anomen tended to Buffy, and Viconia saw to Spike. "Do not slay him, Valygar."

"I sought knowledge," Lavok explained. "I conjured forth a demon in the belief that I could control it. I was wrong. Instead it controlled me. For a century it has used my invention to spread misery and chaos to a score of worlds. Worst of all is what it forced me to do to my own family."

Valygar sheathed his sword. "This is not as I thought it would be," he said.

"My life has been stretched out long after I should have died," Lavok continued. "Bought at the price of my own flesh and blood. Soon it will end, as should be, but I beg one last thing of you. Let me die under the sun of my own world."

"We intend to return to Faerûn as soon as possible," Sorkatani told the dying wizard. "Can you show us how to operate this machine?"

Lavok started to shake his head but the motion seemed to bring him pain. He lay still and moved only his mouth. "It would take years to learn the necessary skills," he told her. "I can set the Sphere to return to the spot from which it departed, if you will help me back up to the control platform, but that is all."

Disappointment showed on Sorkatani's face but she accepted his word. "We shall do so. Take us home, wizard."

"There is something that you must do before we can return," Lavok said. "The energy to fly between the planes is drawn from the hearts of demons. When we arrive in the Abyss you must slay one such and retrieve its heart. Only then can we depart that realm."

"Bummer," said Buffy.

"Bloody typical," said Spike. "Don't suppose there's any beer in this spaceship, is there? That sodding gas cloud has buggered my throat up good and proper."

"Alas, no," Lavok replied. "The demon that possessed me had no interest in wine or beer. All that there is to drink is water." Spike groaned.

"Do not despair, Spike," Giles put in. "I have tea leaves in my pack and it should be easy enough to improvise some method of boiling water. I'm sure that we shall all feel much better after a nice cup of tea."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

There was no sun overhead. Instead a sullen red glow emanated from the sky and lit up the barren landscape. Buffy wrinkled her nose. "This place stinks. I vote we kill the demon as fast as possible and get out of here."

"Indeed," Anomen said. "This dread realm is hostile to humanity."

"We're going on a demon hunt," Dawn chanted. "We're going to catch a big one. What a beautiful day. We're not scared."

"That may change," Sorkatani warned. "Some tanar'ri can surround themselves with an aura of fear. Perhaps Giles should sing his 'I won't back down' song'." A smile lit up her face. "Apart from anything else, I like it."

"Of course, my dear," Giles agreed. He readied his guitar for action.

"Maybe Dawn's song worked," Buffy said. "I can see a big demon right over there. Plus a lot of little ones. I guess we might as well just get straight to the attack. There's no point in talking when we need its heart. It's not like it's gonna say 'sure, take it'."

The company advanced to the attack. A swarm of imps rose to defend their master. Arrows flew and spells filled the air. Giles brought up the rear with his fingers dancing across the guitar strings and the Tom Petty song on his lips.

He walked past a large red rock. Suddenly it moved. Arms extended, tipped with vicious claws, and the top of the rock revealed itself to be a demonic head.

"A mortal," the creature snarled. "A rash mortal indeed to visit the Abyss. I shall feast upon your spleen."

Giles looked ahead. The other members of the party were heavily engaged in combat and, although they seemed to be winning, they were in no position to rush to his rescue. He was on his own. He wracked his brain for some suitable song that would protect him from this formidable-appearing demon. 'Sympathy for the Devil' hardly seemed appropriate. 'Highway to Hell' would be worse than useless. Suddenly a minor Seventies hit, by English folk-rock band The Strawbs, popped into his thoughts. The chorus seemed to offer at least some measure of protection.

"_Oh_," Giles began, "_You don't get me I'm part of the Union, you don't get me I'm part of the Union…_"

The demon hesitated. Giles was just beginning to feel that at least he had bought himself some time, in which either he could come up with some more appropriate song or the others could spot his plight and come to his rescue, when a wave of weakness swept over him. His vision dimmed and he slumped to the ground.

Fifty yards away Willow's eyes rolled up in her head and she toppled sideways. Carsomyr fell from Xander's suddenly limp fingers and he fell in an unconscious heap. The tanar'ri that they battled, sorely wounded and hard pressed, suddenly found itself granted a respite. It raised its formidable talons over Xander and prepared to pounce.


	44. Chapter 44

**Chapter Forty-four**

Lea'liyl, dread commander over a dozen lesser tanar'ri, snarled down at the knight who had caused him such pain with a sword of surpassing enchantment. He knew not what had caused the knight to collapse, but neither did he care; all that mattered was that the enemy was now helpless before him. He swung a mighty fist and batted aside the puny human female who tried to protect the knight. She spun away, crashed to the ground, and lay still. Lea'liyl paid her no more heed. He opened his fanged maw, extended his claws, and lunged at the unconscious figure of Xander.

Tara bent down and examined the prone form of Willow. There was no visible injury, and Willow was breathing normally, but she was limp and unresponsive. Tara swatted an imp that tried to attack and then cast a 'Remove Paralysis' spell on her lover. It had no result. Tara chewed on her lip as she tried to think of something else that she could do. Her eyes were trained on Willow and she did not see a tanar'ri, a minion of Lea'liyl's, responding to his lord's mental cries for help and approaching fast with deadly intent. It was charging directly toward Tara and the helpless Willow.

Buffy allowed the Blade of Roses to drop from her left hand and her fingers closed in an intricate grip upon empty air. Her right hand, holding Daystar, waved back and forth in an arc that came close to bringing the blade into contact with her nose. "_You don't…_" she sang, and then her jaw dropped. "Oh, bugger!" she exclaimed.

Spike's head jerked round to stare at her and his eyebrows shot up. "Turning English, Slayer?" An imp dived at him, clawed arms outstretched and barbed tail lashing, and Spike turned back to deal with it.

Buffy saw Xander's peril. She fixed her gaze upon Lea'liyl. "_Stop! In the name of love_," she commanded, "_until I take your heart_."

Lea'liyl froze with his claws poised over Xander. Buffy rushed to the spot and, ignoring the motionless tanar'ri, bent down and took hold of Carsomyr. She sheathed Daystar and drew a circle in the air with her hand. A vapor trail appeared in the hand's wake. The air within the ring shimmered as if with a heat haze. Buffy stepped into the circle and vanished.

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

Minsc saw the tanar'ri heading for Tara and Willow. "I must protect my witches!" he roared. He took off like a sprinter and hurtled toward them, swinging Lilarcor over his head, slicing apart two imps that tried to intercept him without even breaking stride.

"Yeah, gotta save them," Lilarcor agreed. "Girl-on-girl action has to be preserved for the benefit of all mankind. Kill! Maim! Destroy!"

Minsc needed no urging. He raced past the two girls and crashed into the tanar'ri as if he were a rhinoceros charging a Land Rover. Lilarcor was a blur in the air as Minsc delivered blow after mighty blow, cutting deep into the demon, sending ichor spraying across the barren landscape. He shrugged off the tanar'ri's retaliatory strikes as if they were the love-taps of a kitten. The demon staggered back, recoiled, and tried to flee. Minsc gave it no respite. He hacked it to pieces before it had covered ten yards.

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

Jaheira ran to Giles as fast as she could. Her feet pounded on the rocks and her heart pounded in her chest. She cursed herself for allowing the imps to draw her so far away from the man she loved. She paid no attention to a swarm of imps that dived to attack her.

Arrows whistled through the air as Sorkatani and Valygar acted to provide covering fire. Sorkatani was loosing a shaft every five seconds and she never missed. Valygar could not match her rate of fire but his aim was true. Imp bodies plummeted from the sky and the remnants of the swarm fled. Jaheira ran on, oblivious both to the peril that had faced her and to the way that it had been averted; only Giles mattered.

Jaheira was still fifty feet away when the tanar'ri seized Giles in its claws and raised him from the ground. She screamed and threw her spear, stumbling and almost falling with the effort that she put into the throw, and then ran on with her hand going to the hilt of her scimitar. She had only wounded the creature, Sorkatani's arrows were bouncing off without effect as they lacked the necessary enchantments, and Giles was going to _die_.

The air beside the demon parted. Buffy stepped out of the hole and struck with Carsomyr. The blade sheared through the tanar'ri's arm. Giles fell from the creature's grasp and hit the ground with a thud. "Ouch!" Buffy exclaimed. "Do be careful, Buffy."

"Sorry, G-man," Buffy replied to herself, "but hey, I'm kinda in a hurry here." She swung the sword again, carving a deep gash in the demon's torso, and then struck a third time.

Jaheira arrived, still traveling at a dead run, and hurled herself toward the shaft of the spear that was sticking out of the demon's side. She released her scimitar and caught hold of the shaft with both hands. Her onward momentum, and the strength from her Gauntlets of Ogre Strength, enabled her to drive the spear deep into the demon's body. Its howl of agony was cut short as Buffy delivered one more blow; but with the pommel of Carsomyr rather than the blade.

"Don't kill it yet, a'mael," Buffy addressed Jaheira. "There is something that I have to do first."

"A'mael?" Jaheira echoed. She released her grip upon the spear shaft. "I think that you know not what you say, Buffy."

"I'll be with you in a moment, dearest," Buffy said. She picked up Giles' guitar and strummed it expertly. "_You don't get me I'm part of the Union…_"

Jaheira stared at her wide-eyed. "Giles?"

"'_Til the day you die_," Buffy continued. "_'Til the day you die_." She set the guitar down carefully and picked up Carsomyr once more. The Holy Avenger's blade fell on the demon's neck and severed it as efficiently as a guillotine.

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

Minsc dropped Lilarcor onto the ground as the last of the imps fell from the sky impaled by an arrow from Valygar. "Hey, watch it, you big oaf," the sword protested.

Minsc paid no attention. He turned to Tara, swept her up in his arms, and planted a big smacking kiss upon her lips. "My witches are safe," he said, beaming. "Boo and I are so glad." He kissed her again.

"Uh, guys, is there something I oughta know?" Willow asked. She sat up.

"Willow!" Minsc cried joyfully. He set Tara down on her feet and snatched up Willow instead. He kissed her equally enthusiastically. "When I saw you fall I was frightened that harm had befallen you."

"Uh, no, I'm okay," Willow assured him. "Uh, Minsc, you think that you could put me down?"

"Fear not, Willow, I shall not let you fall," Minsc said. "Oh, I am so happy that you are safe. And Boo is happy too." He lowered Willow until her feet touched the ground.

"Hey, you're all covered in icky stuff," Willow commented. "I hope you didn't get any on me. I don't know how the Robe of the Good Archmagi will stand up to being boil-washed."

"Uh, Willow, that's demon blood," Tara pointed out, "and Minsc got all covered in it while he was saving our asses."

"And very nice asses they are, too," Lilarcor put in from the ground. "Definitely worth saving."

"Oh." Willow smiled up at Minsc. "Thanks, Minsc."

"Did you call us your witches?" Tara asked.

"I did," Minsc confirmed. "For, what is a witch other than a woman who casts spells? Both of you cast spells, and you cannot be parted, and so I wish you both to be my witches. Ah, if only you would agree, for Minsc is incomplete without a witch to protect."

Willow and Tara exchanged looks. "It might not be out of the question," Willow said. "We'll talk later, okay?"

"There's still a demon to deal with," Tara pointed out. "Okay, it's just standing there, but it's gonna start moving again eventually."

"We froze it until Buffy takes its heart," Willow said, "but hey, maybe it might break the spell. I guess we'd better be ready." She picked up the Staff of the Magi and the three comrades set off to join the rest of the party.

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

"My sword might as well have been a stick," Yoshimo grumbled. "It had no more effect than if it was not enchanted at all."

"Many of our weapons seem to have lost some efficacy here in the Abyss," Sorkatani said.

Buffy looked up from where she was cutting out Lea'liyl's heart. "Yeah, I noticed that with the Blade of Roses," she agreed. "Daystar worked fine, though, and so did Carsomyr."

"I think I can run a fix," Willow said. "Maybe I should do it now, in case we get jumped on the way back to the mother-ship. I'll start with yours, Yoshi."

Yoshi nodded. "Thank you, Willow," he said.

"Dip the blade in the demon blood," Willow ordered. She watched as Yoshimo followed her instructions. "Uh, Yoshi, your sword doesn't have a whole lot of power anyway. Why don't you change over to a better one? Tani has a spare, which she doesn't use any more, with a stronger enchantment on the blade."

"Mine cannot be turned against me," Yoshi reminded her. "In my line of work that has proved vital more than once."

"Point," Willow agreed. "Hey, when we get back to Athkatla, I think I could upgrade it some. A few of the others, too. There isn't much boost I could give to Celestial Fury, or Carsomyr, or Lilarcor, but I could give some of them a tweak." She concentrated hard and cast a spell upon Yoshimo's blade. "Okay, that should do it."

"Thank you, abbil," Yoshimo said. He plucked a hair from his head and used it to test the blade. "Sharper even than before, I think." He turned his attention back to Buffy. "How did you manage to use Xander's Holy Sword, Jabbress?" he asked her.

"I didn't," Buffy told him. "Xander did. He was just sharing my body." She looked at Giles. "Cool spell, Giles, but it was way risky."

"It was completely unplanned, Buffy," Giles said. "I thought that the song would merely shield me from the demon for long enough for me to come up with a more destructive song. That we would once more combine, as we did against Adam, was the furthest thing from my mind." He nodded his head slowly. "It served its purpose, in the end, but it did put Xander and Willow in rather precarious positions."

"And I got hurt," Anya said.

"Indeed," Giles said. "I am extremely sorry, Anya, and I am very glad that it was not worse. I think that it is not an experiment that I shall be repeating."

"Okay, I got it," Buffy said. She held out the ichor-dripping organ. "A little bit of heart and soul. We're good to go."

"There is a rumor," Anya mused, "that Waukeen is held prisoner somewhere in the Abyss." Her eyes narrowed. "If we could rescue her while we're here…"

"There are six hundred and sixty six planes to the Abyss," Sorkatani pointed out. "Even if we are on the right one, which is unlikely, each plane is as large, or larger, than all of Toril."

"Okay, pour cold water on my scheme," Anya said. "She would be very grateful, I'm sure, and she is the goddess of wealth and trade."

"If we knew more, perhaps," Sorkatani said, "but we do not." Her tone softened. "Perhaps in the future we may learn to control this machine. We could return, knowing more of what we will face, and having prepared in advance. If, that is, we discover where in the Abyss we should look."

"The rescue of the patron deity of Athkatla would be a worthy task for a knight," Anomen said. "Yet without accurate directions such a mission would be foredoomed to failure."

"He's right, Anya," Buffy said. "Forget it for now. Let's get the Sphere powered up and then we're out of here."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

The door of the Planar Sphere opened and the party filed out. Buffy was in the lead. "Hey, that's weird," she commented, after glancing up at the sky. "My watch says twelve noon but it looks like it's getting late."

"I guess that time didn't run at the same rate where we were," Willow said. "Or it's, like, relativistic effects. We must have been traveling pretty fast."

"I'll take your word for it," Buffy said. "We can put our watches right from the clock in the Promenade, I guess. There's no big hurry."

Sorkatani and Valygar came out supporting Lavok between them. "We are back exactly where we started," Sorkatani observed. "I hope that none of the townsfolk were upon this site."

"There was some warning when the Sphere last appeared," Valygar told her. "A noise that shook the ground, flashes as of lightning, and other such portents. None died then, and I doubt that any have taken hurt this time either."

"Unlike ourselves," Sorkatani said, nodding toward Minsc, who had an arm in a sling. The chamber containing the Sphere's mystical engines had been guarded by golems, following their set programs in the absence of any new instructions from Lavok, and they had taken violent exception to the party's intrusion. The clerics had exhausted their healing spells in the battle and had been unable to regain them whilst they were in the Abyss. Only a couple of potions, held back for dire emergency, remained. "A trip to a temple must be one of our first stops."

"There is a temple of Ilmater nearby," Yoshimo said.

Sorkatani opened her mouth to reply but was distracted by a groan from Lavok. She and Valygar lowered the wizard gently to the ground.

"I see the sun of Toril once more," the wizard croaked, "and I feel its rays upon my face. My time has come." He raised a trembling hand toward Valygar. "I can die content. I have been responsible for much evil, and have brought much suffering upon my own family, and yet one of my line survives. A true hero and a mighty warrior."

"I do my best," said Valygar, "yet I have no deeds to my name to match those of Sorkatani and Buffy."

"And Xander," Anya chimed in.

"Such deeds you shall perform in time," Lavok said. "The family of Corthala shall continue, and I…" His voice died away in mid sentence. His head lolled sideways.

"He is dead," Valygar declared. "The shadow that has hung over my family for a century is gone – and yet I feel sadness."

"Look on the bright side," Anya urged him. "There is no curse. Lavok was the one who preyed upon your family, and we freed him from his evil possession, and he's dead now anyway. There's no reason for you to be celibate any more. You can go out and get laid."

"I have not looked upon women in that light for years," Valygar said.

"Yeah, well, there's no rush," Spike said. "Take a couple more years thinking it through."

The three knights from another world looked around at the bustling streets of Athkatla. "How shall we make our way in this land, when we do not speak the language?" the female member of the group wondered.

"I'm sure that there will be a place for you," Giles assured her. "You should fit in rather well with the Order of the Radiant Heart. I don't think that the language problem is insoluble."

"We have no choice but to try," the lady knight agreed. "Again I thank you for all your help."

"I must bury my ancestor," Valygar announced. "Will you help me carry him to a temple, Sorkatani? And then I must see about a grave."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

"I hunger," Tolgerias said. He shook himself. "I feel strong, as I never did in life, and yet weak withal. I crave… blood."

"Of course," Bodhi said. "And you shall have it. Soon."

Tolgerias looked at the fledgling vampires who were engaged in heavy labor. They bore bricks, and mortar, and were busy laying a course across one wall of the crypt. He frowned. "What is the purpose of this construction, Mistress?"

"Oh, please, do call me Bodhi," the elven vampire ordered. "There's no need for you to stand on ceremony. After all, you're going to be fucking me soon. As soon as you have fed." She waved a hand in the direction of the laborers. "They are preparing for a battle," she explained. "A battle that we have to lose."

"To lose?" Tolgerias echoed. He frowned. "I don't understand."

"We have to lose, and we have to die," Bodhi elaborated. "Oh, don't worry about it. It's only going to be a temporary death. It just has to look permanent. The reason for the wall? I don't want those adventurers to find my personal chamber. I'm not going to trust to the secret door. They can be detected. There has to be a solid wall with no breaks." She pursed her lips. "It probably will be best if you stay out of the fight. They don't know about you, after all, and it would be tricky finding a look-alike at such short notice."

"I still don't understand," Tolgerias said, "but I shall do as you command."

"You'd better," Bodhi said, her tone turning steely for a moment. "Those who disobey me suffer pain beyond imagining."

Tolgerias bowed. "I am at your service."

"Good boy," Bodhi said. "It's almost nightfall. We can go hunting soon. Once you have fed you can… service me."

"Mistress Bodhi," Lassal called. He strode into the crypt. "Valen returns with the news for which you have waited."

"They have returned? That is good." Bodhi smiled and licked her lips. "Send her in."

A dark-haired human girl clad in leather armor entered the room. She bowed low before Bodhi. "The Sphere has returned to the Slums, Mistress," she reported.

"You saw Sorkatani?" Bodhi asked.

"I did," Valen confirmed. "She lives. All of them were there. Also three knights, who I had not seen before, and an old man who died as they brought him forth."

"Lavok," Tolgerias deduced. "His knowledge is lost to me now."

"I think you will find the benefits that I offer more than adequate compensation," Bodhi said. She trained her eyes on Valen. "You have served me well, girl," she said. "Yet now comes the time of choice. If you continue to follow me as a human you are almost certain to die when Sorkatani's company attack. You may leave, and flee this city, or you may share my gift of eternal life."

Valen swallowed hard. She lowered her eyes for a moment. Her hands clenched into fists and then relaxed. She raised her eyes once more. "I am afraid of death," she confessed, "and yet I have no wish to leave your service. I see that Tolgerias is much as he was in life. I shall accept your gift, Mistress. I ask only that you be gentle with me."

"I shall be gentle indeed, Valen," Bodhi promised. "Your decision has pleased me greatly. You shall be well rewarded. Come here."

Valen stepped forward and Bodhi embraced her. "Close your eyes, sweet one," Bodhi said softly. "You may feel some pain, but then shall come bliss and life eternal." She kissed Valen softly upon the throat, licked her skin, and then bit down gently. Valen moaned. Bodhi clamped down harder and sucked voraciously. A few droplets of blood escaped her lips and trickled down Valen's neck. Tolgerias licked his lips. Valen sagged in Bodhi's arms.

Bodhi raised her head. "Feed, Tolgerias," she offered. She lifted Valen as if the girl thief weighed nothing at all and held her out to the former wizard.

Tolgerias accepted the offering eagerly. He clamped his mouth to the wound and drank. His eyes seemed to light up as he gulped down the delicious liquid. Eventually he could extract no more and he lowered Valen's corpse to the floor. "Exquisite," he declared. "I have not known such pleasure from food or drink before."

"Indeed it is delight," Bodhi said, "but I think that I can give you greater pleasure." She gestured toward a side chamber. "Follow me."

Inside the chamber a straw mattress lay on top of a coffin. "We shall lie in luxury another time," Bodhi said. "For now, this shall suffice." She unfastened her leather jerkin, stripped it off, and tossed it carelessly aside. "Take off your robes, Tolgerias. Let me see what you have to offer."

Tolgerias obeyed. His eyes dwelt on the fine curves that Bodhi displayed, and on the lacy garment that supported her bosom. "A pretty undergarment," he commented. "I have not seen its like before."

Bodhi pulled off her boots and then stepped out of her leather leggings. She wore scanty silken draws, fastened by ribbons tied in little bows, matching the brassiere. "One of my enemies designed these clothes," she explained. "She comes from another world where they are the norm amongst women. I am well pleased. I might even repay her by bringing her into the family. Or perhaps not. I don't want there to be too many pretty women in the group."

"None could compare with you, Mistress," Tolgerias assured her. "I mean, Bodhi."

"You have a skillful tongue," Bodhi purred. "I hope that you can turn it to other uses." She unfastened her bra, slowly and teasingly removed it to expose her breasts, and then untied the ribbons of her panties. "Show me what you can do." She lay back upon the mattress and opened her legs.

Tolgerias had, in life, never engaged in cunnilingus. He knew in theory what was required and set out to please his lady. He licked away, with enthusiasm making up for lack of skill, until Bodhi giggled and caught hold of his shoulders.

"Time to fuck," Bodhi declared. She pulled Tolgerias forward with strength that greatly exceeded his own. "Enter me, Tolgerias, and ride me until I am satisfied."

Tolgerias wriggled into position and thrust home. "You are very strong, Bodhi," he commented. "Beautiful and strong. I am yours to command."

"True," Bodhi said. "Yes, I am strong, but soon I shall be stronger still. Very much stronger. As long as no-one is careless enough to kill Sorkatani."

"Why does that matter?" Tolgerias asked. He paused in his thrusting.

Bodhi frowned. "Don't stop. Don't ask questions. Just fuck me. I haven't had a good fuck for ages."

Tolgerias resumed his thrusts but disobeyed her second order. "How is that, oh most beautiful Bodhi? You have a male vampire in your group."

"You didn't do what I said," Bodhi complained. "Naughty boys have to be punished. Lassal!" Her legs curled over those of Tolgerias, holding them down and easing them apart, and her arms clamped around him. She rocked against him, fucking furiously, and nibbled on his earlobe.

"If this is my punishment, then I cannot complain," Tolgerias said.

"It hasn't started yet," Bodhi told him. "When it does, you shall have your question answered."

"What question?" Tolgerias asked. He felt something touching the cheeks of his buttocks, sliding over them, and into the crack between them. Something larger than a finger.

"Why I haven't had a good fuck for ages," Bodhi reminded him. She grinned as Tolgerias winced and then jerked inside her. "Lassal is gay."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

Disclaimer: song lyrics quoted (in slightly amended form) in this chapter come from 'Part of the Union', written by Richard Hudson and John Ford and recorded by the Strawbs, and from 'Stop! In the Name of Love', written by Holland/Dozier/Holland and recorded by The Supremes. They are used without permission of the copyright holders and with no intention to profit.


	45. Chapter 45

**Chapter Forty-five**

Katrina arched her eyebrows. "But what if I wanted to play a male pirate?"

"Hey, that's cool too," Warren said. "But be a girl first, okay? Just to check that we haven't put in something dumb that a girl wouldn't do, or say, yeah? We've done our best to think of everything but we're all guys. Willow's checked out some of it but she's, well, not really a gamer."

"Too busy staying alive to think about how hot, or not, the guy pirates are?"

Warren nodded. "Pretty much. Not that Willow would think that guys were hot anyway, uh, but yeah, she was just pleased to have made it through the game alive and she didn't give us much feedback about the roleplay angle. So, will you do it?"

"Aye aye, Cap'n," Katrina said. "Is there a manual?"

"There's a PDF manual on the first disk," Warren said. "That's another thing. If there's anything in the manual that's not clear, or anything we've missed out, let us know, okay?"

"Aye aye, Cap'n," Katrina said again. She toyed with the box of CD-ROMs. "I'll check it out and report back. But hey, Warren, if I see any faults I'm going to be honest about them. If you can't deal with concrit then you'd better take it back now."

"Hey, I can deal," Warren assured her. "If anything's wrong we want to know now so we can fix it. We don't want the first we hear about a bug, or a screw-up, to be from the guy from Activision or Ubisoft or whoever."

"I guess." Katrina slipped the CDs into her purse and then directed her attention towards Jonathan's computer. "Is that your BG2 mod? When are you going to put the next part out? Everybody's waiting. We want to see the upgraded Underdark."

"Maybe two or three weeks," Warren answered. "I got, uh, kinda stuck at Spellhold. There were a couple of problems. Anyway, the pirate game gets priority, yeah, 'cause that could make us some real money."

"I suppose that makes sense," Katrina agreed. "But don't you dare forget about BG."

Warren smiled. "Don't worry. That totally isn't gonna happen."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

"I thank you, Cromwell," Yoshimo said. "And you too, of course, Willow. At last I have a blade worthy of the great Yoshimo."

"Ye're nae ower shy, mannie," the dwarven smith remarked. "Nae gie'en tae hidin' yer ain licht unner a bushel."

Yoshimo shrugged. "Who else will sing my praises if I do not?"

"Sorkatani would," Willow said.

Yoshimo lowered his head. "She is too kind. I am unworthy even to walk in her shadow."

"Thot's mair wit ah wud hae thocht a mannie frae Kara-Tur wud hae said," Cromwell commented.

"Kara-Tur is a vast land with many countries," Yoshimo reminded him. "The ways of Kozakura are not those of Shou Lung."

"Aye," Cromwell said. "Ah ken thot." He accepted a pouch of gold and secreted it away about his person. "Hae ye the parts for yon Crom Faeyr hammer yet?"

Willow shook her head. "We have the Hammer of Thunderbolts, the scroll of instructions, and the Gauntlets of Ogre Power, but still no Girdle of Frost Giant Strength. You're sure that a Girdle of Hill Giant Strength won't do?"

Cromwell stroked his beard. "Nae, lassie, it aye maun be yon Frost Giant belt."

"Bummer," said Willow. "I guess we just have to keep on looking, right?" She picked up her staff. "Okay, we'd better get back to the others." She grinned at Yoshimo. "Minsc will be worrying about me. Unless he's, like, totally occupied with Tara."

"Minsc!" Yoshimo smacked himself on the forehead with the flat of a hand. "I am a fool, Willow."

Willow raised her eyebrows. "Uh, I didn't know you thought of Minsc that way, Yoshi."

Yoshimo laughed briefly. "You know that there is only one person that I think of in that way. No, I am a fool because I forgot something that could have been important. My ring could have healed Minsc's injured arm, in mere minutes, and I did not think to offer it to him."

"Hey, don't worry about it," Willow said. "Buffy wants you to keep that ring on, 'kay? It's meant to keep you safe. It's not like Minsc was bad hurt."

"It was a contribution that I could have made, and I did not do so." Yoshimo shook his head. "I must try harder."

"Don't worry about it," Willow said again. "Bye, Cromwell. We'll be back if we find the Frost Giant Girdle." She led the way out of the smithy and Yoshimo followed.

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

"I expected to see you well before now," Aran Linvail, operational head of the Shadow Thieves of Amn, said to Sorkatani. "I am sure that you long ago acquired the fifteen thousand danter that I set as my price."

"I had reasons for my delay," Sorkatani told him.

"Of course," Linvail agreed. "You wanted to be sure that you were as well armed and equipped as you could possibly be. I understand. Jon Irenicus is a wizard of exceptional power." His gaze swept Sorkatani's companions, resting briefly on each. "You have assembled a formidable force. I am sure that you will have little difficulty in performing a little task for me."

"Nothing was said about any further tasks," Sorkatani reminded Linvail. "Gaelen Bayle mentioned only the payment of fifteen thousand danter. I have the gold. Do your part, then, and provide the ship."

"It is not that simple, Sorkatani," said Aran Linvail. "The money is of little importance to me. I will take it, yes, for the ship's captain and crew must be paid, but in return I offer you these magical items." He laid two pieces of jewelry on the table in front of him. "A good quality Ring of Protection, and an Amulet of Power."

Sorkatani picked up the items and passed them to Willow. "It's not the basic model ring," Willow reported. "Xander would call it a Plus Two, I guess. It's better than the one that I'm wearing. Or, hey, Buffy could use it."

"And this Amulet of Power?" Sorkatani asked.

"It bestows some measure of magic resistance to the wearer," Linvail explained, before Willow could begin her Identify spell. "A wizard or priest who wears it may cast spells faster than normal, and is warded against being rendered impotent by a spell of Silence. And," the corners of his lips twisted up in a mirthless smile, "it makes the wearer immune to the life-force draining powers of a vampire."

Willow stiffened. "For Tara," she whispered.

"I deduce that its powers are not unconnected with the task that you would have us perform," Sorkatani said.

Linvail nodded. "You are correct. You know, of course, of the struggle that has been taking place in this city over the last three months. A new Guild seeks to wrest control of the streets from the Shadow Thieves. A guild that is controlled by vampires."

"We have encountered them," Sorkatani confirmed.

"And slain a few," Buffy added.

"Yet they come back," Linvail pointed out. "They must be tracked to their lair and their corpses impaled with wooden stakes. Only then will they be destroyed permanently."

"Yeah, we got the memo," said Buffy.

Linvail looked at her. "So you are Buffy the Vampire Slayer? I must confess that I find it hard to believe that you are as mighty a warrior as is rumored."

"Believe it," Buffy said.

Sorkatani nodded. "In truth, Aran Linvail, Buffy is a fighter the like of which you will not have seen."

"I will not dispute your claim," Linvail said. "You will, then, destroy this nest of vampires?"

"I have a choice?" Sorkatani raised an eyebrow.

"Certainly you may decline to assist," Linvail said, "but I would not be able to devote my energies towards finalizing your passage to Spellhold whilst I am engaged in a battle for the very survival of the Guild. Your assistance would… facilitate matters."

"There is no need for such manipulation," Sorkatani told him. "I would oppose the vampires in any event."

"It's what I do," Buffy added.

"I am pleased to hear it," Linvail said. "When shall you be ready to make your move?"

"Do you know the location of the vampire lair?" Sorkatani asked him.

"I have some suspicions," he said, "but no definite proof. However, I know that two of my guild members are on the verge of defecting to our rivals. I have left them alive for the moment in the hope that they will lead me to the enemy's stronghold." Linvail leaned forward in his chair and rested his forearms on his desk. "I doubt if they know your associates. You might find it easier to gain their confidence, or simply to track them, than would my men."

Buffy and Sorkatani looked at each other and exchanged eye-rolls. Behind them Viconia whispered something into Spike's ear that caused him to snort as he suppressed a burst of laughter.

"We'll see what we can do," Sorkatani said. "And if we find the location we shall attack… tomorrow, you think, Buffy? Giles?"

"There's no point in hanging around," Buffy agreed.

"A daytime attack would indeed be tactically sound," Giles stated.

"Excellent," said Aran Linvail. "You will find the men in question at the Five Flagons Inn. Jaylos and Caehan, They believe that their presence there is unknown to me."

"Remarkably convenient for us," Sorkatani observed, "but I doubt that they will remain oblivious to our identities for long. We shall set off at once."

"Return here once you have discovered the whereabouts of the vampires, please," Linvail requested. "I will need to know where, and when, to send my men if they are to assist in your assault."

"It is good to hear that you are not going to merely sit back and leave the entire task to us," said Sorkatani.

"This is a matter of life and death for the Guild," Linvail said. "I shall not trust it entirely to others, no matter how competent they seem."

"Very well," Sorkatani agreed. "We shall return, or send word, when we have learned more." She led the party out of the room and out of the Thieves Guild building.

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

Lassal bowed low before Bodhi. "They know where we are," he reported.

Bodhi smiled. "Good, good. You are certain?"

"Not absolutely certain, Mistress," Lassal admitted. "It seems very likely, however. They returned to the Inn. Shortly afterwards our agent Gracen went inside to make contact with the prospective recruits. He did not return. Instead Sorkatani, Yoshimo, and Anya left and headed for the Docks district. Tolgerias is following them. He will come back here if they do not go to the Thieves Guild, Mistress, but I do not expect him to do so."

"That is enough to convince me also," Bodhi agreed. "You have done well, Lassal. We must make our preparations for an attack. In the morning, I think. That is when I would launch my assault if I was in Sorkatani's place."

"We shall destroy them, Mistress," boasted a massive vampire who had been a bar-room brawler in life.

Bodhi rolled her eyes. "Yes, Gellal, of course we shall," she said. "Go and patrol the outer corridors in case she attacks during the night. Take Durst with you."

"I obey, Mistress," the brute grunted. He shambled off, followed by a smaller but equally thuggish vampire, and departed from the chambers.

Bodhi heaved a sigh. "What have I done to deserve minions like that? Oh, yes, I suppose it was the vicious killing and wanton slaughter. I'll have to be more discriminating in the future. Or perhaps not. It's fun." She turned to the most recent of her vampires. "How are you feeling, Valen?"

"I… I am not sure, Mistress," the former thief said. "I feel weak, not strong. I am hungry."

"You'll feel better once you have eaten, my dear," Bodhi assured her. She clapped her hands. "Tanova, bring out the food."

The vampire mage came out of one of the side chambers dragging a bound and gagged human girl. "Welcome to the family, Valen," she said. "Dinner is served. Or should it be breakfast?"

"Thank you," Valen replied. She tilted her head to one side and stared at the captive. "She looks like me," she observed. "She's even wearing the same style of armor."

"Exactly," Bodhi said. "Eat her now. I'll explain later."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

Jonathan held the phone out to Warren. "For you," he said. "It's Katrina."

Warren shot out of his chair and hurtled across the room. "Katrina! Hi," he said. "Uh, how are you? D'oh! That was a stupid question seeing as how I saw you yesterday. Uh. Let me start again."

"You sound like you're not properly awake yet," Katrina said. "Sorry. I just wanted to catch you before I went to class."

"Uh, no, it's not like you woke me up or anything," Warren assured her. "It's just, uh, I wasn't expecting you to call me."

"I thought you'd want to know this as early as possible," Katrina said. "You have a problem."

"A problem?" Warren echoed.

"Your pirate game," Katrina said.

"You didn't like it?" Warren was surprised. The game was good, he was certain of that, and he knew Katrina's tastes well enough to have been convinced that she would appreciate it.

"I couldn't _see_ it," Katrina told him. "Everything is grayed out. I can't see a damn thing. Well, I can see the GUI, but that's all."

"Oh." Warren stood in stunned silence for a moment. "That just shouldn't be happening. Uh, did you find the graphics settings?"

"I tried everything," Katrina said. "Nothing worked. Until I tried loading it onto Stephanie's machine. It showed up perfectly there."

Warren scratched his head. "What graphics card do you have?"

"A Radeon 8500," Katrina told him. "Stephanie has a GeForce 2 Ultra. You said you have a GeForce 3, right?"

"Ti-500, overclocked," Warren confirmed. "Oh, crap. I never tested it on an ATI card."

"That's what I thought," Katrina said. "You want me to bring it back after class? I think I could do that, but I'd have to rush straight back."

"No, it's okay," Warren said. "I have other copies. Hang on to it until the next time we meet up. Did you, uh, did you play it on Stephanie's system at all?"

"Not really," Katrina answered. "By the time that I'd worked out that it was an incompatibility problem it was too late to do much actual playing. What I saw of it looked good, and I went through character creation, but that was all. I'll take more of a look at it tonight, 'kay?"

"Yeah, that would be cool. Uh, thanks for letting me know. Crap. It looks like we have a lot of work to do."

"I guess you do. I have to get to class. I'll drop you an e-mail tonight or tomorrow. Bye, Warren."

"Yeah, thanks. Bye, Katrina." He bit off the 'I love you' that had risen to his lips. Their relationship was on the way towards being rebuilt but it hadn't returned to that stage yet. He heard Katrina disconnect and he put down the phone. "Crap and double crap. The Pirate game doesn't work with ATI cards. I screwed up."

"Oh, crap," Jonathan said. "We totally should have tested that."

"I know," said Warren. "Shit. I was going to start sending out demos any day now."

"It could be a driver issue," Jonathan suggested. "I heard the Catalyst drivers had a few problems."

Warren shook his head. "I heard that too, dude, but they're all fixed now, and there is no way that Katrina won't have the latest drivers. I checked out the Radeon 8500, 'cause I was thinking of upgrading soon, and the word is that the problems are long gone. I'd decided to wait for the GeForce 4 to come out next month but, hey, I think I'd better get a Radeon ASAP. We have to get things working right now." He grimaced. "Just when I thought we could take a day or two out for R and R. Our first Crunch Time."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

"Morning is almost upon us," Bodhi said. "It is almost time to make our final preparations." She stood beside a fledgling vampire girl whose pointed ears marked her as a half-elf. "What do you think, Tanova?"

"She is a little taller than you," Tanova said, "but that should not be a problem. She will be lying down, after all." She gazed at the two girls intently. "The hair is perfect. The clothes fit well enough. Her breasts are not as shapely as yours but in the circumstances I think that will not be apparent."

The fledgling frowned. "I do not understand why I have to be disguised as you, Mistress," she said.

"It is not necessary that you understand," Bodhi snapped. "Your place is to do as you are ordered. This is to confuse the enemy. That is all that you need to know."

"Forgive me, Mistress, I meant no disrespect," the girl said.

Bodhi did not reply. She moved away and cast her eyes over another fledgling who wore a Calimshan costume matching that of Tanova. "Close enough," she judged. "She would not fool one who knew you well, but the veil hides your features. She will serve."

The young woman's eyes flickered towards the girl who was dressed as Bodhi, and they exchanged glances, but neither spoke up.

"We have Valen provided for," Bodhi went on. She frowned at a male vampire. "I see a problem, Lassal. His chest is covered in hair. Yours is smooth."

"I have thought of that, Mistress," Lassal replied. He tossed a leather jerkin to the other vampire. "Here. Put that on." The fledgling obeyed his command and Lassal donned an identical jerkin.

"That's better," Bodhi said. "I think that covers everything. Very well. You three, come with me. I will brief you on your special tasks." She crooked a finger, beckoned, and then walked off to a side chamber. The three fledglings followed slowly, their darting glances betraying their nervousness, and left the main room.

The door closed behind them. There was a brief agonized shriek, a growl, and a scream that chopped off suddenly. The door shook as something crashed against it. Another scream sounded. A moment of silence followed and then the door opened once more. Bodhi walked out alone.

"I think that they understand their role well enough now," she said. She brushed something off her hands. "Now for the rest of you. Your task is to fight. Kill as many of them as you can, but not Sorkatani, and not Yoshimo. They must not be harmed."

"How can we win if we can not harm them?" the burly Gellal asked.

"Did I tell you that you could ask questions? Did I?" Bodhi shot forward with eye-baffling speed, seized the speaker by the lower lip, and jerked his head down. Gellal cried out in agony. "Your mouth is to be used to bite, not to dispute my decisions. I will tear off your lips and leave you unable to feed if you question me again. Do you understand?"

Gellal croaked our something incoherent. Bodhi released his lip. "I understand, Mistress," the muscular vampire groaned. "I shall obey."

"See that you do." Bodhi pushed her minion away. "Sorkatani is not to be slain. Yoshimo is not to be slain. You may strike them, but you must not bite. Your objective is to capture them alive, or to drive them away, nothing more. You cannot mistake them. They are the pair from Kara-Tur. Kill the humans from the west, kill the Drow, kill the man from Rashemen, but not the Easterners. Do you understand?"

"Yes, Mistress," the fledglings chorused.

"Good." Bodhi put her hands on her hips. "Close and lock the doors. We don't want to make things look too easy for them." The minions scurried to obey.

"Mistress," Valen said quietly, "what about the ghoul?" She gestured towards a grey humanoid that stood in a corner, snarling and muttering to itself, which had taken no notice of Bodhi's address to her troops. "Can it understand your orders?"

Bodhi shrugged. "I doubt it. I can't see Sorkatani having any trouble with such a creature. It's just here to make up the numbers. It has to look as if we are making an effort, after all." She grimaced. "There is nothing to do now but wait. Perhaps I should not have sent Tolgerias away. I could have passed the time with a fuck. It's not as if being caught in a… disadvantageous position would be disastrous in these circumstances."

"There are other men here, Mistress," Valen pointed out.

"Gellal? Durst? That idiot who we sired only because he looks somewhat like Lassal?" Bodhi tossed her head. "Hardly. They would think that it gave them rights over me. They would become insubordinate and then I'd have to kill them. Tolgerias is intelligent enough to know his place." She sucked in her lower lip. "On second thoughts, Gellal and Durst are expendable now anyway. Should I? No, they might think that they could disobey me over Sorkatani. I shall not risk it."

Valen dipped her head and lowered her eyes. Her coloration did not change but it was still obvious that she would have been blushing had she still been a living human. "There are things that one woman may do with another," she said.

"Indeed there are," Bodhi said, "but I prefer men. Oh, well, if I was indeed surprised in a state of undress they would wonder how I managed to dress on the way to my coffin. Tell me, Valen, what card games do you play?"

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

The wizard bowed to Sorkatani and to Buffy. "I am Haz, at your service, ladies," he introduced himself. "My master has commanded that I obey you as I would him."

"Well met, Haz," said Sorkatani.

Buffy raised her eyebrows. "Just you? Or are there a whole bunch of invisible thieves backing you up?"

The wizard stood up straight. "You have warriors and thieves in plenty, my lady. Master Linvail felt that we could offer little in those departments and all that his men could achieve would be to get in your way."

"He has a point," Sorkatani agreed, glancing around the assembled company.

There were fifteen in their party, not counting Haz. Valygar was not with them, as he had departed from the city to return to his cabin in the Umar Hills, but Korgan had insisted on accompanying the group. It had been, he had said, 'tae lang since ah hashed onie muckle beasties', and they had decided that on this occasion the prohibition against Xander working with evil companions could be set aside.

"You have but one mage among your number," Haz went on, "and so that is where he felt that our contribution would be most productive." He swept out his arm in a gesture towards the lumbering silent figure that accompanied him. "And I bring with me the Key of Last Resort."

"That's a key?" Xander gave a low whistle. "It must fit one hell of a lock."

The wizard uttered a word of command. His clay golem extended its arms. They ended, not in hands, but in massive hammer heads. "A key that few locks can resist," he said. "Hardly subtle, but effective."

"Now that could be useful," Buffy said. "We had a try at opening the door at the end of this corridor, back when I was helping out Korgan, and we totally struck out. Yoshimo couldn't pick the lock and I couldn't smash it down. Not that I tried for long, 'cause I had no idea what was behind it and it was just out of curiosity, but I wasn't looking forward to trying again."

"Leave it to the Key," Haz said. "It is of less use as a weapon, however. Once the door is open I shall resort to my spells."

"What do you have?" Willow asked. "We should, you know, co-ordinate." The two mages spent a couple of minutes discussing spell use and tactics.

"Okay, let's get this show on the road," Buffy said, when Willow and Haz moved apart.

"Let's do it to them, before they do it to us," Xander added.

The formidable group assembled outside the heavy doors that barred the way to a crypt. The Key of Last Resort shambled forward and raised its hammer hands. They descended on the doors with a resounding clang. The door rocked. Again the hammers descended. A gap appeared between the doors. A third blow and the hinges ripped away. The doors fell flat and the crypt lay open.

The defenders inside reacted instantly. Skeleton warriors wielding greatswords charged at the intruders. A volley of spells, and Azuredge hurled by Xander, blasted the skeletons out of existence. The party advanced into the crypt.

The chamber beyond the entrance corridor was dominated by a massive table. Vampires clustered around it. They hurled themselves at the adventurers. A fireball went off in the room, burning but not killing some of the vampires, and then the undead reached close quarters and swords began to whirl.

One of the vampires, a girl in diaphanous pants who wore a veil over her face, was a mage of some power. She disrupted the cohesion of the attackers with a Symbol of Fear, sending some of them recoiling in panic until Giles countered it with his Tom Petty song, and she injured several of them with Chain Lightning. The vampire mage was protected by multiple wards and she shrugged off a blow from Azuredge. Willow identified her as the biggest potential threat and began to work at dispelling her protections. Xander made the same decision and began to hack his way towards her to let Carsomyr do its work. A male vampire, short but broad in the shoulder, intercepted him and attacked with such power and fury that Xander was forced to concentrate on his own defense.

Buffy slashed the head from the shoulders of a burly vampire and the creature turned into a white vapor. She grimaced. "I hate it when they do that! Why can't they just, like, dust?" She made a mental note of the direction in which the vapor was heading and turned to face another vampire.

Sorkatani stunned a ghoul with Celestial Fury. She left it to Yoshimo to finish off the flesh-eater and slashed at a bald vampire in a sleeveless leather jerkin. He snarled and struck out at her. She blocked his blow with her scimitar and ran Celestial Fury through his chest. Korgan knocked the wounded vampire to the ground and delivered a series of brutal axe blows until the monster disintegrated into a mist.

The veiled vampire girl unleashed a spell at Willow. The Staff of the Magi absorbed the spell and the vampire snarled out a curse. Willow stripped away one more level of the girl's protections and Tara smote with the Hammer of Thunderbolts. A Stoneskin took the brunt of the blow and the vampire cast another spell.

Anya's eyes glazed over. She stabbed Jaheira in the back and the druid jerked upright. Jaheira escaped unharmed, as she was shielded by the druidic spell Ironskins, and she turned and tried to defend herself without harming Anya.

Haz slashed with a Phantom Blade and slew a young vampire girl, already injured by Minsc, who still bore the marks on her throat of the bite that had turned her. He grinned in triumph and raised the magical weapon to strike at a new opponent who had just rushed into the room. An elf girl in leather armor that was cut to display as much skin as possible regardless of the detrimental effect on its protective abilities. She slipped past the Phantom Blade and seized Haz by the throat.

"You killed Valen," Bodhi snarled. "For that you shall suffer." She ducked under a sword stroke from Spike and then kicked out at him. She hit hard, as hard as Sorkatani or Spike himself, and he staggered back. Bodhi swung Haz through the air and used him to parry as Minsc lashed out at her with Lilarcor.

"Ooops!" Lilarcor exclaimed. The impact of the two-handed sword was enough to ruin what was left of Haz's Stoneskin. "Friendly hack."

Bodhi slammed the mage down onto the stone flags and stamped on his head. Haz jerked spasmodically and blood began to trickle from his ears. Spike returned to the attack and delivered a kick of his own. Now it was Bodhi's turn to be knocked back across the room.

Viconia cast a spell of False Dawn. The vampires recoiled from the reddish glow and the weaker ones shrieked in pain as their skin blistered. Anomen followed up with exactly the same spell and one of the lesser vampires disintegrated.

Tara dispelled the Domination spell that had turned Anya against them. Anya shook herself, stepped away, and exchanged her sword for her crossbow.

Willow eventually won her magical duel with the vampire mage and set her foe on fire. The vampire girl shrieked and went up in a pillar of flame. For a moment she burned brightly and then there was only a small white cloud. It moved across the room as if blown by an invisible wind.

Spike dueled with Bodhi. They were evenly matched but Spike's sword gave him a slight edge. Suddenly Bodhi saw an opening, dived away from Spike, and seized Anomen. The vampire's mouth gaped wide and her fangs gleamed as she bit down on Anomen's throat.

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

"I wonder how the guys are doing in Athkatla," Jonathan remarked. "They should be fighting Bodhi round about now."

"That's not my priority right now, dude," Warren said. He seated the new Radeon card firmly home in the AGP slot and picked up his screwdriver. "I'm kinda busy here. Leave them to it. They'll be okay. We don't have to worry about them until they get to Spellhold."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

Bodhi's head jerked back and she gasped in pain. Buffy had hold of her by the hair and was pulling hard.

"Nobody touches my boyfriend," Buffy growled. She dragged Bodhi back, ignoring the vampire's attempts to pull herself free, and kicked Bodhi hard behind the knee. Buffy released her grip on the hair as Bodhi fell.

Bodhi looked up at Daystar poised above her. "You may strike me down, Vampire Slay…" she began. The sword sliced through her throat and whatever she planned to say would remain forever unheard. Yet another white mist formed and drifted away.

Xander paused in the act of dismembering a vampire. He frowned. "I shall become more powerful than you could possibly imagine? No way." He shook his head and swung Carsomyr once more.

The last of the vampires fell. Buffy ran her fingers through her hair. "Everybody okay? Anomen?"

"I have taken but little harm, dearest," Anomen told her. "My warding spells held out." He used a healing spell and the wound on his throat closed up.

Tara bent over the body of Haz. "He's dead," she announced. She drew a symbol on his forehead with her fingertips and chanted the words of a clerical spell. The mage opened his eyes, gasped in a rasping breath, and then his body twitched and his hands came up to clutch at his chest. His breathing stopped, his hands fell away from his chest, and his head lolled sideways. Tara shook her head and stood up.

"We must find their coffins," Sorkatani declared.

"This seems as good a place to start as any other," Buffy said. She used a foot to push open a door and stepped through it cautiously with Daystar and the Blade of Roses both poised to strike. "Bodhi went this way."

A gray humanoid figure lunged at Buffy. She met the ghoul with a double sword stroke and felled it with ease. "No coffins," she reported, "but – ewww – there's a whole, like, swimming pool of blood."

The others filed in after her. "There's something in there," Willow said. "I'm picking up magic vibes."

"Hey, I'm not putting my hand in that stuff," Dawn stated. She had taken almost no part in the battle other than to fire an occasional crossbow bolt but now she hoped to get a chance to use her trap deactivation and lock-picking abilities.

"I'll do it, Bit," Spike volunteered. He removed the jerkin of the Armor of Deep Night, rolled back his sleeves, and plunged his left arm into the blood. He pulled something out and then yelped in pain. He released the object and it clattered onto the floor. "Ow! Sod it," Spike exclaimed, and put his fingers to his mouth and sucked them. "Stung like touching a bloody cross."

"A holy weapon," Tara deduced.

"Probably," said Spike. "Somebody else can pick the bloody thing up. I'm not touching it again."

Buffy took little notice. She was concentrating on her search for the vampire coffins. A corridor opened off the room and she headed along it. Dawn hastened after her sister to take care of any traps. "Jackpot!" Buffy cried. "Coffin central." She sheathed her swords and pulled a wooden stake from her belt. She went to the closest coffin, kicked off its lid, and stared inside.

A body lay within the coffin, as was only to be expected, still and silent. The pallid skin revealed by the exotic leather armor looked repulsive rather than sexy. Buffy's nose wrinkled. "Goodbye, bitch," she said, and rammed her stake through the vampire's chest. The body collapsed in on itself and disintegrated into a cloud of dust. "That's more like it," Buffy said, and she smiled. "Next!"

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

"We could not save him, nor could we Raise him," Sorkatani told Aran Linvail. "I am sorry. His golem is still within the crypt. It would not obey any commands from us and stands now as if it were a mere statue."

"Haz was a valuable employee, and gave good service," Linvail said. "He had died five or six times already in the service of the Guild. His luck has run out at last. You are not to be blamed, Sorkatani."

"Thank you, Aran Linvail." Sorkatani paused for a moment, out of respect for the dead, and then raised an important topic. "The vampires are destroyed. What of our passage to Spellhold?"

"The ship will be ready in three days' time," Linvail promised. "It shall take you to Spellhold. I wish you a pearl of luck in your quest to rescue your friend."

"Thank you," Sorkatani said again. "We shall return." She led her companions from the Thieves Guild and out onto the street. "We have some time to spare, now," she said to Giles. "Tonight, I vote that we – party."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

Bodhi's eyes snapped open. She pushed open the top of her coffin and sat up. "That was no fun at all," she grumbled. "It worked, though." She stepped out of her coffin and walked from her richly decorated chamber into a larger room. A channel containing a stream of slowly-flowing blood ran around the edges of the room. "Wake up, everybody! We have a wall to knock down."

Tanova emerged from another coffin. "I shall make that witch pay," she swore. "The flames were agony."

"I might make her one of us," Bodhi said. "I have a feeling that she could contribute a lot."

"I'd rather kill her," Tanova said, "but your wishes are paramount." A third coffin lid slid open, then a fourth, and Lassal and Valen clambered out to join their mistress.

"We shall see," Bodhi said. "When we get to Spellhold. I think that we deserve some recreation first, though. A night out on the town."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

The Five Flagons Playhouse was full to capacity. The audience sat enthralled as Korgan tapped out a rhythm, Giles strummed his guitar, and a beautiful girl in the silken robes of Kara-Tur danced barefoot in front of them.

"_The wind is in from Maztica_," Sorkatani sang,

"_And last night I couldn't sleep,_

_Oh, you know it sure is hard to leave here_

_But it's really not my home…_"

Yoshi gazed at her from the wings. Adoration was written all over his face.

"_My fingernails are filthy, I got beach tar on my feet_," Sorkatani continued,

"_And I miss my clean white linen and my Calimshan perfume._

_Oh, Yoshi get out your cane,_

_And I'll put on some silver_

_You're a mean old daddy but I like you_."

"She's not a bad singer," a girl in the back row commented to the wizard who sat beside her. A veil hid the girl's features. "I prefer Viconia, though."

"Indeed," the wizard agreed. "When she sang that 'I touch myself' song I thought that I would… ah, I think that you can guess."

"Shush, both of you," the elf woman in the next seat hissed. "We don't want to draw attention to ourselves. After all," Bodhi went on, "we're supposed to be dead."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

Disclaimer: song lyrics quoted (in slightly amended form to make them suitable for a Forgotten Realms audience) in this chapter come from 'Carey' by Joni Mitchell. They are used without permission of the copyright holders and with no intent to profit.


	46. Chapter 46

**Chapter Forty-six**

"I won't get into any trouble," Dawn insisted. "I'm not a little kid any more, Buffy."

"Nobody goes anywhere alone, remember?" Buffy gave Dawn a Mom Look. "That wizard might do another of those beam-me-down tricks like he did with Viconia."

Dawn's eye-roll was flawless and showed that Buffy's position as champion of that art was definitely under serious threat. "And a paladin is going to start a fight with me exactly why?"

Buffy heaved a sigh and executed an eye-roll that made it clear to this arrogant young gunslinger that the old marshal was still the fastest gun in the West. "And who says that it has to be a paladin? It could be just a plain old-fashioned monster."

"In the middle of the city in broad daylight? Why would it go for me and not just for some random guy?"

"It would go for you if he told it to," Buffy said. "I'm not gonna change my mind, Dawn. Nobody goes anywhere alone except Yoshimo with his Cloak of Non-Detection. Not even me or Tani. And definitely not you." Her voice softened. "Hey, I don't know why we're quarreling about this. Just give me a few minutes and I'll come with you."

Dawn's eyes widened. "Uh, I don't, I, I'd rather not," she said. She saw suspicion flaring in Buffy's eyes. "Look, I just want to do some shopping at my own pace, 'kay? Without anyone having to wait around for anyone else, or having someone else hanging around, tapping their fingers and looking up at the ceiling, while I'm trying to make my mind up."

"Tough," said Buffy. "You'll just have to put up with it." Her eyes narrowed. "Hey, you're not trying to sneak off to meet up with that bard, Alimar or whatever, are you?"

"You mean Ailmar? No way. He's cute, I guess, but hey, we've hardly spoken. He's more interested in Giles than in me. Uh, that's the songs by Giles."

"Or that Hair Dulles guy who's been making eyes at you?"

"No way! The only boy I've met here that I'd like to meet up with again is Tar Windspear and I haven't seen him for, like, ages." Dawn's nose wrinkled. "Haer'Dalis is totally too old for me. Hello, sixteen here."

"No you're not," Buffy pointed out. "It might be late summer in Faerûn but you haven't had your birthday. It was November in Sunnydale when we left and we've been here for, what, three months? It's only February Sunnydale time. You're still fifteen. If anyone should have had a birthday, it's me. Oh." Buffy's mouth opened and closed. "Uh, right. Maybe one of the other guys could go with you."

Dawn looked down at her boots. Crap. She could tell that Buffy had jumped to the wrong conclusion. Now she was going to have to buy Buffy a birthday present, which so wasn't what she had planned, and there was no way that she could carry out her real plan with one of the others along any more than if it had been Buffy. The idea of shopping for porn in the company of Giles, for instance, totally made her squirm. "Uh, I guess."

"I could go with Dawn," Sorkatani offered.

Dawn raised her head. That wouldn't be so bad. Tani would understand. "Hey, yeah, that would be cool."

"I'll just slip into some armor," Sorkatani said, "and then we'll, how do you say it? We'll totally hit the mall."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

Warren scrolled through line after line of code. "Somewhere in here there must be something nVIDIA specific," he said. "Finding it is gonna be a pain. This is so not the fun part of being a game designer."

"Yeah, it's tough, dude," Jonathan commiserated, "and there's not much that I can do to help. I'll get you some coffee, 'kay?"

"Great, thanks," said Warren. "Are there any cookies?"

"I'll see," Jonathan said. A grin came to his face. "Hey, maybe Andrew could summon up some flying Code Monkeys."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

"He kissed me last night," Sorkatani confided.

"Cool! So you guys are dating now?"

Sorkatani shook her head. "No, not as such. He still has this 'not worthy of me' thing and he backed off some afterward. He was all with the 'wait until after we rescue Imoen'. But we're beginning to get somewhere."

"I still don't get why he isn't just going for it," Dawn said. "He's totally into you. Uh, you don't think that maybe he might have a wife back in Kara-Tur?"

"I thought of that," Sorkatani admitted, "but he says not. There won't be anything to get in our way once we get Imoen back." She surveyed the shops ahead of them. "So, where do you want to go, Dawn?"

"I, uh, a bookshop," Dawn said. "I thought I'd get something to read on our sea voyage."

"A good idea. I shall do the same."

Dawn shuffled her feet. "I was thinking, maybe, I'd kinda like to read one of those books that you were talking about the other morning. Uh, what were they called? 'The Lustful Man From Calimshan', right? And the others. Maybe you could, uh, help me find something like that?"

Sorkatani raised her eyebrows. "I think that Buffy would not approve." She broke into a smile. "She treats you as one younger than you are, I think. I was your age when I read them and I do not think that it has done me any harm. Very well. I have seen a shop that I think might have works of that ilk. Perhaps I shall purchase one myself. It would indeed help the time pass as we sail to Spellhold."

"Cool." Dawn flashed a brief smile at Sorkatani but then frowned. "And then I guess I have to buy a birthday present for Buffy."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

"Yes!" Warren punched the air. "We're back in business."

"That looks even better than it did on the GeForce card, dude," Jonathan observed. "Uh, I've just had a thought. We'd better check it out on the GeForce again, just in case you've, uh…"

"Reversed the problem instead of fixing it?" Warren nodded. "I'm pretty sure that it's good for both now, but yeah, we'd better check. I'll change the cards round again." He stood up and stretched. "Man, I'm feeling kinda burned out. I need a break."

"When are you seeing Katrina next?" Jonathan asked.

"We don't have anything arranged," Warren said. "I might give her a call. I don't think she's doing much apart from play-testing the game."

"You can give her the new version," Jonathan said.

"I'll do that," Warren said. He glanced across at Jonathan's computer. "How are the guys doing in Amn, dude?"

"They're about ready to go to Spellhold," Jonathan reported. He closed one eye and tilted his head to one side. "They're gonna do one last gig before they go. I saw the show last time through, before we reloaded the save, and it was pretty good. How about we invite some of the guys over to watch it?"

"Tonight?" Warren shook his head. "Too short notice, dude, and I'm too much in need of a shower and a long sleep."

"No, it'll be tomorrow," Jonathan told him. "They sail for Spellhold the morning after that. I can pause the game to make the timing come out right."

"Okay, then." Warren smiled. "We'll make it our own little launch party to celebrate being ready to send out the demos." He cracked his knuckles and then picked up his anti-static wrist strap. "But I'd better get the cards changed around again before I do anything else."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

"And so tomorrow we start sending out demo disks," Warren concluded his announcement. He dipped his head. "I guess we'll start getting rejections a few days after that."

"No way!" Willow called. "It's totally great." A chorus of loyal assent came from the others.

"Thanks," Warren said, smiling broadly. "But hey, guys, I have to be ready for disappointment. I don't think making a sales pitch is part of my skill set. The game has to speak for itself and they might not want to listen. Anyway, we've done all that we can for now, and I'm totally burned out with work. It's party time, dudes."

Andrew and Jonathan scurried around the room making sure that everyone had a drink. Umad managed to acquire a glass of wine. Joan's hand flashed out, removed the glass, and substituted a Mountain Dew Code Red. Umad rolled her eyes but made no other protest.

Jonathan set down an empty bottle and made his way to his computer. "Okay, guys," he said, "it's Showtime. There's no point in asking you to give them a great big hand, 'cause they can't hear you, but anyway, here are Giles, Viconia, Korgan, and Spike with special guests Tara, Buffy, and Dawn."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

"_Just a small town girl_

_Living in a lonely world_

_She joined a caravan going anywhere_

_He came from a city state_

_Born and raised in Baldur's Gate_

_He joined a caravan going anywhere…_"

Katrina stared at Giles on the screen. She turned to look at Rupert, who was sitting across the room with Anya on his lap, and then looked back at the monitor. "That is totally incredible," she said. "How did you do it? And why haven't you put this version of the mod up on the boards?"

"Well, for a start because it takes up 80 gigs of space so far and they haven't even reached the Underdark," Warren told her. "But there's more to it than that. It's kind of a long story. Uh, and it starts off with me doing a bad thing. But I'll tell you all about it anyway. I'm not gonna keep any secrets from you any more."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

"_I'm a bitch, I'm a tease_," Viconia sang.  
"_I'm a goddess on my knees  
When you hurt, when you suffer  
I'm your angel undercover  
I've been numbed, I'm revived  
Can't say I'm not alive  
You know I wouldn't want it any other way…_"

Giles played a final chord and Viconia bowed to the audience. In the wings Buffy gritted her teeth. She poked a finger through one of the holes in the lacy top that Dawn had bought her the day before, as an 'approximate birthday' present, and fiddled with the cloth. "You can do this," she said to herself. "Just keep your head. You can do this."

"Of course you can," Anomen assured her. "You can do anything that you set your mind to. Your beauty alone shall captivate the audience, for they are not blind."

"They might wish they were deaf," Buffy said. She flashed him a smile. "Thanks. I'll give it my best shot." She waited for Giles to finish introducing her and then she walked out as Giles and Korgan struck up the tune. She forced herself to relax and allowed the music to take hold of her. She swayed her hips as she advanced to the front of the stage. Buffy saw Giles nod to give her a cue and she began to sing; or rather to chant, for her part in this song was spoken rather than sung.

"_Something in the moonlight catches my eye _

_The shadow of a lover goes dancing by _

_Looking for a little bit of love to grow, _

_So give me love, give me heart and soul _

_You never let me cross to the other side now _

_I'm tied to the hope that you will somehow _

_Hard on the heels of something more _

_But I lost your love, heart and soul…_"

She couldn't tell how the audience was reacting, for she was closing her mind to everything apart from the rhythm and her own voice; the hardest part of learning the song had been keeping to her own part when Viconia joined in, and only by shutting out the externals could Buffy avoid being swept along by the drow girl's powerful singing.

She began the next verse and was only vaguely aware that Viconia's part had begun. Her own voice did not falter and she kept unwaveringly to her lines. This was the easy section, however, as the sung harmonies were fairly restrained during that verse; the true test would come in the following one.

"_Tired eyes, tears that dried_," Buffy chanted, and then Viconia cut loose with everything she had.

"_Leaving you ain't easy now_" Viconia sang over Buffy's chanting. The dark elf had remained near the back of the stage, so that she would be less likely to drown Buffy out, but it was still rather like being in the path of a hurricane.

"_On the bed, on the pillow, where the love has died_," Buffy continued, undistracted.

"_Loving you's the harder part_," Viconia sang.

"_A turn of the key, through the door you go_," Buffy ploughed on, still managing to keep to her own tune. She stuck to her guns all the way through that verse, through the chorus when they were both singing the same words with only minor differences in the tune, and onward until at last she was delivering the final line; "_A little bit of heart and soul_."

Almost before she knew it the music had finished and she was standing at the front of the stage, bowing to the audience, with Viconia beside her doing the same. The applause from the crowd was loud enough to bring a glow to her heart.

"Your performance was satisfactory," Viconia commented as they left the stage together. "I am content."

"Thanks," Buffy said, knowing that this was as much praise as she could have expected from the drow. "You were amazing, as usual."

Viconia nodded fractionally in acknowledgement. "I know this," she said. "Let us now watch and see what they make of our sister."

"_Our_ sister?" Buffy frowned briefly but then her expression turned into a grin. "I thought my Dad went to Spain, not back in time a hundred and some years, and to the city of Mezzo-soprano or whatever." She cast a glance over her shoulder and saw Giles picking up the older of his pair of guitars. He was not yet ready to begin playing but merely held it as he announced Dawn's impending arrival to the crowd.

"Menzoberranzan." Viconia rolled her eyes. "I meant not that she is my sister by blood. Now hush, for she is soon to sing."

"You were magnificent," Anomen greeted Buffy when she joined him in the wings. "A vision of grace and beauty."

"And my singing?"

"A strange style, but most effective," Anomen judged. He opened his mouth to say more but was pre-empted by Spike's voice from the stage.

The Big Bad, devoted fan of the Clash and scornful critic of those who would steal Clash riffs and bass-lines for 'crap dance music', had a soft centre where Dawn was concerned. "S'ppose if you're set on doin' the bloody thing anyway I might as well make sure it's done right and proper," he had said. Now he was lowering himself to do something that he would never have done for anyone else, nor would he have done even for Dawn had he been aware that a counterpart of himself was watching at that very moment.

"_T__ank fly boss walk jam nitty gritty  
You're listening to the boy from the big bad city_," Spike rapped to an uncomprehending, but still appreciative, audience.

"_This is jam hot  
This is jam hot_."

Giles began to blast out the deep, throbbing, rhythm on the re-tuned guitar. Korgan hit the drums. Dawn danced across the stage, moving in a slightly more coordinated fashion than Lindy Layton had done in the original video, and Spike drew a slow mournful note from Giles' new gnome-made harmonica. Dawn appeared to be completely free of the apprehension that had afflicted Buffy and she grinned happily as she launched into the song.

"_Friends tell me I am crazy_

_That I'm wasting time with you_

_You'll never be mine._

_That's not the way I see it_

'_Coz I feel you're glad you're mine  
Whenever you're with me._

_People always talk about reputation  
I don't care about your other girls  
Just be good to me_

_Just be good to me…_"

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

"I must say that I'm a little, ah, surprised by your counterpart's participation," Rupert said to Randy. "I was under the impression that he, like yourself, was something of a Clash purist and would flatly refuse to take part in what he would no doubt describe as a rip-off and a travesty."

"I'd do it," Randy replied. "For the right person. Person I loved. I'd do it."

Umad grinned wickedly. "So if I asked you to sing an 'nSync song for my friends, you'd do it?"

Randy looked down his nose at her. "I'd tell you to sod off, Bit. You might be like a kid sister to me, yeah, but I have my limits."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

The past couple of songs had required Korgan to restrain himself somewhat but now he was released to attack the drums with as much fury as if they had been 'muckle beasties'. He was enjoying himself immensely as he hammered out a thunderous wall of sound.

"_They came for him one winter's night_," Viconia wailed.

"_Arrested, he was bound._

_They said there'd been a robbery_

_His crossbow had been found_."

"I wonder how Korgan will cope while we're away," Buffy remarked.

"No doubt he will spend the entire time engaged in drunkenness and debauchery," Jaheira gave her opinion. "If we spend long upon this mission, and he exhausts his store of gold, he will either turn to robbery or sell all that is within this playhouse that is not nailed down."

"Yeah, I guess you're right," Buffy said. "So, we'd better not hang around, right?"

"That is the least of my reasons for desiring haste," Sorkatani put in. "The past months have seemed like an eternity. I want Imoen back; and my revenge for the deaths of Dynaheir and of Khalid."

"We sail in the morning, Tani," Yoshimo said. Buffy opened her eyes very wide. It was the first time that she had ever heard Yoshimo use the affectionate abbreviation of Sorkatani's name. Things obviously had progressed between the two of them. "It shall not be long before we can confront Irenicus."

"At long last," Sorkatani said. She sighed as she listened to Viconia's voice from the stage.

"_Each night within his prison cell,  
He looks out through the bars.  
He reads the letters that she wrote.  
One day he'll know the taste of freedom._

_Over the hills and far away,  
She prays he will return one day.  
As sure as the rivers reach the seas,  
Back in his arms again she'll be_."

Sorkatani's eyes were trained toward the stage but Buffy doubted if she was focusing on Viconia or Giles. It was someone much further away who occupied the Perfect Warrior's thoughts. "I shall be with you soon, Imoen," Buffy heard Sorkatani whisper. "You shall indeed know the taste of freedom. Nothing shall stop me now."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

Dawn took a few steps along the jetty and then stopped. "It feels like the world is going up and down," she said. "Kinda… disconcerting."

"It will wear off before long," Sorkatani informed her. "We were but three days and nights upon the sea."

Buffy frowned. "I feel the same effect. You think maybe we should hole up for a while until we have our, uh, ground legs again? It might screw up my fighting." She looked up at the port town of Brynnlaw that lay before them. The rising ground beyond the harbor was laid out in terraces with the buildings set into them. The effect was attractive and, to Buffy, rather exotic; somewhat Middle Eastern, she thought. This probably would be a nice place to stay if it wasn't for all the pirates.

Sorkatani glanced back at the ship. "I think not," she said in a low voice. "I do not trust Captain Havarian. He would sell the news of our arrival to Irenicus for a few coins. Even if he did not, someone else will doubtless do so, in time. The longer we are here the more likely it is that rumor will reach the ears of our enemy. We must strike quickly."

"There must be no delay in planting the boot of Good in the backside of Evil," Minsc rumbled agreement.

"So didn't need that image," Dawn muttered.

"I have a feeling that we won't be able to just walk in and get to fighting," Buffy said. "Prisons aren't usually known for their Open Door policies."

"We have the name of a contact," Sorkatani said. "According to Sime," she continued, referring to the representative of Aran Linvail who had accompanied them on the voyage, "he is likely to be at a tavern on one of the higher terraces. Let us make our way there at once."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

Sorkatani flicked blood from Celestial Fury and twirled it back into its scabbard. "Is there something about being a pirate that makes men particularly stupid?" she wondered. "Or is it merely that only those who are mentally challenged take up such a career."

The pirate who had accosted her with lecherous intent made no direct reply. He stood, swaying slightly, with one hand clasped to the side of his head. "Ye cut off my ear!" he protested. "Ye cut off my bloody ear, ye swab!"

"Hey, you could wear a hook," Xander suggested. "That would be something none of the other pirates have."

The pirate glared at the young knight. "That be a stupid idea, ye lubber," he snarled. He bent down, retrieved the severed organ, and then scurried off in the direction of the Temple of Umberlee in the hope that the priestesses there could replace it.

Dawn gazed at the departing pirate critically. The reality of pirates was failing to live up to their fictional portrayal in the book that she had been reading during the voyage. Rum-addled, dirty, and smelly enough to indicate that the only time that their skins touched water was if they fell overboard; being ravished by one of them was unlikely to be a thrilling and sensual experience. The book's heroine, Moniské, had either encountered a completely different category of pirates or else was capable of extreme self-delusion in the interests of getting laid. Dawn shook her head and followed her sister and the others into the Vulgar Monkey tavern.

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

Buffy stepped back, avoiding the pool of blood on the floor, and left it to Anya to do the talking.

"You can't be serious," Anya snapped. She advanced until she was glaring directly into Sanik's eyes from only inches away. "We saved your ass, buster. You owe us. You say that you're not going to tell us how to get into the Asylum? If Sorkatani had been two seconds slower with her sword you would have had a dagger right in the middle of your back." She shook her head. "Are you trying to set some sort of record for ingratitude?"

Sanik wilted under her stare. "I am sorry," he said. "I shall tell you what you ask. You must go to Perth the Adept. His house stands immediately behind this tavern. He is the representative of the Cowled Wizards in Brynnlaw. It is he who arranges passage for the merchants who deliver provisions to the Asylum. He possesses a Wardstone that opens the barrier. I can give you no advice as to how you can persuade him to use it on your behalf."

"The Cowled Wizards have a presence in the town? And yet they have permitted it to be taken over by pirates?" Sorkatani raised her eyebrows.

Sanik shrugged. "They care nothing for the town other than as a source of goods. Perhaps they even approve of the pirates, for they act as an additional layer of defense for the Asylum. Few ships other than pirate vessels make landfall here these days and those who might wish to rescue an incarcerated prisoner, as I presume is your intent, must first get past the pirates. Indeed, they have given a Wardstone to Desharik the Pirate King."

"A possible second avenue," Sorkatani said. "First, though, we shall approach this Perth the Adept." Her fingers toyed with the hilt of Celestial Fury. "And we shall rescue your lady from the brothel. I do not respond well to blackmail, but I always pay my debts."

"So, which first?" asked Buffy.

"Unless the wizard's house is a mansion," Sorkatani replied, "we shall not all fit within. Let us, therefore, divide our forces. We girls shall call upon Perth the Adept and the men shall pay a visit to the brothel."

"I guess that makes sense," Buffy agreed.

"They'd attract less attention," Anya agreed. She aimed a sharp gaze at Xander. "But strictly no sampling the merchandise while you are there."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

The two groups reunited at the spot where the path to Spellhold left the environs of the town. "Mission accomplished, Jabbress," Spike reported.

"As is ours," Sorkatani replied. She held up the Wardstone. "We had to kill Perth the Adept. He was not open to negotiations."

"He was a total whacko," Anya added. "Like he was hearing voices in his head."

"We were also unable to avoid bloodshed," Anomen said. He grimaced. "I have no regrets. They were most unsavory characters."

Xander stared along the path to where the roofs of a massive building could be seen in the distance. "So, do we go in now? Or take some time out first, take a look around, maybe get a meal or something?"

"Ah, so you yearn to taste something other than my cooking? I am hurt, my friend," Yoshimo said. He had volunteered himself for the role of cook to the passengers during the voyage, as the fare produced by the ship's cook had proved to be distinctly unappealing to those who were not seasoned sailors, and his spicy Kozakuran dishes had been well received by all except Spike. Some herb in the ingredients, a concentrated form of garlic perhaps, had caused the vampire's tongue to swell and his lips to blister; after his first taste Spike had stuck strictly to a diet of pig's blood for the remainder of the voyage.

Xander laughed. "You're a good cook, Yoshi, but I wouldn't say no to something a little plainer for a change."

Sorkatani ignored the by-play. "I vote that we proceed at once. Our activities in town must have attracted attention. It is only a matter of time before Desharik sends word of our presence to those within Spellhold."

"I agree, Jabbress," Viconia said. "If there is yet a chance that we have the advantage of surprise, let us not allow it to slip by."

"I'm all stocked up with spells," Willow put in. "I say we go now."

There were no dissenting voices. Sorkatani and Buffy took a few moments to organize their forces. They would be in two groups, fifteen yards apart, so that no single trap or spell could affect them all but the rear group would be close enough to be able to respond immediately if the lead group needed reinforcement. Buffy ceded the lead position to Sorkatani without argument; it was her right to head the mission to rescue her friend.

"I shall remain here," Sime told them. The girl from the Shadow Thieves had taken no part in any of their actions in Brynnlaw. She was an observer only. "If you do not return I shall inform Aran Linvail. I know not if he will be able to do anything to assist you. My task is only to report to him what I see." She smiled briefly. "And to kill Saemon Havarian if he did not deliver you unharmed to Brynnlaw."

Sorkatani nodded in acknowledgement. "You have already been of great help to us, Sime. Thank you. We shall see you again before long."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

This was, it seemed, a path rarely traveled. Grass grew up between the stone slabs. A small war party of lizard men tried to ambush the adventurers and met with bloody and terminal failure. The building that housed the Spellhold Asylum was on a small rocky island separated from the main island of Brynnlaw by a narrow channel. A stone bridge, its parapet marred by several missing stones, spanned the gap.

They crossed the bridge and were immediately attacked by insubstantial forms of vaguely humanoid shape. "Vampiric Mists," Sorkatani identified them. The creatures lasted only moments against the party. Closer to the main Asylum building more monsters lurked. True Undead this time, a Wraith and a pair of Shadow Fiends. Celestial Fury flashed, Yoshimo's katana swung, and from the second group Xander hurled Azuredge. The Wraith shriveled up and blew away. The Shadow Fiends disintegrated. The path to the door of Spellhold lay open.

"There are no traps upon the door, Jabbress," Yoshimo reported. Spike nodded confirmation.

Sorkatani took hold of the door handle and turned it. She pulled and the door swung open. "It is not locked? Strange," she commented. She allowed Yoshimo and Spike to enter first and then walked into the building. The rest of her group followed in her tracks.

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

Half a minute later Buffy's section entered the Spellhold Asylum. Buffy's eyes widened as she saw the décor. "This was in my dream," she muttered. She drew both Daystar and the Blade of Roses.

"Dream?" Dawn asked. "What dream?"

Buffy did not answer directly. "Stay alert, Dawn," she said. "I have a bad feeling about this."

A door stood open ahead of them. They passed through it and found Sorkatani's group standing in a corridor as if waiting for them. A figure in the robes of a Cowled Wizard was standing in front of Sorkatani.

"Ah, we are all here," the wizard said. "Buffy the Vampire Slayer, no doubt."

"How do you know my name?" Buffy asked.

"Patience, child, all will be revealed in time," the robed man said.

"Buffy," Dawn whispered. "I recognize that voice. It's the guy who we saw when we first came to this world. It's Irenicus."

"I know," Buffy said. "I don't get why Sorkatani is just standing there." She sheathed both her swords and then stared at her hands. Her mouth dropped open. "Huh?"

"Time presses," Irenicus declared. "Let us move on. There is much for you to see." He gestured with one hand and a door in the corridor's side swung open. "The Residence for the Magically Deviant houses many people," he said. "All of whom can benefit from a structured environment. This is Lyri." A girl, not yet even in her teens, stood within the room that had been revealed. "At a remarkably young age she learned to shape magical energy, allowing her to change her form as she wished. Soon she became a hazard to herself and to others. Here she is safe, and others have learned something of what she does. It is invaluable information." He gestured again and the door closed.

"This is Wanev," Irenicus announced, opening another door. "He used to be Asylum Coordinator before I took over. Too much exposure to magical energy, I fear."

The grey-haired mage in the chamber glared at the crowd in the corridor. "Well? What are you staring at? I ordered that the corridors be cleaned. Get on with it!"

"His mind is completely gone," Irenicus said. "A pity."

"Enough of this charade, Irenicus," Sorkatani snarled. "I am interested only in Imoen."

"Oh? Then the rumors of your disinterested altruism in Amn are false?" Irenicus shook his head. "Ah, Bhaalspawn, your true nature becomes evident."

"When I have freed Imoen I shall see what may be done for the other captives," Sorkatani clarified.

Irenicus ignored her response. He turned and led the party along the corridor, acting as if he was the guide to a conducted tour, and everyone followed in his wake.

Spike shook his head. "Why aren't you chopping the bugger's head off, Jabbress?"

"I... I…" Sorkatani stumbled over her words, swallowed hard, and started again. "He is leading us to Imoen."

"More like he's leading us to the bloody slaughterhouse," Spike growled. "Snap out of it, Jabbress."

Sorkatani did not reply. She fixed her eyes on Irenicus and trotted after him as if she were one of a flock of sheep. Behind her the whole column did the same. Irenicus opened another door, read out a description in the manner of a museum curator describing an exhibit, and moved on to a fourth cell.

"Tiax rules all!" a shrill voice shouted from within. "You are but grease for the squeaking of his wheels! Silence those who protest. Tiax rules all!"

"We met this gnome in Baldur's Gate," Jaheira told Giles. "He was insane then and he remains so now. This one, at least, should be here."

Giles shook his head. "This place seems to offer the very opposite of treatment and rehabilitation," he said. "If they have done any good at all it must have been by accident."

At the next cell Sorkatani cried out in horror. "Dradeel! Dradeel! What have they done to you?"

"Bad dog! Bad dog! Werewolves all!" an elven mage raved. "Back! Back with you!"

"Dradeel," Sorkatani called. "Don't you know me? It's Sorkatani." The mage continued to babble nonsense. The Perfect Warrior fixed Irenicus with a cold stare. "He is my friend," she declared. "For this alone I would kill you, Irenicus."

"Obviously he had some sort of traumatic experience in the past. He cannot be allowed to roam free with the power that he possesses." Irenicus closed the cell door.

"Power that he has used only to help those in need," Sorkatani said, but she still did not raise Celestial Fury against her enemy.

"And lastly," Irenicus announced, leading them into a larger room, "the one you seek."

Buffy's eyes rolled like those of a frightened horse. She sucked in a rasping breath. Her fingers trembled over Daystar's hilt but did not take hold. "This is the room," she said. "We're here. Tara, take care."

Willow flickered into invisibility for a mere fraction of a second and then the Staff of the Magi slipped from her fingers and clattered on the floor. The red-haired witch was fully visible once more. Her eyes were huge circles and her skin was pale.

Imoen stood within the room, motionless, staring straight ahead. She did not react as Sorkatani entered her field of view. "Imoen," Sorkatani gasped out. "Imoen."

"I have quite finished with her now," Irenicus said. "She has served her purpose. Purposes, rather, for she has also acted as bait to lure you here. It is your turn to experience our… hospitality." He raised his hands to his head and folded back his cowl. "This disguise was always transparent," he said, "and it is of no further use."

"What have you done to me?" Sorkatani cried. "Why can't I just kill you?"

The smile that appeared on the face of Irenicus lacked any hint of humor or true enjoyment. "A simple Domination spell," Irenicus revealed. "You cannot raise a finger unless I will it. Oh, you have amulets, and talismans, and wards aplenty, I am sure, but they're all quite useless in these circumstances. You've all been eating spell components in your marinaded pork for the past three days. You have done well, Yoshimo."

The bounty hunter bowed low. "Thank you, Master. It was my duty to serve."

Sorkatani stared at the man she loved. "No," she croaked. "Please, no."

Spike growled low in his throat. His features rippled and distorted. His fangs came out. "You treacherous _c**t_," he spat at Yoshimo. His leg blurred as it swung up and around. Yoshimo took the kick full in the face and was knocked back across the room. He hit the ground and lay still. "I didn't eat the fucking marinade," Spike snarled. He hurled himself upon Irenicus. The mage raised his hands to cast a spell but Spike seized them and spun the mage around. His fangs plunged toward Irenicus' throat.

A side door burst open with such violence that the hinges broke. A pale figure in black leather streaked into the room at eye-baffling speed. A slender hand closed upon the back of Spike's neck and plucked him away from Irenicus. Spike was lifted from his feet, twisted until he lost his grip upon the mage's arms, and then tossed away as if he had been a rag doll.

Spike hit the ground rolling, picked himself up, and faced his new opponent. His eyes widened. "You? But you're dead."

Bodhi laughed. "And so are you."

"Dunno how you escaped," Spike grunted, "but it's not gonna matter. You're going down, bitch." He leapt forward; but not toward Bodhi. She could wait. The first priority had to be to break the hold that Irenicus had over the others. Once the mage was dead…

He didn't reach his target. Bodhi intercepted him, caught Spike's arm, and squeezed. Bones cracked. "Surprised?" Bodhi taunted. She picked up Spike again and slammed him down upon the stone flags of the floor. "A little stronger than when we last met, aren't I?" She stamped on Spike's chest and shattered three of his ribs. "I'm not just a vampire any more," Bodhi continued, kicking Spike again with such force that he was lifted from the floor and sent flying across the room. He crashed into the wall with an impact that shook a cascade of plaster loose from the ceiling. "I'm a god."

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Disclaimer: Song lyrics used – and sometimes modified to fit the Forgotten Realms setting – are from _Don't Stop Believin'_ by Journey, _Bitch_ by Meredith Brooks, _Heart and Soul_ by T'Pau, _Dub Be Good To Me_ by Beats International, and _Over The Hills And Far Away_ by Gary Moore. All are used without permission and with no claims to ownership or intent to profit from their use.


	47. Chapter 47

**Chapter Forty-seven**

Sorkatani removed the scabbard of Celestial Fury from her sash and set the weapon down. She did the same with her scimitar, and then her mace, and lastly she pulled a dagger from her boot and placed it beside the others. She walked away from the weapons and stood beside Imoen. Tears were trickling down her cheeks.

"Unfasten the scabbard of your sword without touching the hilt," Irenicus commanded Xander. "Hold it only by the scabbard as you set it down." Xander obeyed with his jaws clenched so tightly shut that his teeth were in danger of cracking.

Viconia added the Flail of Ages and the Mauler's Arm to the pile of weaponry. Irenicus fastened his gaze upon her as she straightened up. He touched his hand to his neck, where Spike's fangs had broken the skin, and he frowned. "You. The Drow woman. Heal me," he ordered.

Viconia's lips curled back from her teeth. The hatred that radiated from her was almost palpable. She approached Irenicus slowly, staggering between every step as she tried to fight his command, and almost spat out the words of the healing spell.

"And now a Restoration," Irenicus went on. "I don't feel as if he drained anything, but it is better to be safe than sorry." Viconia carried out his instruction and then stepped back.

Bodhi had stopped beating Spike. Now she was forcibly removing his Armor of Deep Night. He was barely conscious but still tried to resist. Bodhi clicked her tongue and wrenched at his left arm, dislocating it, and then repeated the procedure with his right. She was then able to pull the leather and dragon-skin jerkin over Spike's head. "Hmm," she mused. "Nice, but I don't think it would suit me."

"Your touch profanes it, iblith," Viconia snarled. "Quar'valsharess? Elg'caress, y'sik."

Bodhi let go of Spike and his head hit the floor with a thump. "You doubt my godhood?"

Viconia snorted. "Some stolen power does not make a god. I shall cut out your heart and sacrifice it to Shar. When you face her dread majesty you shall learn the difference."

Bodhi shot across the room almost too quickly for the eye to follow. "You shall face it first," she sneered. She seized Viconia by the chin and the back of the neck and wrenched hard. The horrified onlookers heard a sickening crunch. For a moment Viconia hung limp in Bodhi's grasp. "Oh, crap," Bodhi exclaimed. "I should have made her take the armor off first." She tossed the corpse aside.

Jaheira's scream of rage and grief was cut off by a barked command from Irenicus. "Silence!" The mage directed a cold glare at Bodhi. "Please, sister, do try to restrain yourself. There is much more at stake than merely gratifying your lust for violence."

Bodhi shrugged. "I won't touch Sorkatani. Well, not until you have finished with her."

"See that you do not," said Irenicus. He turned his attention back towards his captives. "Now divest yourself of all magical rings, bracers, gauntlets, amulets, and belts. Place them in this box."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

The bruise on Yoshimo's jaw had faded almost to nothing as the regenerative powers of the Ring of Gaxx healed him. His eyes flicked from side to side; his gaze moving from the pile of weapons to the box of magic items, from the corpse of Viconia to the mound of armor and cloaks, but never resting on the faces of any of those that he had betrayed.

"I don't get it," Xander addressed him. "How did you fool my Detect Evil power? 'Cause hey, someone who'd sell out a girl who loves him, plus a whole bunch of guys who thought he was their friend, has to be about as evil as they come."

"It is… complicated," Yoshimo said. "I would say that I am sorry – but how could any apology make up for such an action?"

Willow shivered. She wore only a bra and pants, for Irenicus had made her shed the Robe of the Good Archmagi and she had worn nothing else under the magical garment, but her shiver was not because she was cold. "We trusted you," she said. "I enchanted your katana. We fought three liches to get the Ring of Gaxx for you. Sorkatani is in love with you! How could you do this to us?"

"Enough!" Irenicus rolled up a scroll and slipped it into his sleeve. "There is yet one precaution to be taken. Everyone move into the next room."

They obeyed and assembled in what appeared to be a dining hall. Imoen would not have moved had Yoshimo not taken her by the arm and, with surprising gentleness, guided her forward and steered her through the door.

"Wait one moment, brother," Bodhi said. She tilted her head on one side and licked her lips. "There are rather a lot of them, even without that dhaerow bitch, and my little family is rather short of men. Tolgerias just isn't up to the task of keeping me satisfied and Tanova isn't getting any at all. I think I'll take one now." Her gaze scanned the party, lingering on Minsc, Xander, Giles, and Anomen.

"Suit yourself," Irenicus said. "They are of no interest to me."

"Mistress, no!" Yoshimo pleaded. "You promised that you would release them once the master has taken what he needs."

"And so I shall," Bodhi said. "Most of them, anyway. They will be set loose in the maze. I never promised that I wouldn't hunt them later." She laughed. "Not that promises mean much to me anyway. Did you forget that I am a vampire? I want a man and I am going to take one. The only question is which. Do you wish to make the choice for me?"

Yoshimo gazed at the floor. "No, Mistress," he mumbled.

"Then be silent." Bodhi walked along the line of captives. She shook her head as she passed Minsc. "Muscular idiots can be found anywhere." She paused at Xander. "Mmm, tempting," she mused. She moved on to Giles. "A bard might be entertaining," she remarked, "but he's a little too much like Tolgerias. I think I'd rather have someone with more size and muscle. I doubt if he'd be able to keep up with me in bed."

Jaheira bit back the rebuttal that would have issued from her lips and said nothing.

Finally Bodhi reached Anomen. "Mmm, nice," she said. "Tall, dark, and handsome. And there is a delicious irony in taking away the Vampire Slayer's man." She took hold of Anomen's hand and towed him away from the group. "I'll have this one." Her hands went to Anomen's hair and she pulled his head down towards her. She kissed him hard on the lips, despite his resistance, and then wrenched him around so that his throat was exposed to her fangs.

Whatever noise Anomen may have made as she bit him was drowned out by Buffy's screams.

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

"What is that thing?" Tara shuddered as she stared at the swirling gray vaporous shape that was approaching them. Somehow it conveyed the distinct impression that it was alive.

"A nishruu," Willow identified it. "Or maybe a hasheakar. They eat magic. I don't summon them 'cause they destroy magic items and…" She broke off as the amorphous creature reached her and its tendrils touched her head. "No! Goddess! It's taking my spells!"

"You are hurting my witch!" Minsc protested.

"Quiet, barbarian. She is not being harmed," Irenicus said. The distress on Willow's face seemed to contradict the mage's assurance but Minsc fell silent anyway.

Bodhi had left the room after draining Anomen. She returned, dragging Spike by one leg, and holding Celestial Fury in her other hand. She tossed the katana to Yoshimo. "Here," she said. "This is from your homeland, is it not? Take it and cheer up."

Yoshimo made no move to attach the scabbard to his belt. He stood holding it, saying nothing, his face set in lines of abject misery that almost matched the expressions on the faces of Sorkatani and Buffy.

Spike groaned and stirred. "'M not telling you jack," he mumbled. "Never gonna get your sodding Key. You might be strong, but in our world, you're an idiot."

"What is he babbling about?" Bodhi wondered. She kicked him in the ribs.

"God of bad home perms," Spike muttered. "No idea that gods were such prancing lightweights."

Bodhi flicked Spike into the air, whirled him around by the ankle, and slammed him down again to hit the ground head first. He slumped unconscious once more.

Dawn had already sobbed until her tears ran dry but now more poured forth.

Irenicus watched the hasheakar consume all of Willow's memorized spells and then he directed the strange being to move on to Tara. He turned to Yoshimo and held out his hand. "The Bhaalspawn's favored weapon, I take it. May I?"

Yoshimo passed Celestial Fury to the mage and Irenicus examined it briefly. "Ah, yes," he said. "An ingenious toy. It could be improved, of course. How did that formula go again? Ah, yes. The heart of a demon, a Wand of Lightning, and some diamonds. That would be a project for an idle hour and it will be long before I have such time. It might as well stay as it is." He held out the sword to Yoshimo again.

"I do not want it," Yoshimo said. "It is the weapon of a true Samurai and I am not worthy."

Irenicus raised his eyebrows. "Indeed? Very well, it will make a passable gift to one of my allies. They are hardly Samurai, of course, but I doubt if they will refuse."

"No, wait, master, I have changed my mind. I shall take it after all," Yoshimo said. He took the katana and slid the scabbard through his belt. He bowed to Irenicus and backed away.

Irenicus paid him no more attention. He watched as the hasheakar drained Tara's spells, fastened itself to Minsc and stole away the ranger's minor healing and Barkskin magics, and then he frowned as the magic-eater headed for Sorkatani. "No, creature, touch her not," he ordered. "The druid shall supply your next meal." The mist being recoiled and then made for Jaheira.

"Why not me?" Sorkatani asked. "What is it that you want from me? Why did you take me in the first place, and what have you done to Imoen?"

Irenicus shrugged. "I suppose there is no reason not to tell you. There is nothing that you can do to escape your fate. I merely wish to extract your soul."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

"We got mail," Warren muttered. He took a sip from his coffee and began opening the e-mails. There was some feedback on the Baldur's Gate mods, an Amazon flyer, and then a personal invitation, allegedly from the widow of the late General Sani Abacha of Nigeria, to help her smuggle millions of dollars of embezzled State funds out of the country. More feedback. A reply from a game publisher.

"We do not accept unsolicited material… blah, blah, blah," Warren read out. "Okay, fuck you too. You're sending the disk back by normal mail? Gee, thanks." He moved on to the next one. "I have just seen your demo and I… oh, wow!" Warren's eyes bulged wide. "Oh, man!" He gulped at his coffee, winced as the incautious mouthful scalded him, and set the cup down. "Jonathan! Andrew! Hey, dudes, come here! You so have to see this."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

"At least let my Willow have a cloak," Minsc requested. "She is cold."

Willow wondered for a second how Minsc knew. It was logical that she should be cold, of course, now that they were down in this creepy basement laboratory place; but hey, logic wasn't Minsc's strong point. Oh. Yeah. That was how he knew. Goose bumps, and a lot of them 'cause there was one whole lot of skin on show, plus her nipples were standing out plainly even through the material of the bra.

Yoshimo unfastened the clasp of his Cloak of Non-Detection and slipped it from his shoulders.

"No," Irenicus commanded. "Not that one. She is not to have access to anything magical." He had shed his Cowled Wizard robes and once more was clad in the apparel of leather straps and studs that he had worn in his stronghold in Athkatla.

"But her spells have been taken from her, Master. What harm would it do?"

"Perhaps none. I prefer not to take the chance. What do I care for the witch's comfort?"

"I'll let the big barbarian warm her up," Bodhi said. She grinned, picked Willow up from the stone flags, and deposited her on top of Minsc.

Willow lurched sideways. With her ankles bound, and her hands tied behind her back, it was hard to balance. Bodhi wasn't going to do anything to stop her from falling over; in fact she moved to stop Yoshimo when he took a step forward as if to assist. Then Minsc, whose hands were also bound, used his shoulder to steady Willow.

"Thanks," Willow gasped, and wriggled into an upright position with Minsc's assistance. She sat in his lap and felt the heat from his body against her bare skin. That wasn't all that she felt. Something was moving under her butt, and it wasn't Boo. A semi-naked Willow wriggling in his lap had obviously affected Minsc quite dramatically. She was almost being lifted into the air.

She tried to put it out of her mind. It was hard – no, bad choice of words there, Willow – uh, it was difficult, but this wasn't the time or place for thoughts along those lines. Her body didn't seem to agree with her. She could feel a warm glow between her legs and she had a horrible feeling that her panties would be developing a damp patch. Her cheeks began to burn and she guessed that they would be flaming crimson for everyone to see. She didn't dare even glance at Tara.

Bodhi laughed. "It seems that the barbarian has warmed the witch up considerably. Perhaps I chose the wrong man. No, Yoshimo, fear not. I made my decision. This one shall have a fighting chance."

Willow could see the blush spreading as far as her arms. Embarrassment cubed. She fought for control and focused her attention on Sorkatani, who was strapped into a seat with a glass dome over her head and shoulders, and on Buffy.

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

"That's Cambridge, Massachusetts, not Cambridge, England, right?" Jonathan's brow furrowed. "Eastern Standard Time. So they'd be three hours ahead of us?"

"Yeah, that's what I make it," Warren agreed. "So they'll finish work when it's just past lunchtime for us. We'd better not hang around. Help me put a reply together, dudes."

"Sure thing," Jonathan agreed. "Hey, they want us to come to a meeting? Wow."

"Maybe we shouldn't be too eager," Andrew suggested. "I mean, if we just say we can come absolutely any time, they might think that we're kinda desperate and offer us a bad deal."

"We don't sign anything until we hear what the other companies are offering," Warren said. "But I have a good kinda feeling about this." He gave a wry half-smile. "Which same probably means that, when we get there, they'll lock us in a room and not let us out until we sign everything over to them."

"They have a pretty good rep," Jonathan said.

"I'm not serious, dude," Warren said, "but I don't want to start counting chickens."

"Yeah," said Jonathan. "Uh, if we go all the way to Massachusetts, I guess that would mean flying, right? I'm kinda worried about flying. I'm not sure I want to go."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

"You don't want to do this," Buffy said. Irenicus did not reply. "I'm serious," Buffy went on. "You can't take her soul."

Irenicus deigned to look up from the machine that he was adjusting. "Oh, I assure you that I can," he told her. "It worked perfectly well with Imoen."

"And you put it in Bodhi," Buffy said. "Yeah, I got the memo. But you're forgetting something. She's a vampire. She didn't have a soul. You do. There's no way that you're gonna be able to have two souls."

"That's where you're wrong," Irenicus said. "I don't have a soul. They took it from me when they cast me out." He turned away from the machine and his fists clenched. "They took my soul, my immortality, and left me to age like a miserable human. But they shall suffer for what they did. They shall all suffer."

Buffy opened her eyes very wide. "And you think that getting a soul is gonna help you with this? Hello, soul means conscience. Once you have that you're gonna feel one whole load of guilt over what you've done to us. Your whole evil scheme is gonna end up with you big with the brooding and the living in an alley. Although probably not eating rats."

Irenicus frowned. "Your words are almost incomprehensible. Still, I believe that I understand the gist. You think that a soul will distract me from my objectives? Possible, I suppose, but unlikely. I doubt that the Perfect Warrior feels much guilt over those that she has slain."

"Then you are wrong," Sorkatani said. "Over those that attacked me, or threatened innocents, I feel no guilt. Yet there was one occasion when I began a fight to the death without just cause, in response to mere taunting, and I regret it still."

"Perhaps. Nevertheless I need your power, Bhaalspawn, and I am prepared to take that risk. You shall not sway me from my course."

Sorkatani sighed. "I can see that. But tell me something first. How did you know that Imoen was also a Child of Bhaal when we did not?"

"I have studied you for a long time, Bhaalspawn. I even visited Candlekeep in another guise on more than one occasion. When I discovered that there were two orphan foundlings in that cloistered environment, of much the same age, I suspected that there was a connection. I could not be certain that my suspicions were correct at that time, but once I had the pair of you in my grasp it was easy to discover the truth; although I had to show her some very dark shadows indeed before the taint became evident enough for my purposes."

"Was our escape from your lair all part of your plan?" Sorkatani asked.

"Of course. You were not ready for this procedure at that time and I needed to concentrate upon Imoen. Everything was planned. You were never free, Child of Bhaal, it was only the illusion of freedom. I had you on a leash that was unbreakable. And always under my control."

"Yoshimo," Sorkatani said. "My betrayer."

"Yes, I did betray you, Jabbress," Yoshimo said. "I shall regret it always."

"Then why did you do it?" Sorkatani wailed. "I loved you. I thought that you might love me."

"I do," Yoshimo said. "I love you as much as any man has ever loved a woman."

Buffy snorted. "You treat someone you love like this? I'd hate to see what you do to your enemies."

"I have always said that I am unworthy of Sorkatani," Yoshimo said. "I made a decision long ago that bound me to this path. There could be no turning back."

"What the _fuck_ could make you do it?" Buffy demanded. "What did he offer you? To make you the Emperor of Kozakura or something? Or, what, he has your mom or your sister or somebody held hostage?"

Yoshimo winced. "I am a miserable coward," he told her. "I put my own life ahead of that of the woman I love. My ancestors are shamed."

"Yeah, tell me about it," Buffy said. "You were _scared_ of this guy? Come on, I've seen you throw yourself into the path of a dragon's breath for her. It doesn't make any kind of sense. You think that we couldn't have turned this… this escapee from a fetish party into sushi in five minutes if you hadn't drugged us?"

Yoshimo shook his head. "It was all pre-ordained. It was too late for me even when we met."

"I tire of this chatter," Irenicus said. "My preparations are complete. This will not take long, Bhaalspawn. It will be unpleasant for you, even painful, but you may well survive. Your sister did, after all, and you are stronger than her."

"My sister," Sorkatani said. "How strange that sounds."

"Yeah," said Buffy. "Tell me about it."

"I said enough of this chatter," Irenicus snapped. "You may discuss your siblings later. If you survive, that is. Observe the Shadow Thieves chained within the other chambers. The fruits of my sister's Guild War. They are the power that shall drive this procedure. Their deaths will force the divine soul from you." He spread out his arms and raised them high. "And then I shall become a god."

"Yeah, sure," said Buffy. "With the portfolio for what? Exotic leather gear? Gay bars?"

"Prattle as much as you wish," said Irenicus. "You shall not distract me." He uttered a mystic phrase and beams of light shone forth from his fingers. In the series of glass domes that ran along one wall of the laboratory, opposite that against which the helpless adventurers had been placed, the captive Shadow Thieves began to die.

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

Warren clicked on 'Send' and leaned back in his chair. "So now we wait again," he said. "Oh, crap, my coffee's cold now. I forgot about it."

"Mine too," Andrew said. "I'll get some fresh, 'kay?"

"Thanks, dude," Warren said. He scratched his head. "Wow. We're actually getting somewhere."

"Yeah," said Jonathan. "Cool." He turned and looked over his shoulder at the dark screen of the other monitor. "Hey, I wonder if the guys in the game have gotten to Spellhold yet?"

"Maybe," said Warren. "We haven't looked in on them for a while. Let's check them out."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

Giles stared at Sorkatani as she writhed in her bonds. Her agony was obvious. So, too, was Buffy's mental anguish. The two girl warriors had become very close lately and now Buffy's friend was about to lose her soul. The torments that Angel had inflicted upon them after losing his soul were seared into the memories of all the Sunnydale crew. Giles did not expect that Sorkatani would become a similar monster; there would be no vampire demon to provide the impetus towards blood-lust and cruelty, and Spike's recent behavior had proved that it was possible to overcome even that drive; but it would still in all probability drive a wedge between the two girls.

Giles sighed. If only there was something that he could do to help Sorkatani. He was helpless, however, tied up and without his guitar. There was nothing that he could do to prevent her from losing her…

A stray thought popped into his mind. A misheard lyric. Not one that was intrinsically humorous, or that would have qualified for a Memorex advert, but it was just barely possible that it might alleviate the situation somewhat. He had no access to his guitar, but he could slap his bound hands against the floor in at least an approximation of the drumbeat…

"_Even though you lose your soul_," he sang, "_your conscience will remain._

_Even though you lose your soul_

_Your conscience will remain._

_Da diddley qua qua, da diddley qua qua,_

_Da diddley qua qua, da diddley qua qua._

_Even though you lose your soul_

_Your conscience will remain,_

_Remain_."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

"Oh, crap!" Warren stared at the screen in horror. "Viconia is dead."

"And Anomen," said Jonathan. "He was getting to be not that much of a jerk, too." His eyes narrowed briefly. This was the end result that Joan had been pushing for; had Warren interfered somehow? He shook his head. Warren hadn't even touched this computer since the night of the party. It was pure coincidence.

"How far back is our last save?" Warren asked.

Jonathan squirmed. "I kinda forgot about saves," he confessed. "I haven't done one since the one that we reloaded from the last time. After Tara died, remember? That's, uh, that was before they did the Planar Sphere quest. Unless you saved after that?"

"I have to answer 'no' to that one," Warren said. "We've both been too busy with the Pirate game. Crap. We should have saved during the farewell gig. That's another long re-run they'll have to go through."

"And then it'll probably turn out bad here again," Jonathan said. "First time through they made it past this point okay but then Anya was squished in a trap. Then Tara died. This time it's Viconia and Anomen."

"It's getting worse each time," Warren said. "Crap and double crap. Next time it might be Giles who gets killed. Or Willow, or Buffy, or Tara again. Or all of them."

"Yeah," Jonathan said. "Uh, I hate to say this, but, uh, you think we should leave it? I mean, this is bad, and Viconia being dead totally sucks, but it could be worse."

Warren heaved a sigh. "Yeah. That's what I was thinking, but I didn't dare say it out loud. Not after what you said when you found out about me trying to get Viconia killed." He frowned at the screen. "We might not get too many chances to save over the next few days. Yeah. If we save here, well, at least if we have to reload again we won't be going back too far."

"Irenicus has taken all their gear," Andrew commented. "They're gonna have problems in the maze."

"He did that the last two times," Jonathan said. "It's the down side of the bad guys acting like real people. They don't do stupid things any more. I think he'll always do it."

"They should be okay in the maze," Warren said, "at least if they stay clear of that trap. Willow has some serious firepower. Jaheira too. And Buffy and Spike can get by without weapons."

"Spike's down to Near Death," Andrew pointed out.

"Yeah, that sucks," said Warren, "but he's a vampire. He'll heal. And Tara and Jaheira will have him fixed up in no time anyway. Okay, go for it. Let's save it here. And then, maybe, we'll get them to the Underdark." He sighed again. "And I'll tell Joan that she got her friggin' wish. I hope she's happy about it 'cause, dudes, it doesn't make me happy at all."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

Bodhi unfastened the straps that held Sorkatani. The second that she was loose the Perfect Warrior tried to punch Bodhi in the face. The vampire girl caught the fist and pushed Sorkatani back. "Now, was that the instinctive reflex of a mindless killer?" Bodhi wondered, "or have you survived the experience relatively unharmed."

"I am myself still," Sorkatani answered. "No thanks to your brother." She frowned. "He seems human, you are an elf. How is that possible?"

"My punishment was less severe than was his," Bodhi said. "I'm glad that you still have your mind. Hunting you wouldn't be anything like as much fun without it." She released Sorkatani's hand. "Come. Don't bother to fight back. It would achieve nothing."

Sorkatani rubbed her wrist. "I could not Draw Upon Holy Might. It seems my powers have indeed been stolen."

"Oh, yes," Irenicus said. He smiled, the first time that any of the adventurers had ever seen such an expression on his face, although it bore more resemblance to the rictus on the face of a corpse than to an open and honest smile of happiness. "The power is incredible. I am renewed."

"Any overwhelming feelings of guilt?" Buffy enquired. "I'm guessing no."

"And you are correct," Irenicus replied. "My course is unchanged. Those who punished me so cruelly shall pay the penalty for their callous actions."

"_Their_ callous actions?" Buffy began to raise her voice but then forced herself to remain calm. It was hard to fight back the seething anger that was raging within her but she knew that to let it out was to risk the fate that had befallen Viconia. She wasn't scared of Bhodi, even though the way the vampire girl had handled Spike spoke of Glory level strength, but to provoke her while Buffy was tied up would be foolish.

Irenicus did not reply. "We have wasted enough time," he said to Bodhi. "Take this trash to the labyrinth, if you still wish your amusement, while I test out my new powers and then inform our sisters in the dark of our impending arrival. I shall remain here for a time to plot the remaining stages of our plan before we depart." He cast one last glance over Sorkatani and Buffy. "I bid you farewell, Child of Bhaal and Vampire Slayer. We shall not meet again."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

"You have proven to be resilient beyond expectation," Bodhi told Sorkatani. "I respect you. It won't stop me killing you, of course, but I'll give you a fair chance."

"A fair chance?" Sorkatani stared into Bodhi's eyes. "We have no weapons. You cannot be harmed except by enchanted blades, fire, or wooden stakes. You call that fair?"

"It is easy to improvise stakes and fire," Bodhi pointed out. "As for enchanted weapons, well, you will find some within this maze; if you can pass the challenges. The Cowled Wizards who created this place intended it as some sort of sanity test. There are puzzles to solve, and foes to overcome, and rewards to be won. At the end lies freedom."

Sorkatani watched Tanova deposit the bound form of Minsc on the marble floor nearby. "I sense that there is a catch."

"Two catches," Bodhi admitted. "Many of the traps in here are lethal, and the foes are formidable." Tolgerias dumped Jaheira beside Minsc. "And, of course," Bodhi went on, "I'll be coming in after you. I'll give you a head start. Until our new recruit – Anomen, is that his name? – rises. Then we'll start the hunt."

Yoshimo lowered Dawn gently to the ground. "I am sorry, dalninil," he said softly. He squeezed her hand briefly and then stepped away.

"Fuck you," Dawn spat out. "You total…" Her eyes widened suddenly and her voice died away.

Bodhi took no notice. "Irenicus has only one obsession," she continued. "He can think only of his banishment and his quest for revenge. It is of less import to me. I will aid him, certainly, but I intend to have fun in the process. I shall make your deaths entertaining. Well, entertaining to me, anyway."

"If you wish entertainment," Giles suggested, from where he lay on the floor with his glasses askew, "simply restore to me my musical instrument. Let me entertain you."

"A tempting offer," Bodhi said. "I have seen you perform and I was quite impressed. Of course you have no drummer here and, alas, you no longer have your best vocalist. Even so I would take up your offer did I not suspect that you would use your bardic powers to set me on fire." She turned back to Sorkatani. "If you make haste you might even reach the exit of the labyrinth before I come in after you."

Sorkatani glanced at Spike's shattered body. Bodhi noticed and laughed. "I suppose having to carry him around with you will slow you down somewhat. He doesn't heal as quickly as my kind of vampire, it seems, and even one of us would take quite a while to recover from that kind of damage. You might have to leave him behind. Or put him out of his misery."

"I don't abandon my friends," Sorkatani said. She glared at Yoshimo. "Unlike some people."

Yoshimo lowered his eyes to avoid her gaze.

"You took so long," Imoen said, speaking for the first time since they had found her. "I waited for you, but you didn't come for such a long time."

"I came," Sorkatani said. She rushed to the other girl and hugged her. "I wanted to be sure that I could beat Irenicus and free you, and that's why I took so long, but then it didn't even work. I am so sorry."

"I'll leave you to your touching reunion," Bodhi said. All of the surviving members of the party were now inside the maze. Sorkatani and Imoen, and the unconscious Spike, were the only ones not tied up. "I advise you not to spend too long on it, however. Your time runs out and this maze is long and complex." She did not follow her minions up the flights of stairs that led to the balcony housing the entrance door. Instead she bent her knees and leaped fifteen feet upwards. She landed beside the door and smiled down at Sorkatani and the others. "I'll see you later," she said, "for dinner."

Bodhi departed through the door and it slammed closed behind her. A grating noise and a heavy thud indicated that the door was now locked and barred. There would be no escape in that direction. The party would have to negotiate a labyrinth full of deadly perils before they could break free.

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

"Who are all these people?" Imoen asked. "I don't know them."

Sorkatani pulled free the last loop of cord binding Buffy's arms. "Do you not know Minsc? And Jaheira?"

"Surely Imoen knows her good friend Minsc," the ranger declared. He slipped his hands free of their bonds and bent to untie his legs. "And Boo, who has cleverly freed Minsc from these ropes."

A fractional hint of a smile touched Imoen's lips. "Of course I know Minsc and Boo and Jaheira. I mean the others."

"We have met before," Buffy said. She began to unfasten the cords around her legs as Sorkatani moved on to Giles. "We fought our way out of Irenicus' lair together before the Cowled Wizards took you away. Remember?"

Imoen frowned. "I think so. It's all so mixed up. So many dreams intertwined with reality."

"Well, now we are together again," Minsc said, "and we shall give the butt of evil a good kicking, oh yes we shall."

"Without our weapons, our armor, and our spells?" Sorkatani freed Giles and stood up. "I have learned much of the art of fighting with bare hands, and none can match Buffy, but we are still at a disadvantage."

Giles pushed his glasses straight. "Not as big a disadvantage as you might fear." He climbed to his feet and put a hand into the pocket of his breeches. "Irenicus forgot to mention one category of magic item when he was making us divest ourselves of our enchanted possessions." He pulled a small leather bag from the pocket, unfolded it, and unfolded it again. "Magical bags." His right hand went into the bag and came out again holding the old seven-string guitar by the neck. "A little re-tuning and I'm back in business."

"That is not all," said Minsc. He was untying Willow as he spoke. "Boo is such a clever hamster. He retrieved three of our rings and brought them to me." Once Willow was untied Minsc placed the rings in her hand.

"One of the good Rings of Protection," Willow said. "My Ring of Wizardry, although that won't help until I get a chance to rest and get my spells back. And the Ring of Danger Sense. Cool. Boo sure is one clever hamster."

"It's not a lot," Buffy said, "but it's better than nothing. I can still kick ass. And I'm gonna kick that bitch's ass all the way to hell for what she's done to us." Her fingers tugged at the ropes holding Dawn.

"Jeez, Spike's a mess," Xander commented. "He's totally trashed. Even worse than when Glory did a number on him."

"Bodhi is about as strong as Glory now," Buffy said. "It was two weeks before Spike was over that beating. I'm guessing it will take about that long to fix him this time, too, and we don't have two weeks. I don't know if we even have two hours. Anyone have any healing spells left? Any potions?"

Jaheira shook her head. "We have nothing. Those creatures of Irenicus took every spell that I had."

"My Paladin powers are gone too," Xander said. "I got zilch."

"Maybe if we each give him a little blood it will speed things up," Tara suggested.

"I don't think that's gonna help enough," Willow said. "He couldn't even drink right now."

"I've never tried healing someone with a song," Giles said, "but I see no reason why it shouldn't be possible." He frowned. "Although I must confess that the only malady that would be healed by any of the songs that come to mind would be a broken heart."

"It's okay," Dawn said. "I can fix him." She held out her hand. A small item gleamed between her fingers.

"You pick-pocketed that right from Yoshimo's hand?" Anya's tone was warm with admiration. "That's amazing! I couldn't have done that. And you were tied up, too."

"He slipped it into my hand when he put me down," Dawn admitted. "I totally couldn't have taken it off him. Maybe he's not quite such a total jerk after all. Anyway, we'd better get it on Spike right away and fix him up." She crossed the floor to where Spike lay and slipped the object onto an unbroken finger.

It was the Ring of Gaxx.

**Glossary of Drow words**

• 'iblith' = filth, offal, excrement

• 'Quar'valsharess' = goddess other than Lolth

• 'elg'caress' = bitch

• 'y'sik' = rather

• 'dalninil' = sister

Disclaimer: the song from which Giles' 'misheard lyrics' come is _Stand and Deliver_ by Adam and the Ants. It is quoted without permission and with no claims to ownership or intent to profit from the use.


	48. Chapter 48

**Chapter Forty-eight**

Spike opened his eyes. "Uhhh," he moaned. "Good plan, Spike."

"That was a plan?" Dawn rolled her eyes. "Funny, it looked to me as if you were getting the crap beaten out of you."

"What?" Spike raised his head. "Had a flashback," he explained. "Thought for a minute I was escaping from Glory." He allowed his head to sink back again and his eyes moved from side to side. "See we're out of that place. Broke his thrall, did you?"

"That would be a no," Xander admitted, stepping forward into Spike's line of vision. "They took all our armor and weapons and dumped us in this place. It's some kind of maze. Bodhi's coming in after us in, uh…"

"When Anomen rises," Buffy finished the sentence for him. "She turned him."

Spike turned his head and saw that the Slayer's face was streaked with tears. Her mouth was set in a tight line and her eyes held no light. Willow was beside her, clad only in her underwear, with an arm around Buffy's shoulders.

"Oh." Spike tried to raise a hand but his arms still weren't working. "That's… tough. Sorry to hear that, Slayer."

"Thanks." Buffy's eyes flickered downward for an instant and then she met Spike's gaze again. "I'm gonna make her pay for that. I don't know how, but I'll do it."

"Bloody right," Spike agreed. He glanced around and his brow furrowed. Dawn was kneeling to his left and Tara to his right. "Where's Vicky? Would have thought she'd have been with me. Not that she's the sort to fuss, but still."

Tara took a deep breath. "Uh, Spike," she said slowly. "Viconia is… she's…"

"She's what?" Spike struggled up into a sitting position, with some difficulty because he was still unable to use his arms, and turned his head to look all around the chamber. "Where is she?"

"Viconia is dead." Jaheira's tone was leaden. "Murdered."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

"I feel hollow inside," Imoen confided to Sorkatani. "He took something away. My divine soul, or so he said, and he gave it to… that creature. I didn't even know I had it, but without it I'm empty, and I'm getting weaker. If I don't get my soul back I'm going to die, I know it, and you're in the same position."

Sorkatani shook her head. "I don't feel any weaker. If anything I feel stronger. Maybe it was because you and Giles helped me in the dream. I wasn't here to help you when you needed me. I'm so sorry."

"Dream?" Imoen's brow furrowed. "I had no dream. Just blackness, and pain, and my will draining away."

"And you did not share in my dream? I fought an armored warrior, an avatar of Bhaal, and you helped me. Giles was there too."

"I was?" Giles pushed his glasses further up his nose. "I sang a song to try to aid you, certainly, but I did not know if it would have any effect without my guitar."

"You were strangely dressed in the dream. You wore very tight breeches, and a jacket with many heavy cords across the front," Sorkatani told him, drawing her fingers across her chest in illustration, "and you had stripes of paint upon your face. You sang that you were a 'dandy highwayman'. I knew not what you meant by that, or why it was important that I used a mirror, but I could feel that it gave me strength. I think that I may have held on to something of what Irenicus sought to steal."

"_Even though you lose your soul your conscience shall remain_," Giles quoted. "That is exactly what I hoped to achieve, my dear."

"Thank you, zra'ha," Sorkatani said, and she hugged Giles and laid her cheek against his chest. "Even in this dark hour I feel hope."

"I'm glad," Giles said, and he patted her on the back. "I feared that you would be, ah, catatonic. Buffy had a dream that seemed to foretell such an outcome, although the events leading up to it were unclear, and I had tried to make preparations to deal with it." He grimaced. "One such preparation was teaching Viconia a specific song."

Sorkatani's grip on Giles tightened briefly to an almost painful extent. She released him and stepped back. "Perhaps there is yet a chance to recover her," she said. "If we can retrieve her body…"

"Viconia?" Imoen raised her eyebrows. "I never could see what you saw in that evil bitch."

"Call her not so," Jaheira scolded. "Her tongue is sharp, true, yet she is as good a friend as any could wish to have." Her mouth twisted. "I shall not say 'was' while even the slightest chance exists that we shall bring her back."

Imoen's eyebrows climbed even higher. "It seems things have changed in my absence. I am sorry, Jaheira. I had thought that you disliked her too."

"I had warmed to her even before we parted company in Baldur's Gate," Jaheira admitted. "That she left us then caused my resentment to flare anew, it is true, but all that is long mended and I shall mourn her greatly if she is lost to me now." She took hold of Giles' hand. "There have been changes, Imoen, and this is another. Giles and I are… together."

"Together?" Imoen sounded almost as if she did not understand the meaning of the word.

"Nind phuul vithin huend nind karliiken vir'ed," Sorkatani said. A hint of a smile flickered on her face for a brief instant before fading again. "Oh, yes. That's another change. We have learned much of the Drow tongue from Viconia and often use phrases from that language amongst ourselves."

"I understood not a word," Imoen said.

A tinge of rose pink had come to Jaheira's cheeks at Sorkatani's words. "We are sleeping together," she expanded for Imoen's benefit.

"Oh." Imoen frowned but made no further comment.

"I am extremely relieved to see that you are holding up so well," Giles said to Sorkatani.

The Perfect Warrior's mouth twisted. "It is hard. I came close to falling into despair. How could Yoshimo betray me thus? Was he a doppelganger, and the real Yoshimo dead? He went about the city alone, unlike the rest of us save for the occasion of Viconia's adventure, and would have been vulnerable to such a substitution. Or had he lied to us all along, and his… affection for me been all part of a scheme to win our trust? Yet he gave the Ring of Gaxx to Dawn, perhaps at the risk of his life, and I take this as a sign. He is no doppelganger, and his friendship no mere lie or trick. Irenicus has some hold on him, it is clear, but there may be a way to break it."

"Could start by breaking the wizard's neck," Spike suggested. "That might work." Buffy and Minsc had wrestled his dislocated arms back into position, although at the cost of some considerable pain, and Spike was now fully restored to fighting fitness. "We ready to move out yet, Jabbress?"

"I believe so, abbil, if you are fully healed."

"Jabbress?" Imoen's puzzled frown was becoming a permanent feature. "Abbil?"

"Yeah, I'm good to go," Spike confirmed. He grinned. "Think we'd better start off by looking for some clothes for Willow before Minsc bursts out of his pants."

"Indeed so." Sorkatani's lips twitched into another brief half smile. "There are four staircases and nothing to show which one to take. I suspect that it does not matter and we shall have to explore all eventually." She pointed to the stairs that were on their right if they faced away from the entrance door. "I suggest that one first. Buffy?"

"Why not?" Buffy shrugged. "I'll take point, with Spike, 'kay?"

"I agree. In these circumstances there can be no doubt that you are our best fighter, and Spike our second," Sorkatani confirmed. "I shall follow immediately behind you. It is time to find out if I can still play the hero without Celestial Fury."

Imoen frowned yet again. "Celestial Fury?"

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

The monster that met them in the corridor at the top of the stairs was almost laughably easy to defeat. A single small humanoid, furry and foul-smelling, with long arms and bandy legs. Buffy delivered one kick and it died.

"A gibberling," Sorkatani identified it. "Do not drink from it, Spike. They can carry disease."

"Would have to be bloody starving before I'd eat anything that smelled like that bugger," Spike muttered.

"Was it defending this jar?" Buffy wondered, indicating a large pot behind where the corpse lay.

"I think not," Sorkatani said. "They are almost mindless creatures that live only to attack and feed. Investigating the jar would still be worthwhile, however. That _elg'caress_," she spat the word out, "claimed that there are weapons to be found here. She might have been lying but it is an avenue that we cannot risk failing to explore."

The pot did indeed hold weapons. A crossbow and some bolts. There was also a gem that, from its clarity and brilliance, they guessed to be a cut diamond.

"We should keep the diamond," Willow urged.

"Of course," Anya agreed. "It's valuable."

"Uh, that isn't exactly what I meant," Willow said. "Don't sell it without checking with me, okay?"

Sorkatani shrugged. "I doubt if there are merchants here. Irenicus did not bother to strip us of our gold in any event. He thought only of our means of defending ourselves. That which was in our packs is gone, true, but there should be enough in our purses for the necessities of life. We shall keep the gem, if you wish."

Spike was listening at a nearby door. "Something alive in there," he informed the party. "More of that sort, I think." He waved a hand in the direction of the gibberling's remains. "Might as well check it out, right?"

"Beware of traps," Sorkatani cautioned him. "Such weak opponents may be a lure to draw us into peril."

Spike nodded. "Good thinking, Jabbress. I'll watch it. Got the Danger Sense ring. Should be okay."

The five gibberlings within the room lasted barely five seconds. Buffy killed two, as did Spike, and the one that burst past them ran straight into a kick from Sorkatani that proved as savagely effective as those of the Slayer. Xander didn't even have time to raise his new crossbow.

"So far, so good," said Spike. "Prob'ly just intended to lull us into a false sense of security."

Buffy nodded. "We won't let it. Okay, people, standard drill. Check the place out and move on."

Barrels, boxes, and jars lined the walls of the room. Two rolls of carpet took up most of one corner. Buffy unrolled them. They contained, not Cleopatra, but a bow-stave and a spear.

"May I?" Jaheira held out her hand for the spear. Buffy passed it to her and the druid examined the weapon. "The workmanship is superb," she stated. "A blade of the finest steel and a shaft of ironwood. This may be a weapon of equal or superior worth to my Spear of the Unicorn. And yet," Jaheira continued, the corners of her mouth turning down, "it is well known that cursed spears exist. The dreaded Backbiters, which turn on their wielder in combat, for instance, and such powerful enchantment also would call for a skillfully crafted weapon. As Willow cannot Identify it for us I would be foolish to use it. A great pity."

"Hmm." Giles toyed with the strings of his guitar. "I might be able to do something about that. I need, however, something that resembles a toy cat."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

The barrels and boxes held arrows, a bowstring, sling bullets, throwing knives, and throwing hatchets. Minsc strung the bow and slung a quiver of arrows over his shoulder. Xander passed the crossbow to Anya and took up a pair of hatchets. Everyone but Tara acquired a throwing knife or two.

"Sling bullets, but no sling," Tara complained. "Maybe I could improvise one somehow."

"Read a book once where the hero rigged a sling out of his girlfriend's bikini bottoms," Spike suggested.

Tara tilted her head to one side and closed one eye. "No, I don't think they're the right shape," she decided. "And we don't have any spare clothes to cut up. Maybe a sling will turn up later. Or some cloth that's softer than carpet."

Jaheira was laboriously slicing through the carpet with the spear blade. The throwing knives had made no impression on the tough material and the spear, although razor sharp, was an unwieldy implement for such work.

Eventually she had cut out a reasonable approximation of a cat shape. "Will this do, a'mael?" she asked Giles.

"Excellent, my dear." Giles smiled at her. "I wonder, though, could I impose on you to cut out another section? Just a body, no need for legs or a tail. And then, perhaps, stitch it to the first section to form a bag?"

"If you think that it would help," Jaheira agreed, sighing, and bent again to the work.

"I shall make it up to you," Giles promised. He strummed a finger across his guitar strings. "Perhaps your favorite song to start with? It may lift all our spirits."

A smile came to Jaheira's lips for the first time since they had entered Spellhold. "That is a good thought, a'mael. Let's live it up."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

Willow was sitting on a barrel in the corner, her legs tightly together, but she began to swing them slightly as Giles struck up his tune. Tara walked over to her.

"We have to do something about getting you some clothes," Tara said.

"Well, yeah," Willow agreed. "I'm not seeing any around, though."

"Take my top," Tara suggested. "At least I have these breeches." She slipped her top over her head and held it out to Willow. She turned around, the top still in her hands, as she heard a strange sound.

It was a long, low, moan and it was coming from Minsc. As Tara turned, and gave him a clear view of her breasts in her lacy bra, the moan deepened. His eyes, already wide open, gaped even wider. Tara blushed. She started to raise the top as a shield but Willow chose that moment to reach out and take it from her.

Minsc was standing rigid and erect – uh, stiff and upright – uh, he was drawn up to his full height and he wasn't moving. Tara lowered her eyes. Willow's eyes flicked between Minsc and Tara. For a moment none of them moved or spoke.

"Boo says that I am being no gentleman," Minsc said at last. He removed the quiver from his shoulder, set it down, and pulled his tunic over his head. "This will serve as a dress for one of my two beautiful witches."

Willow clenched her teeth hard to stop herself from licking her lips. Years of swinging a two-handed sword, and trekking through the wilderness in forty pounds of plate armor, had given Minsc a body to die for. He didn't have the sculpted six-pack abs of a male model but he was a wall of solid muscle. Cordelia, had she been here, would probably have used the phrase 'salty goodness' to describe Minsc sans shirt. And, hey, Willow couldn't really disagree. She just hoped that she wasn't showing her appreciation clearly enough to upset Tara.

Tara couldn't stop herself from licking her lips. Years of swinging a two-handed sword, and trekking through the wilderness in forty pounds of plate armor, had given Minsc a body to die for. He didn't have the sculpted six-pack abs of a male model but he was a wall of solid muscle. Guys usually didn't do it for Tara – especially not muscular jock types, who in Tara's experience tended to be assholes – but Minsc was such a genuine all-around nice guy that he was bypassing all her defenses. And that muscular chest was broad enough for two girls at once to snuggle up against…

Both girls forced away their eyes. Willow swallowed hard, handed Tara's top back to its owner, and took the tunic from Minsc. "Thanks, Minsc," she said, and donned the tunic. She allowed herself to slip from the barrel and planted her feet on the floor. The tunic, which was just over hip length on Minsc, went down to mid-calf on Willow. Her arms were lost in the sleeves and she tucked the material up to leave her hands free.

"Ah," Minsc sighed, as Tara replaced her top, "now I will be able to concentrate on looking out for monsters, but the view is not as pleasant to my eyes as it was."

Tara glanced at Willow, saw the way that her lover's eyes were dwelling on Minsc's torso, and an impish smile came to her lips. "Turnaround is fair play," she said. "Now it's us who will be distracted from the monsters."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

Jaheira held up the completed carpet cat. "Will this serve?" she asked.

"Excellent, my dear," Giles said. "I should be able to achieve satisfactory results with that. Place it upon a barrel and set down the spear in front of it."

Jaheira obeyed his instructions and Giles took up his guitar again.

"Wait a minute," Anya put in. "Include all the things we've found. Some of these arrows or axes might be magical too."

"An excellent suggestion, Anya," Giles agreed. He waited while the others deposited their arrows, bow, crossbow, bolts, hatchets, knives, and the sling bullets in front of the barrel. "Is that everything?"

"We'd better include the gems," Willow suggested. She laid down the diamond and Anya added a large ruby that she had found.

"Then I'll begin." Giles picked out a simple tune on the guitar and chanted the magic words.

"_Bagpuss, dear Bagpuss,_

_Old fat furry cat-puss_

_Wake up and look at these things that I bring._

_Wake up, be bright, be golden and light,_

_Bagpuss oh hear what I sing_."

The crude carpet-bag cat seemed to inflate. It changed color, becoming pink and white, and eyes and whiskers appeared on its face. It yawned, revealing a hitherto unsuspected mouth, and stretched.

"Oh," said the cloth cat. "I say. A spear with an enchantment upon it. Rather well done, I think. As magically sharp as, for instance, Lilarcor or the Blade of Roses. No special powers, I'm afraid, but it's very good for poking people with."

"And the other items?" Giles prompted the cat.

"A bow and arrows," the cat went on. "One sheaf of arrows is enchanted too. Just the basic level, I'm afraid. Half of the crossbow bolts bear the same enchantment. One of the bags of sling bullets is the same, and one bag contains bullets with twice the magic, although the others are just normal pieces of cast lead. It's rather a shame that we don't have a sling, isn't it? Oh, yes, and the ruby is quite important. It's a key to a portal. Or rather one of a set of three keys to the portal."

"A way out of here?" Giles asked.

"I'm afraid not," the cat replied. "Rather the opposite, in fact. It's a gateway through which demons can access this dimension. However there is a bright side. Once you slay the demons you will be rewarded." The cat yawned again. "I'm beginning to feel rather sleepy." Its eyes closed.

"Rewarded? In what way?"

The question remained unanswered. The cat had fallen asleep. It did not transform back into its carpet form, however, but remained as a pink and white Bagpuss.

"Quite remarkable," Giles commented. "I didn't anticipate that particular effect."

"Cool," Dawn said. "That is just totally the cutest piece of carpet I ever saw."

"It is as I thought," Jaheira said. "The spear is indeed a mighty weapon. I claim it for my own, by right of having done the work of cutting out the carpet cat."

"You're probably the best with a spear out of all of us, so, yeah, I'm good with that," said Buffy. "Speaking of which, Sorkatani's the best with a bow. Shouldn't she have the bow instead of Minsc?"

"I'm only two inches taller than you," Sorkatani pointed out. "I totally couldn't use it from anywhere but the front row. Minsc can aim over our heads, no problem."

"Good point," Buffy agreed. "Okay, Minsc keeps the bow." She watched as everyone retrieved their weapons from the pile and Minsc examined the arrows to determine which ones were magical. "I guess it's time to move on."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

Warren frowned as he studied the screen. "So far, so good," he remarked, "but they have problems coming up. I didn't know they'd lost their spells. The bad guys are getting too damn smart."

"It's like they've read the Evil Overlord list," Jonathan agreed. "Well, not all the way through, they're still doing some of the ego-trip stuff, but they're sure rigging the odds in their favor."

"Maybe we ought to do a bit of rigging of our own," Warren suggested. He hit the space bar to pause the game. "We're not gonna have time to keep on reloading and giving the guys another shot at things that go wrong."

"Uh, I guess," Jonathan said, "but I don't know what we can do. We can't touch them at all, remember, and these days we can't even get into the game to place any objects."

"We can still access the inventories of monsters they haven't met yet," Warren said, "at least to some extent. I could change, like, the Rukh rakshasa's vanilla sword into something better."

"He'd use it on them," Jonathan objected.

"So I'll give him… the Bone Club," Warren answered the objection. He accessed Options and selected 'Save'. "It's not that powerful against humans, not enough to matter, but it would give them something they could use against the Undead. They're bound to meet the Rukh before they have to face the Lich. Without that club, or something like, they're in deep shit."

"Good point," Jonathan conceded, "but I have a bad feeling about messing with things too much. I always think that it's gonna come back and bite us on the ass."

Warren frowned. "I have that feeling too," he admitted, "but I have to do something. I'll keep it to a minimum. The Bone Club, and, hey, I'll dish out a few extra Mithral Tokens. It always bugged me that there aren't enough tokens to get the good stuff. They're gonna need that Jester's Chain, and the Boots of Speed, when Sorkatani goes all psycho Slayer on them."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

The next room that the party entered was full of statues. Each one held a bowl in its stone hands. A chest stood in the centre of the room. After examining the chest for possible traps they opened it and found a strange assortment of objects; a mirror, an hourglass, a pair of boots, a bottle of water, a small sundial, a skull, a statuette, and several medallions. There was also a note.

"_Heed this, inmate_," Sorkatani read out. "_The true test of madness is the simple measurement of the mind's precision. The cured shall be rewarded. The afflicted shall wander without recourse_." She glanced around the room. "There are words carved upon each statue," she observed. "No doubt puzzles that we must solve. My own opinion is that the true test of madness is whether or not you spend your time thinking up stupid puzzles and forcing others to solve them. Why didn't those Cowled Wizards just get a life?"

"Get a life?" Imoen frowned at Sorkatani. "You do not speak the way I remember. Are you really Sorkatani or is this but another vision brought to me by Irenicus as part of my torment?"

Sorkatani dropped the note back into the chest and hugged Imoen. "Do not fear, sister, it is indeed I. I have spent months with our new friends and have picked up some of their mannerisms of speech."

Willow examined one of the inscriptions. "_Two brothers are we_," she read. "_Great burdens we bear. All day we are bitterly pressed. Yet this I will say, we are full all the day, but empty when we go to rest_." Her brows furrowed briefly and then she smiled. "I know! It's the boots."

"I guess we have to put the things from the chest into the bowls, huh?" Dawn suggested.

"That seems logical," Giles agreed. He picked up the boots and deposited them in the appropriate statue's bowl. "What is the next riddle?"

A couple of minutes later all the bowls had been filled. The chest snapped shut and then re-opened.

Anya peered inside. "Two rather large gemstones," she reported. "That seems obscurely disappointing somehow. Even though I'm sure that they are worth money."

"There may be more to them," Giles said. "I shall ask Bagpuss."

The cloth cat announced that one gem was another portal key. The other was an Ioun stone, bearing a minor protective enchantment, and in other circumstances they would have regarded it as hardly more than a curiosity. In this situation it was a valuable asset. They allocated it to Buffy, as she would be the first into harm's way, and moved on.

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

So far this maze seemed far less dangerous than they had been led to believe. No-one dared to say so out loud, for fear of jinxing things, but it seemed almost too easy. The next room was more in accordance with Bodhi's description.

A tiger-headed humanoid, a rakshasa, dwelt within. He was surrounded by a retinue of mephits, imp-like elementals, and immediately commanded them to attack.

Minsc loosed shaft after shaft from his bow. Xander hurled axes. Throwing knives hissed through the air. The mephits faltered. Then the rakshasa cast a spell. A cloud of poisonous vapors billowed up around the adventurers and they retreated, coughing and choking, with the mephits in pursuit.

Spike was unaffected by the poison gas. He dodged the main body of the mephits and grabbed the last one of the bunch as it fluttered past. "Poison doesn't work on me," he chuckled as he twisted the mephit's neck. "You and me, pussy-face. Fists and fangs. Let's get it on." He faced the rakshasa and snarled a challenge.

The rakshasa snarled back at him and raised a club of carved bone. "You are facing your doom, vampire, yes indeed."

"No chance," Spike answered. He leaped forward and ran straight into a powerful blow that sent him crashing to the ground. He rolled away as the rakshasa followed up. It caught him with a kick that was nothing like as hard as the blow from the club had been. Spike regained his feet and went in for another attack. The club swept down. Spike attempted to block the blow but the impact left his arm numb and useless. Another swing connected with his temple and felled him once more.

"Bloody magic weapon," Spike growled as he scrambled away. "This could be harder than I thought."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

"Way to go, Warren," Jonathan commented. "You give a weapon with big pluses against the Undead to someone who's gonna fight Spike. Has it ever occurred to you that, considering you're a total genius, you can be pretty damn stupid sometimes?"

**Glossary of Drow words and phrases**

• 'zra'ha' = mentor

• 'elg'caress' = bitch

• 'Nind phuul vithin huend nind karliiken vir'ed' = They are fucking 'til their heads explode

Additional Disclaimer: _Bagpuss_ is the property of Peter Firmin, the late Oliver Postgate, and Smallfilms and is used without permission or intent to profit.


	49. Chapter 49

**Chapter Forty-nine**

Giles peered through the gas cloud. Spike appeared to be getting very much the worst of his fight with the rakshasa. Giles searched through his memory for a suitable song to turn the tide. _Cat Scratch Fever_, _Tiger Feet_, _I'm A Tiger_ – all seemed more likely to aid the rakshasa than to hinder it. Even Joni Mitchell's _Taming The Tiger_ had the refrain of '_You can't tame the tiger_'. Perhaps he could do something with the lines about '_Tiger, tiger, burning bright_'? Before he could collect his thoughts Sorkatani had acted.

"Hold on, Spike," she called. "I'm coming." She took a deep breath and charged through the gas cloud, breathing out as she went, and emerged on the far side with her eyes streaming but otherwise unharmed. The rakshasa turned away from Spike to face her. It lashed out at her head with the club.

Sorkatani swayed back away from the blow. The club brushed the tip of her nose but merely grazed the skin. She immediately went forward again and threw all her weight and strength into a punch to the rakshasa's abdomen. It doubled over, gasping for breath, and attempted to deliver a backhand strike with the club. Sorkatani chopped at its forearm with the side of her hand. The rakshasa's fingers opened and the club fell to the floor. Sorkatani brought the heel of her hand up under its chin and sent the creature stumbling backward across the room.

Spike seized it before it could regain its balance. "Right," he growled. "Let's see how hard you are without your magic bone." He bared his fangs and plunged them home.

Buffy burst out of the gas cloud and joined them. "Looks like you didn't need me," she said. "Nice technique."

"I learned from the best," Sorkatani said. "The mephits?"

"Those imp things? All dead." Buffy glanced back at the cloud of gas. "Nobody can dispel that thing now. I guess all we can do is wait for it to go away." She looked at Spike, who was slamming the rakshasa's head against the stone floor, and raised her eyebrows. "Uh, Spike, he's dead. You can stop now."

Spike gave the corpse one last blow. "Fucking bitch," he growled under his breath. "Yeah, okay. 'S not really helping anyway."

Buffy had heard his first comment. "What have I done now?"

Spike raised his head and looked into her eyes. "Not you, Slayer. That fucking Bodhi." He lowered his eyes again. "S'ppose you prob'ly feel about the same as I do, yeah?"

Buffy grimaced. "Yeah. Sorry."

The gas cloud had dissipated by this time and the rest of the group entered the room and joined them. Willow looked at an archway at the far end of the room. The stone of the arch was inscribed with runes, and the space between its columns was a blank darkness, a door into nothingness, "I guess that's the magic portal that Bagpuss mentioned," she said. "We need three keys, he said, and we only have two."

"I suggest that we leave it alone for the time being," Giles said. "We can return when we have the third gem."

"I'm good with that," Buffy agreed.

Tara frowned at the battered and bloodied corpse of the rakshasa. "I don't think its robes would be much use for Willow now," she said.

"Bugger. Didn't think, abbil," Spike said.

"Hey, it's okay," said Willow. "Don't worry about it."

"I might be able to make a sling out of its sash," Tara went on. She bent to retrieve the silken garment.

Imoen stared at the corpse and shuddered. "Is that not a rakshasa?" she asked, sounding more alert and aware of her surroundings than she had done since they had entered the labyrinth. "They can be slain only by a blessed crossbow bolt, or so I have read."

"Looks pretty dead to me, pet," Spike said.

"Death can be beautiful," Imoen said. Her eyes seemed to focus on something invisible to the others. "That's what he said. When he hurt me." Sorkatani rushed to Imoen and folded her in an embrace.

"We killed one down in the sewers," Xander reminisced. "I had the Sword of Chaos, and Buffy had… did you have the Blade of Roses then, Buff? I don't remember."

"I'm not sure. I think maybe not," Buffy said. "I remember we killed it without blessing any crossbow bolts."

"I suppose that it might have recovered after we had left the area," Anya said. "There's no point in taking chances. Tara, could you do a blessing?" She held out her crossbow.

Tara pulled the sash free of the rakshasa's body. "I suppose it wouldn't do any harm," she agreed. "Mielikki, Lady of the Forest, I bless this crossbow bolt in your name."

"Thanks." Anya aimed the crossbow and pulled the trigger. The bolt hit the corpse and embedded itself in the flesh without causing any reaction whatsoever. "Better safe than sorry," Anya said. She looked around the room. "There doesn't seem to be anything in here other than the portal," she said. "Let's move on."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

Further along the corridor they came to a room with carved stone heads on all its walls. It was another riddle room. This one threatened pain to those who answered incorrectly, with a reward on offer once all riddles had been solved, but they felt that they had no option but to take the challenge.

"_Alive as you but without breath, as cold in my life as in my death; never a thirst though I always drink, dressed in a mail but never a clink_." Buffy frowned. "I don't get it."

"You never read 'The Hobbit'?" Willow's eyebrows arched upward.

"The answer is 'fish', Buffy," Dawn told her sister. "We had the book," she said to Willow. "I totally thought that Buffy had read it too. I guess she reached the description of hobbits having hairy feet, decided that there weren't going to be any shoes in the book, and gave up."

"Hey, I read it," Buffy said. "I just don't remember all the details. There was a ring, and a dragon, and dwarves. And a guy who turned into a bear. Whatever. Anyway, answer this one, smart guys. _Of all your possessions, I am the hardest to guard. If you have me, you will want to share me. If you share me, you no longer have me_."

The accumulated wisdom of the party solved all of the riddles without difficulty and a Ring of Regeneration was the reward. They moved on.

To face another fight. This time a party of yuan-ti snakemen were the opponents, waiting for them in the corridor, and brandishing swords as they slithered to the attack.

They were no match for Buffy, Sorkatani, and Spike, even without the back-up from missile weapons, and fell like ninepins.

Until a mage amongst the yuan-ti cast a spell of Confusion upon Buffy.

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

"Do something!" Spike yelled. "Can't hold her much longer."

Spike clung to one of Buffy's arms, exerting all his strength, and Sorkatani held the other. The Slayer was struggling with all her might and both of them had been slammed against the walls more than once. Minsc lay unconscious on the floor nearby.

"Confusion, confusion," Giles muttered. "Ah! I think I have it."

"_There must be some kind of way out of here_

_Said the Joker to the Thief_

_There's too much confusion_

_But I can give you relief_."

His modification of the lyrics to 'All Along The Watchtower' was successful.

"Hey!" Buffy complained. "Get off me. What are you doing?"

Spike and Sorkatani released her. "Yeah, right, no thanks necessary," Spike grumbled.

"You were the victim of a Confusion spell," Giles informed his Slayer.

"When I went crazy like that they totally took the Giant Strength girdle away from me," Dawn complained. "Even though it so wasn't my fault. Nobody's going to take away Buffy's Slayer strength."

"Don't even joke about that," Buffy said. "You think Irenicus wouldn't take it if he could?" She saw Minsc on the floor. "Oops. Did I do that?"

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

A deadly and impassible trap forced them to retrace their steps and ascend another staircase. There Buffy fought a clay golem with only her bare hands and won.

It had guarded a treasure room that contained magical arrows, magical darts, and magical crossbow bolts. There was also a Bag of Holding, a spell scroll, and the third key to the demon portal.

"So, what do you say, guys?" Buffy asked. "Do we go back and fight demons to get some kind of reward at the end? Or is it just a big waste of time."

"We won some pretty useful things just for answering dumb riddles," Dawn said. "We have to get something good for fighting demons. Don't we?"

Buffy pursed her lips. "You tell me. The whole idea of this place seems kinda warped to me. It could be that all we win is a teddy bear."

"Or a goldfish in a plastic bag," said Giles. "I think that we have no option but to find out, however. We are still rather poorly equipped compared to when we entered Spellhold."

"I agree," said Sorkatani. "Let us do this."

They returned to the room in which they had fought the rakshasa. The portal opened as soon as it was touched. The creature that stepped forth was roughly humanoid in form but covered in fur. Its head was that of a wolf. It wasted no time before opening its jaws and attacking.

The struggle was hard and brutal. The monster regenerated almost as fast as they could damage it. Eventually Spike, who would be immune to lycanthropy if the creature was a werewolf, clung onto its muzzle while Buffy and Sorkatani pinned its limbs. Jaheira drove her spear into the humanoid's chest and reached the heart.

Spike examined the deep fang gouges that marred his forearm. "My turn for the Ring of Gaxx," he said. "Hope we're right about be being immune. Being a vampire werewolf would be a bit of a bugger."

"It was a Greater Wolfwere," Sorkatani said. "I was not sure before, but now that I can look at it more closely I can be certain. Their bite carries no such risk." She frowned. "They can recover even from seeming death. Only gold kills them permanently."

"Not a problem," Spike said. He forced a gold coin down the wolfwere's throat. "That should do it." He scowled at his hands. "And now I'm covered in wolfwere slobber. Could do with there being somewhere to wash and brush up in this place."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

The fight against the next creature, a winged fiend, was even tougher. By the time they brought it down both Spike and Xander lay unconscious and bleeding on the floor.

"I wonder if we are doing the right thing," Giles mused. "Another fight like that could easily cost us a life. Is it worth the risk just to obtain some unspecified reward?"

"I'm not giving up now after all this effort," Buffy declared. "As soon as they're up and ready to rock again I say go for it. It's a good thing we have the Ring of Gaxx. The new ring is nothing like as good."

"Indeed, we must be grateful for the Ring of Gaxx," Sorkatani agreed. "I hope that Yoshimo is not suffering for his action."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

There was no third battle. Instead of a demon it was a genie that entered through the portal. His hands held, not a weapon, but a suit of armor.

"The stone commands, and I obey," the genie said. "This armor is the gift to those of sound mind. A puzzle, a riddle, a reward. Thusly was my home built and I have fulfilled my duties. You are doing well, Sorkatani and Buffy." He set the armor down on the floor, stepped back into the portal, and disappeared.

"Why did he only mention you two?" Anya complained. "Aren't the rest of us contributing?"

"I fail to see what purpose would be served by the genie reciting the entire list of our names," Giles said. "I'm sure that he meant to imply us all."

"Sorkatani and Buffy and Friends," Anya said. "That wouldn't have taken long."

"This had better be magic armor after all we went through to get it," Buffy said. "Get that Bagpuss thing to check it out, Giles."

Giles obeyed. The cloth cat revealed that the armor was the famous Doomplate, bearing three levels of enchantment, but with a tragic history. All who had worn it had died shortly after donning it for the first time.

"Then again," Bagpuss concluded, "most adventurers die early in their career anyway. It might be coincidence." The cat yawned and became an inanimate toy once again.

"I am willing to take that chance," Minsc said. "I yearn to be clad in full plate once again. Full plate and packing steel, that is the right state for a warrior."

"Be my guest, big guy," said Xander. "Unless Sorkatani…?"

"I am content without armor," Sorkatani said. "Until we have magical weapons enough to go around I shall fight mainly with my hands. Steel armor would hamper my moves."

"I guess it's all yours, then, Minsc," Buffy said.

The giant warrior donned the armor's leather lining and then fastened the steel plates in place.

"Goodbye, eye candy," said Tara. Willow giggled.

Buffy frowned. She moved to the side of the room and gestured to summon the two girls. "What is all this?" she asked in a low voice. "I couldn't help noticing both of you drooling over Minsc. Aren't you, like, gay any more?"

"Minsc is nice," said Tara. "And I can look without it meaning that I'm going to touch."

"Gay Now, not Blind Now," Willow added.

"Yeah, right." Buffy shook her head and walked away.

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

That was the last occasion for levity for a while. The trek through the maze became a constant succession of grim battles. They fought umber hulks and minotaurs in a room that led to a doorway in the shape of a head. Attempts to open the door resulted only in the head delivering a cryptic message about a 'power crystal' and 'the hand of the builder' being required before the door could be opened. They gave up the attempt and ransacked the room, discovering a valuable scroll of Delayed Blast Fireball, and then moved on.

Beyond another staircase they fought kobolds, who would have posed no challenge at all to them in other circumstances, but whose fire arrows inflicted several nasty wounds on their unarmored opponents before they fell. Umber hulks, yet again, this time in a trapped room that locked half of the party in with the monsters while the others could only wait helplessly for the battle to end. A party of mummies, which pressed them hard for a time, before eventually falling to the Delayed Blast Fireball scroll. A series of creatures summoned by a magical book; beginning with a single kobold, easily slain, but concluding with a beholder, which was defeated only in brutal close-quarters fighting in which magic counted for little and sheer savage persistence won the day.

Further on they encountered a powerful group of the Undead. A mummy, faster and stronger than those they had faced earlier, two skeleton warriors, a skeletal golem with razor-edged bone scythes at the ends of its arms, and, most to be feared, a lich. That turned into a frantic and desperate fighting retreat through fifty yards of corridor and back into the labyrinth's entrance hall.

Anya was frozen by a Symbol of Stun and Xander swept her up and carried her over his shoulder. Minsc and Imoen were ensnared by Maze spells. The lich wasted a Power Word Kill spell on Spike as he rained savage blows upon it with the Bone Club. At last the lich shattered under Spike's onslaught, Buffy smashed the bone golem, and Giles was able to gain the time and space that he needed to set the mummy on fire with a song by the Crazy World of Arthur Brown.

All the time they were accumulating equipment. A few kobold fire arrows. A pair of short-swords with basic enchantments on the blades. A Ring of Free Action. A suit of chain mail, slightly enchanted, that served to provide Xander with some protection. A magical great-sword, seized upon with glee by Minsc, although its enchantment paled into insignificance compared to that of Lilarcor. A crystal shard, declared by Bagpuss to be the power crystal that was necessary to open the exit door, but which had no effect when they retraced their steps and tried to use it. A magical quarterstaff. And several spell scrolls.

The scrolls were of surprisingly little use. There was a Simulacrum scroll, which would have enabled Willow or Imoen to create a duplicate of themselves with two thirds of their magical ability, but as neither of them had the power to cast a single spell the duplicate would have been equally helpless. Project Image, a more powerful variation of the same principle, and just as useless. A Summon Fiend scroll; similarly useless as the fiend would turn on the caster without a Protection From Evil spell in place, and no such spell was available. There were other scrolls, and some did good service in their fights, but the most powerful spells could only be stored up for use at some later time.

And then, eventually, they faced a vampire.

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

A rather pathetic vampire, in fact, with spectacles perched on his nose and wearing the tattered remnants of Cowled Wizard robes. "Did Bodhi send you here to kill me?" he asked, "or are you as damned as I am?"

"Reminds me of Dalton," Spike muttered. He put a hand on Buffy's arm. "Let me have a word with him, Slayer," he said, and then stepped forward. "Bitch locked us in here, mate," Spike addressed the vampire. "Same as you, I reckon. Know how to get out of this place?"

"I created this maze," the vampire replied. "There is no way out but by my hand. I hid the crystal. The kobolds worship it, you know, the foolish creatures. All who enter here are damned. We must battle for her amusement."

"Better to battle against her," Spike said. "That bitch is going down. Got a feeling you aren't any fonder of her than we are. Give us a hand and we won't kill you."

"Give us a hand? Hah! Only by my hand," the vampire cackled. "We are her puppets. Her toys. She plays with us as a cat plays with a mouse. There is no way out now. She will kill you or you will starve. As I am starving." His face contorted. "Blood. I must have blood." The vampire launched himself toward Buffy.

Spike caught him in mid-leap and restrained the other vampire with ease. "Don't stake him, Slayer," he advised. "Chop his hands off first."

Buffy hesitated. "Chop his hands off? That's, like, cruel."

"Of course!" Giles exclaimed. "The hand of the builder. Excellent work, Spike. Do as he suggests, Buffy."

"Eww," Buffy mumbled, but she took one of the short-swords and obeyed. The vampire cried out in pain and struggled in Spike's grasp. Buffy took out a stake and thrust it through the captive vampire's heart.

"Okay, so what do we do with them?" Buffy asked, as the white vapor cloud of the vampire's body drifted away toward a coffin.

"Stick them in the recess beside that stone head," Spike said. "Should open the door, if I'm right."

"Oh, right." Buffy picked up the macabre trophies.

"Better finish this bloke off," Spike said. "Think he's totally round the twist but he could still be dangerous to some other bugger later." He ripped off the lid from the coffin and plunged a stake into the corpse that lay within.

The body crumbled to dust. As it disintegrated a spectral form appeared above the dust. "I thank you," it said. "I am free in death." The ghostly apparition dissipated.

Spike swayed and clutched at the rim of the coffin. "Thank you," he echoed in a voice that seemed filled with anguish. "Oh God."

"What is it?" Buffy enquired. "Something wrong?" She bit her lip. Spike had lost Viconia, and, though she felt pain at her own lover's passing, she was sure that Spike's feelings for Viconia ran much deeper than did her affection for Anomen.

"Nothing," Spike replied, and turned away. "Nothing at all."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

The vampire's hand was indeed the key that opened the door. Unfortunately it did not lead out of the maze but only to another level. Yet more traps, riddles, and monsters lay beyond.

By now everyone was bone weary. Buffy paused at the end of a fight against trolls to look at her watch. "It will be dark outside by now," she said. "He could be rising any time."

"Then we must press on," Giles said, "or else prepare to face Bodhi."

Buffy bit her lip and then shook her head. "We can't face her. Not with what we have. She's as strong and fast as Glory and a whole lot smarter. The only edge we have is her ego and that's not gonna be enough. Not with us having no spells and hardly any protections."

"I do not know this 'Glory'," Sorkatani said, "but I agree that we must avoid facing Bodhi if at all possible. Not only is she formidable herself but her followers are powerful in their own right. Their mage, Tanova, held Willow at bay for some time – and I now believe that they had no intention of defeating us in the crypt."

"Yeah, they threw that fight," Buffy agreed. "The whole staking thing was a set-up. I guess she had a body double."

Sorkatani smiled slightly. "Your wit lightens my heart." She sighed. "And it was in sore need of lightening, for our position is grim, but I will not allow myself to become disheartened. Let us be on our way once more."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

They slew minotaurs, yuan-ti, trolls, wolfweres, an umber hulk twice the size of any they had faced before, a mind flayer, and an evil genie. Many of the monsters were carrying strange metal tokens, resembling crude coins, and more tokens cropped up in jars and chests throughout the maze. The party collected them as a matter of course. The logic of this maze indicated that there had to be some reason for the tokens' presence and, even if there was no reward to be won, the metal pieces were light in weight and took up little space. There was nothing to lose.

And, eventually, they found out that there was much to gain.

By that time Sorkatani had a katana again, and a fine blade into the bargain; Malakar, the Dueling Steel, endowed with specific enchantments to aid in parrying an opponent's blows. Xander now wielded a mighty great-sword, the Flame of the North, which was almost the equal of Lilarcor.

Weapons that had been paid for in blood. Sorkatani had suffered a slash across her arm that had laid it open to the bone. Xander had been stunned by the mind-flayer and temporarily reduced to babbling idiocy. Three clay golems had broken Buffy's left arm and right cheekbone, cracked at least one of Minsc's ribs, and stretched Spike unconscious on the floor before the last of them went down. The magical rings healed all of the injuries but much precious time passed, even with both the rings in use, before the party members were all fit to continue.

Eventually they stumbled into a room containing yet another clay golem. Buffy's arm was still in a sling, and Minsc bit back a wince every time he drew a deep breath, but they fell upon the golem as ferociously as did the others. It landed only one punch, knocking out Spike yet again, before it shattered into pieces under a rain of blows.

The room beyond the golem contained a strange machine. Cogs and gears protruded from a stone housing. An operating lever of inch-thick steel was mounted on the machine's side.

"What on Earth – sorry, on Toril – is that thing?" Giles wondered.

"A printing press?" Buffy suggested. "Maybe Xander can start producing comic books here after all."

"If I can get over a couple of little hurdles, maybe, like that I totally suck at drawing and I can't remember any of the origin story-lines well enough to put them over," Xander said.

"It's not a printing press," Willow said. "There's a coin slot and a chute. It's a vending machine. Or maybe gambling."

A notice on the machine confirmed her deduction. It was indeed a vending machine and, according to the description, it dispensed shoes.

"Must be shoesday," said Buffy. "Let's see what it has to offer. Insert five, ten, fifteen, or twenty tokens. How many do we have?"

A quick count turned up thirty-eight of the tokens. "The best thing should cost the most," Willow suggested. "Suppose we start with the twenty, and then the fifteen? Or we could do the twenty, the ten, and the five."

"Twenty, then fifteen," Buffy agreed. "There's still a door further along that we haven't been through. We might find a few more tokens later. We could always come back – or maybe not." She pulled off the sling, as the Ring of Gaxx had now healed her arm completely, and glanced at her watch again. "We'll take what we get and move." She fed twenty of the metal discs into the slot and pulled the lever.

The machine whirred, groaned, and shot forth a large metallic object. Buffy raised her eyebrows. "If those are shoes they're for, like, totally weird feet," she said. "It looks like chain mail. Only, hey, I've never seen armor in colors like those."

Xander unfolded the armor. "Yep, a chain shirt," he confirmed. "In green and pink and blue? For someone who takes 'fashion victim' too literally, I guess."

"I'll ask Bagpuss for his opinion," Giles said.

"Hold on a second," Buffy said, and fed in another fifteen tokens. She pulled the lever once more. This time the machine disgorged a pair of boots. "That's more like it," she said. "Okay, unleash the talking cat."

The fat furry cat-puss woke up, and stretched, and opened his eyes wide. "Remarkable," he said. "The armor of Dekirh Fast-hands. He was a bard who played in some of the roughest dives on the Sword Coast. The patrons used to throw things at the stage. Not just fruit and the occasional vegetable, or money, but chairs, knives, even axes. His friends had this armor made for him to help him survive those, ah, gigs. It's extremely heavily enchanted. Even more so than the Doomplate. Rather gaudy, of course, but then he was a bard."

"I guess that makes this yours," Buffy told Giles.

Giles raised a finger to the bridge of his nose and adjusted the position of his glasses. "It's certainly, ah, colorful," he said. "I suppose I can put up with the, ah, spectacle in the interests of being well protected."

"And the boots?" Buffy prompted the cat.

"Boots of Speed," Bagpuss replied. "The wearer can almost keep pace with a galloping horse." He yawned and collapsed into his inanimate form.

"So, who gets the boots?" Xander was the first to pose the question.

"Dawn," Buffy stated immediately. She used simple logic to quell any possible objections. "Spike's the fastest runner, me next, then Sorkatani, so none of us get them. As for the rest of you – would you run away and leave Anya, Xander? Would she leave you? Minsc wouldn't desert his witches. Giles and Jaheira would stay together, right? It should be Dawn."

Dawn raised her head and stuck out her chin. "I'm not running away from anyone."

"You'll run from Bodhi if she comes for you," Buffy ordered. "If we lose. Get out, get clear. Sime should help you get off the island. Get Nalia. Get Korgan, if he's not drunk in an alley. Get Sir Ryan Trawl, Valley Girl, Aran Linvail, that tough halfling girl, Hendak, Bernard – everybody who owes us anything. And put that bitch down."

"Oh," said Dawn. "That's different. Yeah. I can do that."

Sorkatani moved close to Buffy and spoke in a low voice. "I am fond of Dawn too, but I would have wanted the boots for Imoen. However she is… not herself. It might not occur to her to run. You are right to give them to Dawn."

Buffy swallowed. "Uh, Sorkatani – you don't think that Imoen might be, uh, a doppelganger?"

Sorkatani shook her head. "I did fear that, for a while, and I asked Spike to check. He assures me that she smells right. She is just… damaged." She sighed. "Irenicus had her in his power for a long time. Tormenting her to bring forth the Bhaalspawn taint. I could have spared her that. We delayed to gain power and weapons that would enable to defeat Irenicus – and all for nothing. He took them all from us. We are in no better case than if we had rushed here as soon as we had gained sufficient funds to pay the Shadow Thieves for our passage."

Buffy shook her head. "Don't blame yourself. I pushed for the delay too, and hey, we were right. If we'd come here two months ago we wouldn't have stood a chance in this place. We're all better fighters than we were then. Plus, the one thing that's really getting us through it is the Ring of Gaxx."

"Indeed," Sorkatani said. She gave a smile that didn't reach her eyes. "And Bagpuss."

"That too," Buffy said. She saw that Spike had regained consciousness but was still sitting on the floor rubbing his jaw. "Your turn for the ring, I guess," she said, and slipped the Ring of Gaxx from her finger. Minsc was wearing the lesser Ring of Regeneration and was recovering from his injury, although slowly, and so Buffy handed the more powerful item over to Spike. As she did so she heard Xander speaking behind her.

"There's something else you have to do if you get out and we don't," Xander said to Dawn. "Warn Anomen's dad."

Buffy spun around. "What's that?"

"It's obvious, Buff. The first thing Anomen is gonna do when he gets back to Athkatla is kill his father."

Buffy gritted her teeth. "Damn. You're right. Will? Any chance you can do the resouling spell?"

Willow shook her head. "I dunno, Buff. This world might not even have an equivalent of an Orb of Thesulah. And the incantation isn't geared up for the right gods. Maybe there might be some way but, hey, it's gonna take a whole lot of study. All I can say is it wouldn't be any time soon."

"Damn," Buffy said again, and sighed. She drew herself up to her full height and thrust out her jaw. "I'm gonna have to kill him."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

"_I don't want anybody else_," Bodhi sang.

"_When I think about you I touch myself…_"

Spike snarled and went into game face. Hearing Bodhi singing a song that Viconia had performed almost made him see red and charge blindly into the attack. Sorkatani laid a hand on his forearm and gave it a gentle squeeze. Spike managed to regain control of himself and moved sideways to allow those behind him to enter the room.

Bodhi ran a finger along her groin, raised it to her lips, and licked it lasciviously. "Hello, my pretty mousies," she greeted the party. "Surprised to see me ahead of you? Well, I told you I was coming in after you. I didn't say from which end."

Anomen stood beside her. He was still wearing his red dragon armor. He raised the Hammer of Thunderbolts and bared his fangs at Buffy. "Your blood will be sweeter than your love juices," he said. "I shall drink you dry."

"Get used to disappointment," Buffy said. She scanned the room and the opposition. It was a large chamber, dominated by a statue of a minotaur with the horns missing, and there was a door on each wall. Bodhi stood in the center of the room with Anomen to her right. To her left stood Tolgerias, who Buffy vaguely remembered having met when he was alive and a Cowled Wizard, with a nondescript fledgling vampire in the garb of a Shadow Thief beyond him. To Anomen's right was Lassal, brandishing Lilarcor, and Tanova. Buffy had a vague feeling that someone was missing but she couldn't pin it down.

There was no point in trying to run from Bodhi. It would just ensure that the slower members of the party were picked off first. No point in retreating back into the corridor and defending a narrow point, not when the vampires had all the spells; they might as well do this thing right here. Buffy waited for her friends to finish filing out into the room and spreading out into a fighting line. "Okay, elg'caress," she said, using the Drow term for 'bitch' in tribute to the fallen Viconia, "Bring it on."

"Evil, meet my sword," Minsc roared. "Sword, meet Evil." Despite his words he was holding a longbow with a fire arrow nocked to the string.

"Yeah," said Xander. He raised the Flame of the North. "Let's show this prehistoric bitch how we do things downtown."

Bodhi laughed. "I'm gonna make you mine," she sang. "Valen! Do it."

No human could have detected the faint whisper of sound. Spike wasn't human. He sidestepped and spun around all in one move. The stake aimed at the middle of his back missed by inches and carved a gouge along his side.

Valen, Bodhi's little messenger girl. Lurking invisible until the moment came to strike. She was wearing Spike's dragon-skin reinforced Armor of Deep Night. Spike snarled and smashed the Bone Club into her face. She reeled back against the wall. Spike followed up by slamming her head against the stone, seized her, and began to forcibly divest her of the armor.

Sorkatani closed with Tanova and slashed with her new katana. Lassal struck at Sorkatani with Lilarcor.

"Hey, I don't want to hit Sorkatani," the intelligent sword protested. "She's Minsc's friend." Lilarcor had no need to fear. Sorkatani parried with ease and riposted, driving her blade through Lassal's chest, and then aimed another cut at Tanova. A Stoneskin prevented the katana blow from doing significant harm but the vampire hissed in frustration as the spell that she was casting was disrupted.

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

Giles' mind was racing. There was no point in using the Crazy World of Arthur Brown song against the vampires. Bodhi had mentioned something like that earlier, she was clever, and she was bound to have taken precautions. The party's stock of Fire Resistance rings and potions, taken from them by Irenicus, would be enough in themselves to give the vampires all the protection they would need. Even as he dismissed the idea Minsc's fire arrow thudded into Tolgerias and went out immediately. All it achieved was to distract the vampire wizard for a moment and cause a spell to misfire.

Giles spent a second considering the idea of boosting Buffy's powers with the song that would unite her with himself, Xander, and Willow. No, not a good idea. Without Willow's magic the Union would be weakened, not all that much more powerful than Buffy on her own, and it would leave three members of the group helpless. But there might be something else that he could do along those lines…

"_Extraordinarily nice, she's a killer_," he began. "_Queen…_"

Bodhi snatched the Hammer of Thunderbolts from Anomen's hand and threw it. The weapon hit the guitar, shattered it to matchwood, and continued on to smash into Giles chest. He was thrown backward, bounced from the wall, and fell on his face. "Oh, I do hope he's not dead," Bodhi purred. "I wanted to bring him into the family."

Buffy sprang at her and Bodhi leaped to meet the Slayer in mid-air. There was a flurry of blows too quick for a normal eye to follow and then Buffy fell to the ground. Blood was pouring from her nose and her left eye was swollen shut.

Bodhi landed lightly on her feet. "Don't just stand there," she said to Anomen. "Kill somebody."

"You took my hammer," he complained.

Bodhi rolled her eyes. "Use your fangs, you idiot."

A crossbow bolt from Anya bounced from Anomen's armor. He growled and charged at her. Xander intercepted him and hacked with the Flame of the North. Anomen blocked with his shield and struck back.

Jaheira ran at Bodhi, teeth bared, her spear aimed straight at the vampire's heart. Bodhi caught the spear with both hands and stopped Jaheira's rush dead. Bodhi wrenched hard, sending Jaheira stumbling away, and pulled the spear from the druid's hands. Bodhi twirled the spear to reverse it and then threw it at Willow.

Willow was in the middle of reading a spell from a scroll when the spear hit her just below the ribs. It pierced her through the body and pinned her to the wall. She didn't even cry out, just clutched at the spear shaft for a brief moment, and then her body went limp. She flopped forward, her arms hung slack at her sides, and her head lolled. Blood ran along the spear and dripped onto the floor.

Tara screamed. She dropped her improvised sling and tugged at the spear. "The ring!" she cried. "Who has the ring?"

Minsc bellowed in rage. "My witch!" He tossed aside his bow and drew sword. "Death! Death to you all!" He whirled the sword around his head and rushed at the nearest target, who happened to be Tolgerias.

Jaheira's face contorted in an inhuman snarl. Her body twisted and changed shape. Where a half-elf girl had stood now there was a huge brown bear. She lunged at Bodhi.

"I must say this is rather exciting," the vampire said. She spun on her heel and lashed out with a kick that caught the bear under the chin and lifted it bodily into the air. Jaheira hit the ground heavily, changed back into half-elf form, and lay still.

Buffy climbed to her feet. The fledgling vampire pounced upon her. Buffy punched him twice in the face and then drove a stake through his heart.

Spike pulled the Armor of Deep Night over Valen's head and kicked her back into the middle of the room. "I've got the ring," he called to Tara. He dropped the armor, sprinted over to the dreadfully injured Willow, and tugged out the spear to free her. Blood gushed from the wound and he winced. He lowered her gently into Tara's arms, pulled the Ring of Gaxx from his finger and handed it to Tara, and then rushed back to the discarded Armor of Deep Night.

Sorkatani was holding her own against both Tanova and Lassal, successfully keeping Tanova from casting any spells, and parrying every blow that Lassal delivered. She seemed even faster and stronger than she had been in the previous battle at Bodhi's lair.

Bodhi clicked her tongue against the roof of her mouth. "Do I have to do everything myself?" she complained. She streaked across the room and caught Sorkatani's sword arm. "You are supposed to be fading away and dying," Bodhi said. She wrenched hard, pulled the katana from Sorkatani's fingers, and tossed it away. "Didn't you read the script? Still, I can make it happen." She punched Sorkatani and sent her staggering back into the middle of the room. "Oh, our little Imoen's still alive too, I see. I'll have to do something about that."

Sorkatani's form seemed to blur and shift. For an instant she had fangs, scales, and claws, but then, even before gasps of horror could escape from the lips of Dawn and Imoen, she transformed again.

Now she was dark of skin, as dark as Valygar, and naked but for a scrap of fur from some wild beast. White clay was daubed across her forehead and in a stripe across her nose and cheeks. Her hair hung in matted dreadlocks and a necklace of animal teeth was around her neck.

"Sineya," Buffy whispered. "But how?"

Bodhi drew back slightly. "Interesting," she remarked. "I don't see quite what it's intended to achieve, but it's certainly making your death entertaining." Her pause was only momentary and then she hurled herself toward Sorkatani again.

Sorkatani met her with a backhand blow that lifted Bodhi from her feet and tossed her back against the chamber wall. "I am destruction," Sorkatani said. "Absolute and alone." She rotated her hand and a stake appeared in it.

Valen rushed in with fangs bared. Sorkatani delivered a single stake thrust to the heart and Valen exploded into white mist. Sorkatani turned her head, her eyes locked upon a new target, and she lunged again.

Straight at Spike.

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

Disclaimer: song lyrics quoted in this chapter come from '_All Along the Watchtower_', written by Bob Dylan, and famously performed by Jimi Hendrix; '_I Touch Myself'_ by Divinyls, and '_Killer Queen_' by Queen. They are quoted without permission and with no claims to ownership or intent to profit from the use.


	50. Chapter 50

**Chapter Fifty**

Spike raised the Armor of Deep Night as a shield against Sorkatani's thrust. It almost worked. It kept the stake from penetrating his chest, and saved him from dusting, but the sheer power behind the blow slammed the dragon-hide into him and sent him reeling back until he crashed into the wall. Sorkatani was on him before he could recover. She kicked the armor from his hands and raised the stake again.

Dawn streaked across the room, making full use of the Boots of Speed, and grabbed at Sorkatani's arm. "Stop!" Dawn shrieked. She was jerked from her feet as Sorkatani, or Sineya, brought her stake down with irresistible force.

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

Tolgerias saw Minsc charging towards him and quailed at the berserk fury in the barbarian's eyes. Minsc shrugged off a Power Word Stun without even slowing down and Tolgerias had to leap away frantically to avoid the swinging greatsword. He aimed a wand and activated the device. Three ogres materialized in front of him and immediately raised their clubs to attack Minsc. He roared out his battle-cry and swung his sword. The blade bit deep into an ogre's leg, cleaving the flesh and fracturing the femur, and the monstrous humanoid toppled. Minsc stepped over the crippled ogre and lashed out at Tolgerias once more.

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

Buffy decided that Tanova posed the greatest threat to the party and made for the vampire mage at top speed. Tanova pointed a finger and a ray of green light shone forth. It struck the Slayer and her clothes turned to dust. Shreds of cloth fell away from her back and the stake in her hand crumbled into powder. Buffy was left completely naked save for her boots, and unarmed, but otherwise unscathed. She kept on coming. Tanova's eyes widened and she leaped backward and away.

Lassal moved to intercept Buffy and he swung Lilarcor at her head. She ducked under the blow, noticing as she did so that Lassal was wearing a pair of very familiar gauntlets, and kicked the vampire in the stomach. He staggered back several paces and collided with the base of the Minotaur statue. Buffy turned back towards Tanova, who had used the respite to surround herself with Mirror Images, and punched the nearest form. It disappeared. Another vanished as a crossbow bolt from Anya struck it. Buffy made for the next figure and kicked it out of existence.

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

Sorkatani's stake touched Spike's chest… and stopped. She turned her head and looked at Dawn. "Sister," she said. "Yours?"

"Okay, totally creeping me out here," Dawn said. "Uh, yeah. He's, uh, like my brother." Her eyes suddenly became huge circles. "Tani! Look out!"

Her warning was too late. Bodhi seized Sorkatani from behind. "You _hurt_ me, you bitch," Bodhi hissed. "It looks as if we missed some of your power. I'm taking it now." She plunged her fangs into the side of Sorkatani's neck.

Sorkatani reached up with her left hand, caught hold of Bodhi's ear, and ripped it off. The vampire screamed and her mouth opened. Sorkatani punched her in the face and Bodhi flew back ten yards. She landed on her backside on the flagstones, mouth still wide open, and put a hand to the side of her face where blood was streaming down. "You're stronger than I am," Bodhi gasped out. "I don't believe it!" She jumped to her feet, reached around to the small of her back, and drew a short sword. "I'm going to cut your fucking tits off and make you eat them, bitch." She advanced towards Sorkatani with the sword poised to strike.

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

Spike thrust the Armor of Deep Night into Dawn's hands. "Put this on, Niblet," he urged her. "Keep you safe, yeah?" He raised the Bone Club and looked around. He doubted if Sorkatani, or the First Slayer or whatever the hell she was, needed his assistance. Minsc was getting the better of Tolgerias but taking a pounding from the summoned ogres in the process. Spike was about to go to his assistance when Imoen, taking an active part in the fight for the first time, used a scroll to cast a spell that struck both the unwounded ogres dead on the spot. Tolgerias, hit by the same magical rays, clapped his hands to his eyes and cried out. Minsc seized his opportunity and his sword bit deep into the vampire's body. Spike decided that Minsc didn't need any help and he scanned the rest of the room to assess the situation.

The fight between Xander and Anomen was relatively even. Anomen had a shield, and better armor, but Xander had a powerful magic sword and he was holding his own. Spike hesitated and then decided that he would be best employed in aiding Buffy. He raced to where the Hammer of Thunderbolts lay beside the unconscious Giles, snatched it up, and was just beginning to move toward the Slayer when events in the battle made him change his mind.

Under cover of the Mirror Images Tanova had drawn a Symbol of Fear. Buffy's advance triggered the spell and a flash of light lit up the room. Buffy was unaffected, as was Spike, and Minsc's frenzied berserker rage made him completely immune to the effects. Dawn was in the middle of donning the Armor of Deep Night and the enchanted leather shielded her eyes and protected her. Tara was so intensely focused on tending to the critically injured Willow that she was almost oblivious to her surroundings. Giles and Jaheira were still unconscious.

The others, deprived of the rings and amulets that would have helped them to resist the spell, succumbed to the magical terror. Imoen fled screaming from the room. Anya dropped her crossbow and followed. The Flame of the North fell from Xander's hands and he turned to run. Anomen seized him from behind, pinned him in an iron grip, and buried his fangs in Xander's throat. Spike saw his peril and raced to the rescue.

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

Sorkatani and Bodhi exchanged blows. Sorkatani crushed Bodhi's cheekbone with a punch and followed up with a stake thrust. Bodhi used her sword to parry and connected with Sorkatani's forearm. The blade was razor sharp and enhanced by powerful enchantments. It sliced deep into the flesh and grated on bone. Blood gushed from the wound and Sorkatani lost her grip on the stake. Bodhi struck out again, aiming at Sorkatani's abdomen, and the Perfect Warrior evaded the blow by leaping away.

Bodhi bared her fangs and tensed to leap after her. At that moment Dawn stabbed her in the back. The blade, enchanted to only the most basic degree, pierced Bodhi's leather armor but went only an inch into the flesh below. Bodhi yelped and spun around. She seized Dawn's arm and twisted. "Little bitch," Bodhi snarled. "I'm going to cut your fucking throat." She drew back her sword and then slashed it across in a vicious killing stroke.

The blow didn't land. Sorkatani had snatched up Malakar, the Dueling Steel, and then leaped back into the fight. She intercepted Bodhi's blade and halted it three inches from Dawn's neck. Bodhi hissed and brought her sword around to strike at Sorkatani. The Perfect Warrior parried that stroke too and riposted. Dawn wriggled free and scrambled away.

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

Tanova surrounded herself with a Fireshield just as Buffy punched the last of the Mirror Images into nothingness. Lassal re-entered the fray and raised Lilarcor above his head to strike.

"Dumbass!" Lilarcor scolded. "You don't use a sword on a hot naked chick. You're a vampire, dude. Hello, fangs?"

Lassal, who had no interest in naked chicks regardless of how hot they might be, ignored the sword and began to bring the weapon down. Buffy was too fast for him. She caught his wrist, kicked him between the legs, and wrenched Lilarcor from his hands. She reversed the sword and took hold of the hilt.

"Yay!" Lilarcor cried. "Go Buffy!"

The Slayer handled the heavy greatsword as if it was as light as a rapier. She slashed at Lassal's right arm and sheared it off at the elbow. The forearm, wearing a Gauntlet of Ogre Power, fell to the ground. Lassal screamed and backed away.

"Oh, boy, blood and carnage and naked Buffy," Lilarcor gloated. "It doesn't get better than this."

Lassal collided with the Minotaur statue. Buffy stabbed him through the chest, pinned him against the stone, and held him there with one hand while she used the other to tear the second Gauntlet from his remaining arm.

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

Steel clashed on steel as Bodhi and Sorkatani crossed swords again. As Bodhi drew back her sword Sorkatani's blade flickered out and tore open Bodhi's forearm. The short sword flew from her hand and skidded away across the flagstones. Sorkatani lashed out with an offensive strike aimed at Bodhi's throat. The vampire back-pedaled to avoid the blow but wasn't quite fast enough. The tip of the blade caught her just above the collar-bone and drew blood. Bodhi jumped back ten feet and bared her fangs as she cast a quick glance around the room to assess the situation.

She didn't like what she saw. Spike had freed Xander and was battering Anomen with alternate blows from the Bone Club and the Hammer of Thunderbolts. Lassal was crippled and at Buffy's mercy. Jaheira had recovered consciousness, picked herself up, and was retrieving her bloodstained spear from where Spike had cast it aside. Tolgerias was a bloody wreck, down on his knees in front of Minsc, and the ranger was raising his sword high to deliver a coup de grace.

"Tanova!" Bodhi yelled. "Get us the fuck out of here!" She back-pedaled away from Sorkatani, who was advancing remorselessly, and a hint of panic entered her voice. "Hurry!"

Tanova didn't waste time in acknowledging the order and began to cast her teleportation spell without delay. She was still too late to save Tolgerias. Minsc smote the vampire wizard's head from his shoulders seconds before the spell was complete.

Bodhi, Tanova, Anomen and the maimed Lassal vanished. Air rushed into the vacated spaces with a sound like a volley of pistol shots. The white mist that had been Tolgerias drifted away and slipped through the cracks around the door.

The fight was over.

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

Sorkatani raised her katana and scanned the room for opponents. There were none. She lowered the blade and stood still. Blood dripped onto the floor from her wounded arm. "Love is pain," she said. "The Slayer forges strength from pain."

"Tell me about it," Buffy said. "Hey, you need to get that arm…" She broke off as she saw Sorkatani's skin change color. The ebony skin of the First Slayer became Sorkatani's familiar light bronze tone once more, the white clay daubed on her face disappeared, and the scrap of animal skin was replaced by the black breeches and red silk shirt that the Perfect Warrior had worn under her stolen armor. The right sleeve of the shirt immediately darkened as blood soaked through the material. "Hey, Tani, you're back!"

Sorkatani blinked and shook her head. "What happened to me?" Blood began to trickle from her nose. "I was…" Her voice trailed off, she swayed, her eyes rolled up and she collapsed.

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

Warren drew in a long breath. He opened his hands and winced as he realized that he had been clenching his fists so tightly that his fingernails had dug into his palms. "Wow. Dudes, just wow."

"Yeah, that fight was totally awesome," Jonathan said. "But what was that thing with Sorkatani? She was supposed to turn into the Slayer."

"I guess she did," Warren said, "only not the Slayer that's the avatar of Bhaal. She was something to do with the Buffy kind of Slayer, I guess. Buffy seemed to recognize her. And, hey, that black chick with the face paint was way cooler than the reptile thing with the claws and the spikes."

"You mean, like, she turned into some kind of manifestation of the Slayer power?"

"Yeah, dude, something like. Manifestation, yeah, that's a good word for it. Or, hey, the Buffy from One Million Years BC." Warren's forehead creased. "I'd ask Joan about it but it's all probably part of what she's forgotten, so, not much point."

"Rupert might have something in his Watcher diaries," Jonathan suggested.

Warren shrugged. "It's not that important. I guess if we just listen to them talking we'll find out more."

"Yeah," said Jonathan. He glanced at his watch. "Except that we have to go soon."

Warren grimaced and looked at his own watch. "Crap. Should we pause it?" He frowned and answered his own question. "I guess they're gonna be resting after that fight. They're, like, totally wrecked. It's not like we'll be missing much apart from maybe some talking. Leave it running, dude."

"What about saving?" Jonathan queried.

"Well, they made it through that fight," Warren mused, "but it was a real close thing. If they had to do it over someone would probably get killed."

"Willow came that close," Jonathan agreed, holding up his hand with his thumb and forefinger almost touching. "Zero hit points, dude."

"And bleeding so bad that even the Ring of Gaxx was only just keeping her stable," Warren added. "She's gonna be okay now, though, isn't she?"

"If they can get some spells back, yeah," Jonathan said. "Or, hey, the healing globe in that last room. They missed it on the way through."

"I guess Bodhi kinda distracted them." Warren stepped over to his own desk and picked up a little battery-powered razor. "Save the game, dude, and let's go." He returned to Jonathan's computer and began to run the razor over his chin as he watched the screen.

The door opened and Andrew poked his head into the room. "Come on, guys, we have to go, like, right now," he said. "Lawyers charge for their time, remember."

Warren's eyebrows rose. "Hey, look who's being all punctual and responsible and shit," he commented. "And, hey, you're wearing a suit? Dude, this isn't a court appearance. It's not like you have to look good for a jury."

"My mom insisted," Andrew explained, as he descended the stairs and walked across the room to join the others in front of the computer. "I kinda thought you guys would dress up smart too." He stared at the screen. "Hey, how come Buffy's all bare naked?"

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

Buffy made a brief attempt to cover her nakedness with her arms and then realized that it was futile. The only person, or rather sentient being, who seemed to be paying any attention to her state of undress was Lilarcor. She could hardly hide herself from his gaze, or whatever a talking sword had instead of a gaze, when she was holding the sword in her hands. Even as the thought crossed her mind Lilarcor let out a long whistle.

"Not one word!" Buffy scolded. "Hey, Minsc, take your sword back."

"Back where I belong," Lilarcor sighed, as the giant ranger accepted the sword from Buffy. "Bye bye naked babe. Oh, well, I have to say it's good to be away from those creepy frigging vampires. Uh, no offense, Spike."

Spike glanced up from where he was trying to bind up the wound in Sorkatani's arm. "None taken." His gaze lingered on Buffy for only a couple of seconds before he returned to his task. "Was going to ask if anyone had any spare cloth but I suppose that's a pretty stupid question in these circumstances. Bit short on clothes all round, aren't we?"

Buffy reached down to her boots and fished out some strips of cloth. She had been wearing her breeches tucked into the boots and the dragon leather had shielded the hems from Tanova's spell. "Would these be any use?" she offered. "If I had scissors, a needle, and some thread, and if I was any good at sewing, I could maybe make a thong. As none of those things are true then you might as well try them as bandages."

"Ta, Slayer, I'll see what I can do," Spike said. His eyebrows quirked upwards briefly as he took the cloth. "See you're a natural blonde after all, more or less. Wouldn't have guessed."

Buffy's cheeks colored slightly. "I was wondering when you'd start with the snarky comments."

"Yeah, well, a bit busy here," Spike said. He turned his attention back to Sorkatani's wound and said nothing further on the subject.

Buffy saw the Hammer of Thunderbolts lying on the floor nearby. She picked it up and swung it experimentally. "I'll use this until I get my swords back," she said. "Hey, Tara, how's Willow doing?"

"She's not getting any worse," Tara replied, "but that's all. The ring's not enough. If only I had my spells."

"And Giles?"

"He has at least one broken rib, I think," Jaheira reported, "and there may be other damage. But he will live. This gaudy armor saved his life, I think." She held out a hand towards Minsc. "You have the Ring of Regeneration, have you not, Minsc? I think that Giles' need is greater than yours." Minsc still bore some bruises from the ogres' clubs but otherwise was in good shape.

"No, wait," Buffy said. "What if we put both rings on Willow?"

"Not a bad idea," Spike agreed. "That should get her sorted."

"Once she has recovered we can give one to Giles," Jaheira agreed. "The other to Sorkatani."

"And I'll rest up and get some proper healing spells back," said Tara.

"No, we cannot rest," Sorkatani put in. "We have slain several of the vampires, but they will reform in their coffins. We must press on, escape from this place, and catch them while they are at our mercy."

Buffy bit her lip. "We're not exactly in good shape for another fight but, hey, I guess they're even more smashed up. Any idea how long they'll be out of action? And how long it will take for the bald one to grow his hand back?"

"I do not know," Sorkatani said, "but we must move quickly. Bodhi will return to destroy us once her minions have reformed."

"Yeah," said Buffy. "Let's not give her the chance, guys. Any idea of how we get out of here?"

"The big double doors look like the exit," Dawn reported, "but they won't open. I'm guessing the statue operates them. The horns are missing and I bet that replacing them opens the door."

"We found one horn," Anya added. "The other has to be around here somewhere."

"And there are two side doors that we haven't checked out," Dawn said. "Should we hit them now or wait until the wounded are on their feet?"

"I say we do it now." Sorkatani stood up, flexed the fingers of her wounded arm, and nodded. "We cannot wait."

"You sure you're up to it, Jabbress?" Spike asked.

"I have fought with worse wounds," Sorkatani told him. "What say you, Buffy?"

"You're right," Buffy agreed. "Let's do it now."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

Jaheira, Xander, Anya and Tara stayed behind to guard and care for the injured. The others followed Buffy and Sorkatani to the first of the side rooms.

A minotaur charged to the attack as soon as they opened the door. It raised a great axe to strike and then its gaze became locked on Buffy. The creature dropped its axe and grabbed for her with its huge hands.

Buffy kicked it between its legs. The minotaur bellowed and doubled up. Sorkatani brought down her katana in a two-handed strike to its neck and the horned head rolled on the floor.

"It wished to ravish you, I think," Sorkatani observed. "They are lustful creatures and your nakedness blinded it to all else."

"Yeah, well, so not gonna make a habit of taking off my clothes to fight minotaurs," Buffy said, wrinkling up her nose. The monster's arousal had been spectacularly evident. "Even if it works."

A corridor led on to a chamber in which were another three minotaurs, all of whom were just as distracted by Buffy as had been the first, and a miniature Beholder or Gauth. Spike dealt with the Gauth, suffering some minor wounds in the process, while the girls and Minsc slew the minotaurs. They found a store of gold in the room, some more of the metal tokens for the vending machine that had provided the Boots of Speed, and a scroll of Chain Lightning. There was no sign of the missing horn for the statue and so they moved on.

The second room held four minotaurs. They lasted no longer than had those in the other room. Dawn slew one with a single blow.

"Wow, this is one cool sword," she commented, as she wiped away the monster's blood from the gleaming blade. It was the sword that Bodhi had used against Sorkatani. "Like, totally razor sharp."

"I could have vouched for that," Sorkatani said, a slight smile coming to her lips. "Your blow was well struck, dalninil."

"Thanks, Jabbress." Dawn sheathed the sword and turned her attention to the large clay pot that was the only container in the room. "Let's see what we have here. More of those token things, some arrows, a sack of gold, a scroll, and hey, we hit the jackpot! The second horn for the statue."

"Great. Now we can get out of here," Buffy said.

"May I see the scroll?" Imoen asked.

"Sure thing." Dawn handed it to the mage. "Buffy, do you want to wear my shirt now the minotaurs are dead?"

Buffy rolled her eyes. "Like you couldn't have offered ten minutes ago."

Dawn shrugged. "The minotaurs wouldn't have been so easy if I had. Or, hey, they might have tried hitting on me instead and that would just have been, eww, gross."

"Can have my shirt if you like, Slayer, save the Bit from showing her bra to everybody," Spike suggested.

"Thanks, Spike," Buffy began. She was interrupted by an exclamation from Imoen.

"Heya, Sorkatani, we got something good here." The girl held up the scroll and a hint of a smile appeared on her face.

Spike's fingers froze on his shirt buttons and his head jerked around to face Imoen. "Raise Dead?" he asked.

Imoen's forehead creased. It was obvious that she didn't realize what lay behind Spike's urgent query. "No, not Raise Dead," she replied. "Limited Wish."

"_Limited_ Wish?" Buffy echoed.

"It's not as powerful as a full Wish," Imoen explained. "No major changes to reality. If you ask for too much it can backfire on you. You have to be very careful about how you phrase things because it can be very literal."

Buffy pursed her lips and nodded slowly. "Could be tricky, yeah, but we have an expert. Give the scroll to Anya."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

"So, how do we make the best use of this wish?" Buffy asked. "We could get our gear back, maybe? If I had Daystar, and you guys had your armor, and Xander had Carsomyr, and Giles had his other guitar, we'd be pretty well set up to do some serious ass-kicking."

Anya tilted her head to one side and narrowed her eyes. "I can see a few ways that could go wrong," she said. "It might work, but I think getting some spells back would be better."

"Hey, yeah, we'd really be back in business then," Buffy agreed.

"Only for one person," Anya went on. "Trying for everybody might be pushing it too far."

"So who do we pick?" Buffy wondered. "Willow for the firepower, Tara for the healing, or Jaheira for a mix of both?"

"Tara," Spike stated. "She can do Raise Dead."

Willow nodded agreement. "I'm good with that. Yeah, I'd like to get my spells back and show Irenicus a thing or two, but hey, Viconia is my friend too. Getting her back comes first."

"I could raise her with Harper's Call," Jaheira said, "but that places an obligation upon the one raised to do a service for the Harpers. I doubt that Viconia would be happy with such a condition and, indeed, it could well anger her goddess. I have the Gauntlets of Ogre Strength now, thanks to Buffy's quick thinking, and I can give a good account of myself with my spear. I agree with Spike that it should be Tara."

"And Xander needs a Restoration spell," Anya added. "Sorkatani too. Tara it is."

"I took little harm from Bodhi's bite," Sorkatani said. "It seems that I shared Buffy's immunities while I was in that strange form. Your other points are good, however, and I too feel that Tara should be our choice."

Imoen frowned. "You're all forgetting about me. I'm a mage too, remember."

"You are not as powerful a mage as is Willow, Imoen," Jaheira said bluntly, "and, even if that was not the case, still would I vote for Tara. Viconia's life must come before our revenge."

"You could have spoken more kindly, Jaheira," Sorkatani rebuked her friend. She turned to Imoen. "Her words were harsh but I must admit that they are true. We have been apart for a long time and there have been… changes."

Imoen pouted. "Okay," she said. "I'll make do with scrolls. And the Monster Summoning wand the vampire wizard dropped." Willow frowned briefly, and opened her mouth to speak, but closed it again without voicing any objection.

"How are you feeling, Giles?" Buffy asked.

"A little stiff and sore still," he replied, "but I'm much improved. Another few minutes, perhaps, and I shall be fit for action." He adjusted the position of his glasses and looked at Sorkatani. "Jaheira has told me of your remarkable, ah, transformation," he said. "I believe that I can shed some light upon it."

"It was disconcerting," Sorkatani said. "I was not in control of myself. Tell me what you know, zra'ha, as you complete your healing and Anya prepares to cast the spell. And then we shall move on."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

"You have passed what tests I had to offer," the apparition declared. "This session is now done. You are free."

"About sodding time," Spike grumbled. The doors had led, not to the main Spellhold complex, but to more chambers of fights and riddles. At last, however, they had reached the end of the maze.

"Showtime," said Buffy. She hefted the Hammer of Thunderbolts and led the way past the ghostly wizard and up a flight of stairs. At the top of the stairs a woman was sitting cross-legged on the floor. Buffy's eyebrows rose. "Sime? What are you doing here? You were supposed to wait outside and report to Aran Linvail if we didn't come out."

"That was the plan," the Shadow Thief agreed. "It didn't work out." Fangs gleamed in her mouth as she spoke.

"Oh, crap. You're a vampire." Buffy reached for a stake, remembered that she had no pockets, and raised the hammer instead.

"That's right," Sime said. "They got me. I couldn't even fight back."

"You were drugged, then, as were we," Sorkatani put in.

"I believe so," said Sime. "Irenicus commanded me to come and I had to obey. I even stood still for that bitch Valen and let her bite me."

"I staked her," Sorkatani informed the vampire.

"I felt it," Sime said. "Whilst she is in her coffin I have free will. Bodhi ordered me to wait for you here and raise the alarm when you showed up. Fuck that. I'm still a Shadow Thief, undead or not, and I'll do my best to follow Linvail's orders."

"So you're still on our side?" Buffy chewed on her lower lip. Teaming up with a vampire against a mutual enemy would hardly be unprecedented, and she wasn't against the idea in principle, but she was unsure how much she could trust Sime. That remark about having free will for as long as Valen was in her coffin was ominous.

Sime did not answer directly. "You can't beat Irenicus," she warned. "I have seen Willow in action, and I was impressed, but Irenicus is more powerful by far. A true Archmage, greater than any bar Halaster or Elminster."

"Bodhi thought she was invincible," Buffy pointed out. "We kicked her ass." She twirled the Hammer of Thunderbolts. "I took out a god with a hammer like this. Irenicus is going down. Period."

Sime shook her head. "I do not believe that you can prevail against Irenicus and Bodhi standing together. You would need an army to face them. Luckily there is such an army to be had."

"You speak of the mages held captive in the Asylum," Sorkatani guessed.

"I do," Sime confirmed. "With their aid you should be able to overwhelm Irenicus. As long as the mages are not too crazed to function, of course."

"Dradeel is my friend," Sorkatani mused. "Tiax is evil and completely insane but I think that I can handle him. I do not know the others."

"Avoid Irenicus until after you have freed them," Sime counseled. "He is in the central chamber of this floor. Bodhi is with him."

"Where's Viconia?" Spike asked.

"She lies still where she fell, as far as I know," Sime told him.

"Okay, Viconia first, and then our gear," Buffy declared.

"Speaking of which," Dawn put in from behind her, "you're wearing my armor."

Sime shrugged. "It is better than my own. I have your sword too, child, and Anya's dagger."

"You can keep the sword," Dawn said. "I have a better one now. But I want my armor back."

"And I want my dagger," Anya chimed in.

Sime rose to her feet and drew the sword. "Sorry. You will have to take them from my corpse."

"Huh?" Buffy's eyebrows sought altitude as if they were World War One fighter pilots. "You're going to fight us? I don't get it."

"If I let you pass, and Bodhi discovers this, my death will not be pleasant," Sime explained. She put her left hand to her belt and pulled out the dagger. "This way none can know that I disobeyed her. If you stake my body, well, I shall have died as I have lived. A Shadow Thief to the end."

"I shall tell Linvail of your loyalty," Sorkatani promised.

"Thank you, my lady," Sime said. She dropped into a fencer's crouch. "Shall we fight, then? I can stand the hunger no longer."

"Okay," Buffy said. The hammer blurred through the air and struck Sime on the temple. The vampire toppled to the ground. "Hammer time!"

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

"I don't see Carsomyr anywhere," Xander complained, as he fastened up the buckles on his dragon-scale armor. "What would vampires want with a Holy Avenger? It's not like they can use it."

"It's worth a great deal of money," Anya pointed out.

"Or else they just don't want it used against them," Buffy suggested. "Daystar's gone, too. And the Blade of Roses. Crap. I don't see the Mace of Disruption anywhere either. Hey, it looks like they missed Azuredge." She pulled the enchanted throwing axe out from under a backpack and handed it to Xander.

"And hey, I found the Staff of the Magi," Willow announced, grinning widely. "I'm back in business. I was totally sure that Irenicus would have taken it." She turned her back on the others, pulled Minsc's tunic over her head, and then donned her own Robe of the Good Archmagi.

"His arrogance is a weakness," Jaheira commented. "He feels that he is above such things, I think. But if he had given the staff to Tanova or Tolgerias then we would have died in the labyrinth." She slipped an arm through the straps of her shield Saving Grace and picked up the Spear of the Unicorn. "I shall use this rather than the spear that we obtained in the maze," she said. "It has less penetrative power but carries useful protective charms."

Spike was taking no part in the scramble to retrieve their possessions. He knelt beside Viconia's body, holding her cold hand in his, and stared intently at her face. "Bring her back, Tara," he pleaded.

"Of course, Spike," Tara promised. She knelt at the other side of Viconia, laid her head upon the corpse's forehead, and raised her eyes heavenwards. For a moment a brief stab of doubt assailed her. Viconia was a priestess of Shar, the evil goddess of darkness and despair, who was very much the antithesis of Tara's goddess Mielikki. Would Mielikki be willing to raise a follower of such a goddess from the dead? Viconia had mellowed considerably, and her allegiance to Shar seemed to be more in word than in deed these days, but it could not be ignored. Tara shook off the doubts. She concentrated, breathed slowly to clear her mind, and then recited the words of the Raise Dead prayer.

Nothing happened. Spike raised his gaze to meet Tara's eyes, anguish evident in his expression, and then stared back down at Viconia. She lay still and silent with her heart still unbeating.

The Raise Dead spell had failed.


	51. Chapter 51

**Chapter Fifty-one**

Tara's lip quivered. Her fingers seemed to be tying themselves into knots. "I'm s-s-so s-sorry," she told Spike.

"Not your fault, abbil," Spike replied. He didn't look at her as she spoke. His eyes remained fixed on the dead body of Viconia as it lay on the floor. "Vedaust, ussta 'che. Xal dos ragar gre'as'anto wun elghinn."

"I, uh, m-maybe a full Resurrection might work," Tara suggested. "I heard that elves don't have quite the s-same connection to this world that humans do and sometimes Raise Dead isn't enough. I can't quite do that one, not yet, b-but the High Priest at one of the big temples could."

"There was a Rod of Resurrection for sale at Barterman's Adventurers' Mart," Sorkatani said. Her lip twisted. "I did not purchase it. The price was very high and, after all, we had three priests and a druid in our party, all capable of raising the dead. One of them could even perform Resurrection." She shook her head slowly and the twist of her lips became more pronounced. "Viconia."

"When we had Viconia raised at the temple near Beregost a simple Raise Dead sufficed," Jaheira reminded her. "I think that there is no hope." She sighed. "Sometimes they don't come back. Sometimes some people, no matter how much you love them and no matter what you try to do, get… they get taken away."

Giles laid his hand on her shoulder. He didn't know how much comfort there would be in his grip but he wanted to do something. He felt the pain of Viconia's loss keenly but he knew that it must be worse for Jaheira. And ten times worse for Spike. He searched for something to say, anything that could ease their sorrow, but he could think of nothing.

"Your gloating is premature, mongrel. You are not rid of me yet." Viconia sat up and raised a sardonic eyebrow.

Jaheira's jaw dropped. Buffy's hand went to a stake by reflex. Tara's mouth formed into a wide circle. A smile of incredulous joy spread over Spike's face.

"Viconia! You scared the crap out of us," Dawn exclaimed. "What was with the playing dead?"

"Playing? I was dead in truth, dalninil, had you not noticed?" Viconia turned her head to look at Spike. "No words of greeting, ussta 'che? And why does Buffy wear your shirt? With nothing under it, if I am not mistaken."

"Vicky! Bloody hell. Was pretty much struck dumb, love. Thought you were gone for good. Didn't know there was a delay on Raise Dead. You weren't breathing, your heart wasn't beating – what the sodding hell happened?"

"One does not simply depart from the presence of one's goddess without being dismissed," Viconia said. "I came as soon as I could. Now, back to the matter of your shirt…" She held up a hand to ward off Spike as he moved to embrace her.

"The short answer is that Tanova disintegrated my clothes. I was butt naked until Spike helped out," Buffy explained. "I picked up some pants later but I haven't had time to change my top."

"There was as much shirt-swapping going on as at the end of a Cup Final," Spike commented, incomprehensibly to everyone but Giles. "Willow, Tara, Minsc – shame you missed it."

"Indeed," said Viconia. She lowered her hand and allowed Spike to take her in her arms. He kissed her, and she returned it for a moment, but then pulled away slightly to survey her surroundings.

"You were in the very presence of Shar herself?" Jaheira asked.

"I was," Viconia confirmed.

"Tell us of it later, and we shall tell you our tale," Sorkatani said. She had donned her dragon-scale armor and was occupied in stringing her Tuigan composite bow. "There is no time now. We must move quickly if we are to stake the vampires before we battle Irenicus."

"You have not, then, defeated him?" Viconia frowned. "I assumed that you must have done so." Her frown became a grimace and she extricated herself from Spike's embrace. "I must bathe. At once."

Buffy rolled her eyes. "We don't have time for that. Hey, we're all filthy and most of us are covered in blood. Just grab your weapons and let's go."

"This is no mere matter of vanity," Viconia insisted. "There is… a cause for discomfort that may hinder me in combat or distract me during spellcasting."

Buffy decided that she didn't want to know the details. "Tani, think we can spare two minutes? Okay, Viconia, you do what you have to, but hurry. There's a washroom two doors down the hall."

"Thank you, Jabbress Buffy." Viconia snatched up her pack. "Spike, seek out my weapons whilst I am gone."

Spike obeyed, assisted by Jaheira and Dawn, and they soon located Viconia's mace Mauler's Arm. Her Flail of Ages was nowhere to be seen.

"It is a weapon of power and great value," Jaheira said. "Anomen may have taken it in place of the Hammer of Thunderbolts."

"Yeah, probably," agreed Spike. "Could maybe find her a…" He broke off as someone entered the room. A bearded dwarf clad in the robes of a Cowled Wizard.

"What's this? Why aren't you in your cells with the rest of the whackos?" the newcomer demanded.

"We are not inmates here," Sorkatani told him. "Is it not obvious by our armor? We came to seek a friend and were imprisoned by Irenicus. Who are you?"

"Lonk the Sane," the dwarf declared. He drew himself up to his full height of some four foot three inches and folded his arms in front of his chest. "I am the Assistant Coordinator of the Residence for the Magically Deviant."

"Ah, the very person we wanted to see," said Giles.

"Oh?" Lonk glared at him. "And what would you be wanting?"

"We'd like you to release some of the, ah, inmates into our custody," Giles informed him.

"What? Are you crazy?" Lonk's eyebrows shot up. "Don't you realize what those loonies will do if they get out?"

"We're rather counting on them seeking revenge upon Irenicus, actually," said Giles.

The dwarf snorted. "They might try. I'm not going to let it happen. Do not force me to oppose you. I am a wizard of no small power."

"Hey, I thought dwarfs couldn't be wizards," Willow put in.

"I wasn't a dwarf when I started in this job," Lonk told her.

"Oh, a magical accident?" Giles raised a finger and adjusted his glasses. "There was a wizard in our world," he related, blurring the distinction between fact and fiction, "who was turned into an orangutan by one such accident. He found it rather handy, in fact, and refused to be turned back."

"Oh? But he wouldn't have been able to talk," Lonk pointed out. "How could he cast spells?"

"He was the librarian at Unseen University," Giles explained, "and the extremely long arms and prehensile feet were very useful for filing. Spell-casting wasn't really required for the job."

"Hah, yes, it wouldn't be," Lonk chuckled. "Quite amusing. I still think that being a dwarf is better. There are down sides, such as everyone expecting me to have a taste for strong dwarven ale and axes, but…" His forehead creased and he stared at Imoen. "You're an inmate here, lassie. Back in the cells for you."

"No!" Imoen protested. "You're not going to put me back in that horrible place."

"The ghosts of the former administrators declared that Imoen was to be discharged," Sorkatani stated. "You cannot overrule them, Lonk."

Lonk's eyebrows rose. "She made it through the Maze? Amazing. No-one has made it through alive in all the time that I've been working here. Although, if she had all you lot with her, I suppose it's not quite as astonishing." He pursed his lips. "Very well, she stays free."

"A wise decision," said Giles. "Now, what about the other inmates?"

"I can't let them go," Lonk said, shaking his head. "I'm not going to go up against Irenicus."

"You don't have to," Giles said. "Open the cells, turn off the wards, and leave this place. I really don't think that he'd bother chasing you. He has his own agenda."

"The Cowled Wizards won't be best pleased with me either," Lonk pointed out, "as I co-operated with Irenicus since he took over. They'd probably call it 'collaboration' and put me to death."

"Do they know that you're a dwarf?" Giles asked.

"Huh? What's that got to do with anything? Maybe not," Lonk said. "I don't think Wanev ever reported my accident. It would have made him look bad."

"There you are, then," said Giles. "Take this bag of gold and disappear somewhere. Baldur's Gate, or Tethyr, or wherever you like. Pass as a dwarf for a while. You'll need to give yourself a suitable name, of course, Ironguts or Goldfinger or something, and make sure you roll your 'Rs' when you speak."

"I've never noticed dwarfs walking like girls," Lonk said.

Giles shook his head and raised his eyes to look at the ceiling. "The letter R. 'Ah crrave a drrink o' strrong dwarrven ale', and all that. You'll blend right in. The Cowled Wizards will never find you."

"The alternative is fighting us," Sorkatani reminded Lonk, "and that would be a fatal mistake. Take note of our dragon-skin armor. We slew two dragons to obtain it."

"And we've just kicked Bodhi's ass," Buffy added.

"Oh, very well," Lonk conceded. "I'll let the loonies out. Don't blame me if they turn on you."

"A wise decision," Giles said, and he handed Lonk the bag of gold. "Quickly, if you please. We have some vampires to stake before they rise." A grin stole over his face and he strummed a mournful chord sequence on his guitar. "_The lunatics_," he sang, in a dirge-like chant, "_have taken over the asylum_."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

Buffy held the stake poised over Sime's chest and hesitated. "I feel kinda mean doing this," she said. "She did her best to help us, even after she got turned, and paying her back like this doesn't seem right." She gritted her teeth and drove the stake home. "I guess it has to be done. She is a vampire, after all." Her lips tightened as she thought of Anomen. He would have to be staked too. There could be no mercy on the grounds of their relationship. Angelus had taught her that in a lesson that had been all too bitter.

"Hope there was a 'present company excepted' in there, Slayer," Spike said. He thrust his own stake into Valen's heart.

"There was, Spike, don't worry," Buffy assured him. "You're not like other vampires. I get that now."

"Yeah, but way too late," Dawn muttered under her breath.

Sorkatani brushed the dust of Tolgerias off her hands. "And now to deal with Bodhi. And Irenicus."

"Do you think you'll get your soul back when he's dead?" Buffy asked.

Sorkatani shrugged. "I know not, but it is worth a try, I think. In truth I am not sorry to have the taint of Bhaal removed from me. The entity that has expanded to fill the gap, your First Slayer, seems to be entirely benign. Except, perhaps, for afflicting me with an odd feeling that I should either stake Spike or sleep with him."

Dawn uttered a strangled snort. Buffy gave her a hard stare but was unable to interpret her sister's expression.

Spike's eyes became wide circles and his eyebrows climbed high. "Hope you don't do anything about either one of those feelings, Tani. Not that sleeping with you would be a big hardship, you're definitely a looker and a classy bit of talent, but having Vicky cut off my goolies afterwards would be a bit of a downer."

Sorkatani grinned. "Worry not, Spike, these feelings are mild and easy to deal with. You need have no fear for your 'goolies', at least not on my account."

"Glad to hear it," Spike said, his eyebrows descending to a more normal position.

"Anyway," Sorkatani continued, "Whether it is because of the First Slayer, or because of the song that Giles performed during the ritual, I feel no ill effects at all from the loss of my soul. If it wasn't for Irenicus' claim that I will fade and die without it I would think myself to have gained rather than lost." She retrieved a ring and a necklace from the debris in the coffin, studied them for a second, and then slipped them into a pouch. "I suppose that I'd better try to get it back. Fading away and dying sounds, as you would put it, like the kind of fun that's not."

"It can ruin your whole day," agreed Buffy. She frowned as a thought crossed her mind. Imoen too had lost her soul, and without any intervention by Giles, and there was no First Slayer connection to Imoen as far as Buffy knew. Might the soul loss have a more adverse effect upon Imoen than it had done on Sorkatani? An Angelus-style rampage didn't seem terribly likely, Buffy thought, but the possibility of Imoen turning evil did exist. It was a problem for the future, however, and Xander's ability to detect evil would give them warning if it came to it. She put the thought aside and led the way out of the room that had held the coffins. Ahead lay the laboratory chamber of Irenicus.

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

"Good Lord!" Giles' eyebrows ascended above the rims of his glasses. "Remarkable."

"Send in the clones," Willow commented.

"Or doppelgangers," said Anya.

Irenicus wasn't relying only on his sister and her vampires to shield him from the attackers and give him time and space to cast his spells. A wave of minions charged towards the intruders, seemingly fanatically determined to protect their master, and most of them were exact duplicates of Buffy and her party.

"The likeness is mere illusion," Sorkatani declared. She leaped to meet her own double and her katana came out and struck in one flashing move. The impostor died with her parry hardly begun. "See? They do not move like us." She spun on her heel, lashed out again, and took off the head of a charging Spike.

The genuine article winced. "Bloody creepy," he muttered, as his replica disintegrated into white mist. "Least they used a real vampire." He saw another Sorkatani among the fakes, this one bare-breasted and ebony-skinned to emulate her appearance when possessed by the spirit of the First Slayer, and he would have chosen her as his own target had it been feasible. It seemed appropriate, somehow, as Sorkatani had slain the fake Spike. The woman was out of his reach, however, and instead he grappled with a phony Xander and plunged his fangs into the man's neck.

Although each of the fakes was an exact duplicate of the real person the impostors did not replicate the party exactly. There was a Tara amongst them, whereas the real Tara had remained upstairs in a room firmly barricaded against intruders; after casting the Raise Dead and all her healing spells, and finishing off with a Restoration on Xander, she had been exhausted to the point where she could barely stand and would have been seriously at risk had she joined the others in the fight. There was no Viconia, as Irenicus must have thought them unable to resurrect her, and no Willow. Presumably Bodhi had reported her wound as mortal. The fake Dawn carried the correct weapon, a replica of Bodhi's deadly sword Cutthroat, but wore Spike's Armor of Deep Night whereas the real Dawn had retrieved her own armor from Sime. And the fake Buffy was fully dressed and wielded a two-handed sword.

Giles raised an eyebrow at his double. The man, presumably a former Shadow Thief bard, was playing an inspirational tune to give heart to his comrades. It was a generic folk melody and any magical effects that it was producing would have been minimal. "Not exactly a 'Juke Box Hero' moment," Giles commented, and then he began to blast out The Who's 'Won't Get Fooled Again'. The illusions were dispelled immediately. Suddenly the party were no longer fighting against themselves but merely faced a crowd of Shadow Thieves.

"That's better," Buffy muttered. The fake Dawn had been pressing her hard and Buffy hadn't been able to bring herself to smite the face of her sister with the Hammer of Thunderbolts. She had no such compunctions about knocking a stranger twenty feet across the room and she did so at once. She rushed through the gap and joined Sorkatani in attacking Bodhi. Buffy saw the Blade of Roses gleaming in the vampire's hand and she resolved to retrieve it. If she could inflict massive amounts of pain on Bodhi in the process, hey, bonus.

The former Asylum inmates had paid little heed to the hand-to-hand fighting. Their attention was concentrated solely on Irenicus. As soon as they had a clear view of him they opened up with a barrage of spells.

"Tiax rules all! The day has come when Tiax shall point and click and his foes shall be deleted!" A ray of light shot from the gnome's fingers and struck Irenicus.

"Huh?" Willow stopped in her tracks and stared at the gnome. Where on Faerûn had he come across that concept? Had he picked it up from her mind? Unlikely, as computers had hardly been at the forefront of her thoughts recently. Was there someone else from 21st-century Earth here? She put the thought aside. The middle of a battle was no time for distractions.

Not that Willow had been able to do much so far other than use her staff to fend off an attack from a fake Anya. Without any spells other than those contained within the Staff of the Magi her offensive power was seriously restricted. There was a way in which she could 'reload', through the staff's Spell Trap ability, but she needed someone to throw some spells at her first. Irenicus was at the center of a magical maelstrom already, and he probably wouldn't even notice if Willow joined in, but Tanova was not yet engaged.

"Hey, Tanova," Willow called, trying to channel Cordy, "are you hiding a hare-lip under that veil?"

Tanova's head swiveled to face Willow. "Your words are as ugly as your scrawny body, worm," Tanova hissed. "Have a hare-lip yourself." She crushed a caterpillar cocoon between her fingers and spat out a mystic phrase.

Willow grimaced and wrinkled up her nose. This was entirely unrelated to Tanova's spell, which had been absorbed by the Spell Trap with no ill effects whatsoever, but was because she had just spotted the fake Tara being bludgeoned to death by Viconia. The resemblance was superficial, now that Giles had spoiled the illusion, but it was still upsetting to witness.

"Polymorph Other? You tried to turn me into a bunny?" Willow sneered, recovering her composure. "How lame is that? I thought you were supposed to be a mage, not a hedge witch."

Tanova's response was Chain Lightning. It should have struck Willow and gone on to leap across the party, inflicting pain and injury on all of them, but instead it hit Willow and fizzled out.

"Is that all you got?" Willow raised an eyebrow at Tanova. "Bored now."

A Lower Resistance followed immediately by a Disintegrate was the response. Willow grinned to herself; she could feel her 'power meter' rising rapidly.

"So, you are shielded," Tanova snarled. "I shall do this the old-fashioned way." She raised a hand to her veil and removed it to expose a mouth with full red lips that were most definitely not marred by any disfigurement. She bared her fangs. "I shall drink your blood and make you my slave for all eternity."

"Tanova, you stupid vain bitch, ignore the witch and help me," Bodhi snapped. She was holding her own against a joint assault from Buffy and Sorkatani but only barely. Her superior strength and speed didn't give her enough of an edge to cope with both of them at once.

Lassal, who had lost an arm to Buffy during the fight in the labyrinth, was being overmatched by Minsc. Anomen was wielding the Flail of Ages, as Jaheira had predicted, but he was not proficient in the use of the powerful but tricky weapon and was as much of a hazard to his allies as to his enemies. At that moment Imoen used the Wand of Monster Summoning to conjure five gnoll warriors behind the enemy line and the Shadow Thief minions broke and scattered. Tanova turned away from Willow and raised her hands.

"Now, zra'ha," Viconia called to Giles. He nodded and swapped smoothly from one chord progression to another.

"_Here comes the sun_," Giles sang. "_Here comes the sun, and I say, it's all right…_" Simultaneously Viconia chanted the words of a False Dawn spell.

The red glow of a rising sun filled the room. It was a formidable spell against the undead in its own right but reinforced by Giles' song it was devastating. Bodhi screamed in agony as her skin blistered and she only avoided a decapitating strike from Sorkatani by a whisker. The injured Lassal caught fire and turned to smoke. Anomen staggered back, dropping the Flail of Ages, and covered his eyes with his hands. A fledgling vampire in the crowd of minions disintegrated. Tanova vanished. For a second Willow thought that she had been destroyed but then she saw the vampire mage still standing, ten yards away from her previous position, cowering back from the sunlight. Tanova must have been using Simulacrum or Project Image to present a false target to retaliatory spells or missiles.

That cover was destroyed now and Willow considered using one of her recovered spells to finish off the injured Tanova. She decided against it. She was still way short of full capacity and she would need everything she had for Irenicus. She couldn't help feeling a degree of grudging respect for the evil Archmage. Had she been the target of a magical assault even half as intense as the one that Irenicus had been subjected to then she knew that there would have been nothing left of her but a greasy spot on the floor; and yet Irenicus seemed almost unaffected.

"Damn you all!" Irenicus snapped. "Why do I waste time fighting for this place when my revenge lies elsewhere? Flee, sister. I shall hold them back whilst you make your escape."

Bodhi lost no time in following his suggestion. She spun around and raced away. Buffy lashed out with her hammer at the fleeing vampire and struck Bodhi on the elbow. The Blade of Roses flew from Bodhi's hand and clattered across the floor. Bodhi didn't pause to retrieve it. She streaked for the door furthest from the attackers, Tanova and Anomen racing at her heels, and Irenicus threw up a wall of fire to deter Buffy and the others from following. The few remaining Shadow Thief minions fought furiously to cover the retreat, their fanatical loyalty to their mistress indicating to Willow that they were Charmed or Dominated; and they died to the last man.

"Bad dog, running away," shouted Dradeel the elven mage. He dispelled the flaming barrier and opened the way for the two Slayers to pursue.

"Bah! You frustrate me for the last time," Irenicus spat out. Shimmering streaks of light shot from his hands and struck Dradeel, Tiax, Wanev, and three other freed inmates. All six died instantly, their bodies tearing apart as if their bones had exploded within them, and they collapsed in ruin on the floor.

"Dradeel!" Sorkatani cried, horrorstruck. "No!" She forgot Bodhi and turned to Irenicus. "You shall suffer for that, murderer."

Irenicus waved his hands and was instantly shrouded in the deadly brown vapors of Abi-Dazim's Horrid Wilting. "You shall do nothing, former godling," he sneered, "other than fade into nothingness." Sorkatani retreated, coughing, from the acrid gas cloud. Buffy hefted the Hammer of Thunderbolts for a throw but held back from releasing the weapon. Her view of the wizard was obscured and she didn't want to risk losing the hammer, as Bodhi had done, unless she could be sure of achieving something in the process. A sling bullet from Jaheira bounced harmlessly from the wizard.

Willow sucked in air and clenched her fists. "Irenicus," she addressed him, her voice shaking at first but steadying as she summoned up her resolve, "I owe you… pain." She brought up her hands and unleashed a stream of crackling energy blasts. The same spell that had inflicted agony upon Glory a year ago.

The sneer was wiped from Irenicus' face. He swayed on his feet and grunted in pain. "How did you do that? My wards…" He glared at Willow. She gulped and hoped that the Spell Trap would be enough to protect her from his inevitable retaliation. "I have no time for this," Irenicus went on, to Willow's momentary relief. "Enjoy your petty triumph while it lasts. Yoshimo!"

A swirling white circle appeared inside the brown cloud. Within it there appeared a familiar figure. Eight warriors in studded leather armor, each one wielding a pair of short swords, materialized behind him. "What is your will, master?" Yoshimo asked. His tone was flat and devoid of inflection.

"Kill them," Irenicus ordered. A smile like the rictus on the face of a corpse flickered across his face. "They have proved annoyingly persistent. I don't want them getting under my feet as I complete my revenge. Once Sorkatani is dead then your service to me is at an end."

"Master, no!" Yoshimo pleaded.

"Do it," Irenicus commanded. He snapped his fingers and disappeared. The cloud from the Horrid Wilting spell dissipated with his departure.

Yoshimo's face was set in grim lines as he advanced with Celestial Fury in his hand. The assassins spread out and followed him. Several of them gulped down potions of invisibility as they walked and they vanished from view. Viconia chanted an Invisibility Purge and frustrated their plan of attack.

"Evil, meet my sword," Minsc roared, and he sprang forward. Within seconds swords were clashing once more across the width of the room.

"Don't do this, Yoshimo," Sorkatani pleaded. Her face was contorted in anguish. "I thought you cared for me. Don't make me kill you."

"I have no choice, Jabbress," Yoshimo told her. "The decision was made long before we met. It cannot be changed."

"That's crazy talk," Buffy said. Her gaze remained fixed on Yoshimo as she lashed out sideways with the Hammer of Thunderbolts and shattered the rib-cage of one of the assassins. "You're choosing Mr. Leather Fetish Mage over Tani? What kind of hold does he have over you anyway?"

"A geas," Yoshimo explained.

"A geas? Oh, crap," said Anya. "That explains it."

"Not to me," said Buffy.

"I must obey Irenicus or I die," Yoshimo elaborated. "Slowly, agonizingly, and without hope of resurrection. I agreed to the contract on those terms and I am caught without hope of escape. Until Sorkatani dies." He grimaced. "I am too slow in obeying and the pain strikes already. Defend yourself, Jabbress."

He glided forward and struck with Celestial Fury. He was fast, he was skillful, and the enchanted katana could deliver paralyzing shocks even if an opponent successfully blocked a strike. However he faced the Perfect Warrior. She side-stepped and deflected the blow with her new katana Malakar, merely touching Celestial Fury's blade enough to guide it past her body, and the shocking effect was not activated. Her left hand lashed up and across. The back of her fist hit Yoshimo on the chin and his head rocked back. She struck again, this time with the heel of her hand, and fractured his collar-bone. Yoshimo's right arm went limp. He released the katana's hilt with that hand and used it left-handed.

Sorkatani went in close, inside the arc of his next blow, and caught Yoshimo's arm. She dropped Malakar and brought her right hand across to complete an arm-lock. She twisted hard. Yoshimo gasped in pain as his elbow was dislocated and one of the bones of his forearm snapped. Celestial Fury fell to the ground.

"It's over, Yoshi," Sorkatani said. Indeed it was. The eight assassins all lay dead. One of them had managed to inflict a nasty cut along Jaheira's arm before dying on her spear. Another had slightly wounded Xander. The rest had failed even to draw blood before falling.

Yoshimo sank down to a sitting position and cradled his shattered left arm with his injured right. He looked up at Sorkatani. "It cannot be over while we both live. I am sorry. More sorry than I can ever say."

"You told me that you loved me," Sorkatani said. "Was that a lie?"

Yoshimo shook his head. "No lie. I love you, Sorkatani, but I am weak. I could not face a lingering death for your sake. I courted quick death many times but always I was spared. In the end I hoped only that Irenicus would release me once his aims were achieved. Perhaps, I told myself, he would release you too. He was interested only in that part of you that was the Child of Bhaal. Not in the woman who had captured my heart."

"And you thought that I would forgive your betrayal?" Sorkatani's expression was unreadable.

"You forgave Galvarey," Yoshimo pointed out. "If you did not forgive, and cast me out or slew me, then it would be no more than I deserved. It was a slender hope on which to cling but it was all I had."

"But why did you agree to such a geas?" Sorkatani almost wailed. "Before you even met me? Why?"

"I knew only that you were a Bhaalspawn," Yoshimo said. "And one other thing. That you had caused the death of Tamoko. My sister."

"Your… sister?" Sorkatani stared into Yoshimo's eyes. "I… can see the resemblance. But she… I did not kill her. I would have been her friend had things gone differently."

"If I had known then," Yoshimo said, "I would never have signed up in the service of Irenicus. But I did, and I doomed myself. Now all that is left is for you to finish it. Kill me."

"No! I will not kill you," Sorkatani said.

"We could kill him and then raise him," Anya suggested.

"It would not help," Yoshimo said. "The geas would still be in effect. I must die permanently."

"Or I must die," said Sorkatani. "You would be free then."

"No!" Imoen interjected. "Just kill him, Sorkatani, and let's get out of here."

"I'm good with that," said Anya.

"Can't it be… broken somehow?" Giles asked.

"Had it been forced upon him, yes, it could have been," Jaheira said, "although with great difficulty when the mage is as powerful as Irenicus. His consent, freely given, removed that hope." She sighed. "There is no way around it."

"Kill me, Jabbress," Yoshimo said. "Take my heart to a temple of Ilmater. Perhaps the Crying God might grant me solace in death."

"Wait!" Viconia commanded. "Yoshimo, jabar iblith, there may be a better option. You are lost in darkness and despair, are you not?"

"As I have been for a long time," Yoshimo confirmed. "Since the day that Galvarey poisoned Sorkatani and I realized that I loved her."

"Commend your soul to Shar," Viconia recommended. "The Dark Goddess will welcome you. You have followed her precepts even without acknowledging her. There is a place for you in the Palace of Loss. I promise you that." Her lips curved into an approximation of a smile. "I was speaking to her only half an hour ago."

"Darkness, despair, loss, and unrevealed secrets," Yoshimo mused. "Appropriate indeed. I sense that you seek an advantage for yourself in this," he went on. "Yet who am I to criticize you?" He started to shrug his shoulders and gasped in agony as he caused his broken collar-bone to move. "Very well, Viconia, I shall do as you suggest. I acknowledge Shar, the Nightsinger, Lady of Loss, as my patron deity. Take my soul when I die, oh Mistress of the Night."

"Can we kill him now?" Lilarcor chirped. "Can we?"

"Yes, kill me now," Yoshimo said. "You have to. If you don't then I have to come after you as soon as I can use my arms. I have no choice."

"I can't kill you," Sorkatani sobbed. Tears were trickling down her cheeks. "Oh, Yoshi, how could you?"

"I always told you that I was unworthy of you," Yoshimo reminded her. "Make it quick and clean, Jabbress. Slay me with Celestial Fury. That way I can hold my head up high as I die. Until it falls off." His eyes met those of Spike. "Gallows humor, I think you call it."

"Yeah, right," Spike grunted. He turned his head to look at Sorkatani. "If you can't do it then let me, Jabbress. That okay with you, Yoshi?"

"You would be an acceptable substitute as my executioner," Yoshimo agreed. "You have been a worthy comrade, Spike. It was an honor to fight alongside you. Farewell."

"And you," Spike said. "What about it, Tani?"

Sorkatani dried her eyes and picked up Celestial Fury. "No," she said. "I shall do what I must." She brought the blade up to striking position. "Goodbye, Yoshi, ussta 'che," she bade him. "Close your eyes."

**Glossary of Drow Phrases**

• 'Vedaust, ussta 'che. Xal dos ragar gre'as'anto wun elghinn' = 'Farewell, my beloved. May you find peace in death.'

• 'dalninil' = 'sister'

• 'ussta 'che' = 'my beloved'

• 'jabar iblith' = 'treacherous excrement'.

Disclaimer: lyrics sung by Giles are from 'The Lunatics (Have Taken Over The Asylum)' by Fun Boy Three and 'Here Comes The Sun' by The Beatles, written by George Harrison. They are used without permission and with no intent to profit.


	52. Chapter 52

**Chapter Fifty-two**

"Hey, wow! Plane tickets!" Warren beckoned the others over to his computer. "We're going to Massachusetts, dudes."

"Cool," said Andrew. "At last we get something back for all this work."

Jonathan pursed his lips. "Do we have to all go? I could stay here. We're an actual company now. You could make the deal. I trust you, guys."

Warren raised his eyes towards the heavens. "You just want to get out of flying, dude. Admit it."

Jonathan looked down at his shoes. "I, uh, yeah, I don't want to fly," he confirmed. "But, well, somebody has to stay here anyway to keep an eye on the guys in the Baldur's Gate game. They'll be heading for the Underdark soon."

"That's a totally lame excuse," Warren replied. "We can ask Willow to come over and take a look at them and save, or reload, if she thinks it's best."

"I don't know," Jonathan said, a frown creeping over his face. "Willow knows computers but she's not a gamer. I can see her reloading if they even look like they're gonna get into a fight. We might as well just pause the game for the whole time. Alex would be better."

"Yeah, way better," Warren agreed. "Katrina would be best of all, of course, but she's not in Sunnydale. I'll ask Alex." He fixed his gaze on Jonathan. "So, it's decided. You're coming with us."

"Why do you need me?" Jonathan whined. "You're the one with all the chutzpah. I'd just sit and nod my head."

"Hey, you're the one with the most common sense out of the whole lot of us," Warren told him. "I'd probably turn down a good deal. Andrew would sign anything if they showed him a lot of flashy cool stuff."

"Hey!" Andrew protested. "I so would not."

"Well, okay," Jonathan conceded. "If you really need me. Just don't blame me if I'm airsick the whole way there. And back. I'll probably have the shakes the whole trip, too."

"You'll be fine," Warren said. He stood up and stretched. "While I'm thinking about it, we'd better check on what's going on with the gameworld. They should be out of Spellhold by now."

Jonathan beat him to the other computer and turned on the monitor. "Not quite," he said. "They're still there. Having breakfast, it looks like. Viconia's back. They must have Raised her."

"That's great," Warren said. "Are they all okay?" He looked over Jonathan's shoulder and started counting heads.

"No Yoshimo," Jonathan reported, scrolling down the character icons at the side, "but we expected that. It looks like they're all set to move out. Then, hey, on to the Underdark at last."

"And we can get that part of the mod done," Warren said. "We'd better make sure there's plenty of free disk space. The file size is gonna shoot right up when they hit the Sahuagin city, if they take the sea route, and even more once they're in the Underdark.

Jonathan minimized the game window and right-clicked on 'My Computer'. His eyebrows descended low over his eyes. "That's kinda strange," he commented. "The free space has dropped by thirty-five gigs since we last checked. All they've done since then is go through the maze. I wouldn't have thought that would take up more than a few hundred megabytes."

"We'd better connect up another couple of hard drives to the RAID array," Warren said. "Good thing we checked, dude." His eyebrows lowered to match Jonathan's. "I don't get it. That much bigger in just one day? How come?"

"Maybe it's because Galvarey has reached Tethyr," Jonathan suggested. "Or, hey, Irenicus and Bodhi will be in the Underdark by now. They must have interacted with the guys enough to have become, like, carriers for the super-detailing."

"Could be," Warren said. "If it is on account of Buffy and company I'd sure like to know what they've been doing."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

The domestic staff of Spellhold had been almost unaffected by the reign of terror imposed by Irenicus. Even evil archmages need to eat, and prefer to sleep in clean bedding, and the cooks and maids had escaped being devoured by Bodhi or experimented upon by her brother. A payment of a few coins had sufficed to arrange a hearty breakfast for the adventurers.

Giles felt almost guilty as he tucked in. He had spent the night in the arms of a passionate and attractive woman, he was relishing a delicious meal of bacon and eggs with tea and toast to follow, and he would have been blissfully content had the circumstances been slightly different. Only the grief evident in Sorkatani's clouded eyes and slumped posture, and the sight of Imoen sitting in the place at her right hand that would have been occupied by Yoshimo on previous days, functioned to dampen his spirits. Buffy seemed far less affected by the loss of Anomen. She was good at hiding her emotions, Giles knew, but he was inclined to believe that she had felt little more than affection for the young knight and that Sorkatani's grief was far deeper.

Despite her obvious sorrow Sorkatani was devouring her breakfast with an undiminished appetite. Giles followed her example as he listened to Viconia relating her experiences in the City of Judgment, and the Palace of Loss, and her account of her interview with her goddess Shar.

"I confess that I trembled before her," Viconia admitted. "I feared that I would be consigned to pits of torment. Yet she smiled upon me. I had found favor in her sight, for she is the Nightsinger, and the songs that you have taught me were pleasurable to her."

"Good Lord," said Giles. "Ah, not in this instance, I suppose."

"I did not raise the subject of my desire to leave her service," Viconia went on. "It would take one far braver than I to say such a thing to a goddess, in her own realm, when I was dead and dependent upon her favor for my Afterlife. Yet she was aware of this, and I trembled, but she did not wax wrath as I would have expected. My death had come about because I spoke of her glory, and thereby I was martyred, and my words had gained me honor."

"They were rather good famous last words," Giles remarked.

"I thought they were cool," said Dawn. "The pun was totally wicked."

"Bloody missed them, didn't I?" muttered Spike.

Viconia dipped her head in acknowledgment of the praise. "Therefore Shar was well disposed towards me, and was willing to grant my desire," she continued. "If I was raised, of course, and at that time I had little hope that I would be returned to life. Even should it come to pass I believed that I would have deaths to avenge before I could think of aught else. Yet I listened to the words of my goddess, and took heed, for after all Sorkatani has prevailed against impossible odds before."

Buffy sniffed audibly. Giles wasn't sure if this was pure coincidence, perhaps an inhalation to savor the delicious scent of the bacon, or if Buffy was mildly annoyed that Viconia was failing to acknowledge that Buffy too had a habit of winning against the odds.

Viconia paused for a moment to eat and then resumed her account. "There were certain conditions. Firstly, that I must find one of a stature equivalent to my own and convert them to the cause of Shar."

"Yoshimo," Sorkatani said. Giles detected a hint of reproach in her tone.

"Indeed, Jabbress," Viconia confirmed. "It was not…"

Sorkatani cut her off. "I do not wish to discuss the matter."

Viconia's eyes widened slightly. "As you wish, Jabbress. The next major condition is that I must carry out my promise to sacrifice Bodhi's heart to Shar."

"I'm good with that," said Buffy.

"There are some minor conditions, of no importance to anyone else," Viconia went on. Her gaze turned toward Giles. "She specified that you must teach me a song about shadows, zra'ha, for songs about sunshine, even on a rainy day, are not to her taste."

"Of course, my dear," Giles agreed. "Hmm. Ah, of course. Pat Benatar's 'Shadows of the Night'. That should do nicely."

"Thank you, zra'ha, I knew that you would have something suitable in your repertoire," Viconia said. "Lastly, she gave me a list of other gods to whom I am forbidden to turn without incurring her wrath."

"If you are restricted only to the deities of Evil then you have gained nothing," Jaheira said. "As well to stay with the goddess that you know than to be an unhappy servant of Talos or Loviatar."

"Exactly," said Viconia. "In fact I am forbidden to worship any other Evil god. That would be the very fickle behavior that would condemn me to the Wall of the Faithless. No, only the gods of Neutrality and Good are permissible. Of those, only enemies of Shar, such as Selûne and Sune, are forbidden to me."

"That's exceedingly decent of her," Giles remarked. He had finished his bacon and eggs and had moved on to toast with butter and honey.

"It is… logical," Viconia said. "Yet she forbids me to enter the priesthood of those deities. There are but two who I may serve as a priestess, if I was acceptable in their sight."

"Eilistraee," Jaheira guessed.

"A shrewd guess, abbil, and correct," Viconia confirmed. "Shar holds her in no great regard but they are not foes. As a drow living in the surface world I come under Eilistraee's portfolio and Shar would not stand in my way if I chose the Dark Maiden."

"I can make no such guess at who the other might be," Jaheira said.

"Liira?" Anya suggested.

Viconia snorted. "Indeed not. She is on the list of those I am forbidden even to worship. No, the other one is…" she stopped to sip from her teacup, stretching out the pause for dramatic effect, "…Sorkatani."

"What? But I am no deity," Sorkatani protested.

"You are the daughter of a god," Viconia pointed out. "Your divine essence may have been stolen but it can be regained. It would not be impossible for you to ascend to the status of a demigod. If you do, Jabbress, I would serve in your church."

The corners of Sorkatani's lips turned down. "But I don't want to be a god. I want to be a librarian." Her lips turned up again in a weak facsimile of her normal smile. "That sounds silly, does it not? And in truth I now fear that being a librarian would bore me. But that does not mean that I should become a god. And god of what? Vampire Slayers?"

"Why not?" said Viconia. "Spike tells me that you are possessed by the avatar of such a being."

"He doesn't know the half of it," Dawn put in. "She turned back into the pre-historic Slayer last night."

"Oh?" Giles looked at Sorkatani over the rim of his spectacles. He raised a finger to adjust their position but stopped himself as he realized that the digit in question was smeared with honey.

"For a few minutes only," Sorkatani said. "I rose from my bed, addressed the others in cryptic terms that I did not myself comprehend, and then was myself again." She pushed away her empty plate. "It was… disconcerting. I dislike not being in control of myself."

"It's still a pretty cool power," Dawn said.

"It was revealed to me that I can now change into that form at will," Sorkatani disclosed. "I doubt that I shall use that gift, however. She seems not to understand the use of armor." She rubbed her forearm and grimaced. "Perhaps her abilities might be of use when we face Bodhi again."

There was a moment of silence as those who had been talking caught up with their eating. Viconia slapped away Spike's hand as he stole a morsel of bacon from her plate. "Get your own, ussta 'che, and leave mine to me," she scolded him.

"More fun nicking yours," Spike said.

"You do not even need food," Viconia went on.

"Don't need to shag either," Spike pointed out, ignoring the cold glare from Buffy that resulted from his crudity in front of Dawn, "but you wouldn't like it if I gave that up."

"Huh. As if you could resist," Viconia said.

"Probably right," said Spike. "Got to admit you're better than bacon."

Viconia rolled her eyes. "If you can pay me no compliment better than that it shall be long before you get the chance to confirm my superiority to cooked pig meat once more," she said.

Buffy pushed her empty plate aside. "I think we'd better start making some plans," she declared. "I guess we're all agreed that we chase after Irenicus and Bodhi and, uh, terminate them with extreme prejudice." A chorus of assent greeted her words.

"They will be weaker without Lassal, Valen, and that Cowled Wizard," Sorkatani said, "plus the loss of the weaker vampire minions and their assassins and thieves. Bodhi will create new vampires at the first opportunity, I would guess, and so we must follow them quickly."

"Yeah," said Buffy. "Where is this place Suldanelessar anyway?" Irenicus had left some notes behind him, containing cryptic references to his past and to his future plans, and everyone in the group had read at least some of them by now.

"Suldanesselar," Jaheira corrected her. "It is within the Forest of Tethir*."

"That's just south of Amn, right? So, do we head that way?"

"These isles are closer to Tethyr than to Amn," Sorkatani mused. "It might make sense to travel there directly."

"If we go back to Amn first we can pick up our horses," Xander suggested. "They'd be a big help if we're traveling inland."

"Anomen will want to go to Athkatla," Buffy pointed out. "I don't know how much notice Bodhi will take of him, though."

"Strikes me she'd want to head for the big city," said Spike. "Don't see her as a forest type, even if she was an elf before she got vamped."

"If we went to Athkatla first I could call on Cromwell," Willow added. "I think I know how to add to the enchantment on Celestial Fury but I'd need help from an expert smith. The extra power would be a help once it comes to the showdown. There are a few tweaks that I could do to some of the other weapons too."

"Those are good points," Sorkatani conceded, "but my heart tells me that I should pursue them as directly as possible."

"Our first priority must be to get off this island," Giles put in, "and I think that we should take the first ship to the mainland, whether it is going to Amn or to Tethyr."

"If Saemon Havarian is still here then we can sail straight back to Athkatla," Anya said. "I have a feeling that he's the kind of guy who would skedaddle from anywhere dangerous, though, and Sime isn't around to keep tabs on him any longer. He's probably long gone."

"Pirates will not sail to cities where they would be hanged," Jaheira said. "There are few honest sailors here. That leaves smugglers. What of our friend Calahan, Jabbress?"

"He was sailing on the next tide," Sorkatani said. "As was Golin. They will long since have departed."

"We could see if we could get the portal working and follow Irenicus that way," Willow suggested. "We'd only be one night behind them if we did that. We might catch them before they even get to the mainland."

"That route lies through the Underdark," Viconia said. "I would advise most strongly against following them. We would have to fight every step of the way."

"Minsc would not shrink from applying his boot to the backside of evil," the giant ranger said, "but it is the backsides of Irenicus and Bodhi to which the boot must be applied first. The spirit of Dynaheir cries out for vengeance."

"I concur," Giles said. "There is no point in following in their tracks if we can get to their ultimate destination by a safer route."

"I say we try to find a ship first," Buffy said. "We can always fall back on the portal if we can't get a passage out of here." Sorkatani nodded agreement. "So, let's hit the town," Buffy went on. "We need supplies anyway."

"Yay, shopping," said Dawn. "Although, hey, this hick town isn't likely to have much good stuff."

"I don't know," Anya mused. "Pirate plunder might include some valuable items and luxury goods."

"Aargh, matey, thar be treasure in them thar shops," mugged Xander. "Avast, me hearties."

"They're not likely to have a replacement for my disintegrated bra," Buffy moaned. "It was my best. The one I was wearing when we arrived in Faerûn. The only one with elastic."

"They don't seem to have discovered the vulcanization of rubber in this world," Giles remarked. "My knowledge of chemistry is quite insufficient to instruct alchemists in the art, alas. You'll have to be content with cotton and silk."

Imoen had been quiet throughout the meal so far. Now she spoke up. "I want one of those," she announced. "They show off your titties much better than my underclothes."

"Uh, I was thinking more in terms of it giving me support when I'm moving fast in combat," Buffy said, giving Imoen a look that Giles would have described as 'quizzical'.

"Well, yes," said Imoen, "but I want to look good too. Especially here."

Sorkatani's head turned to face Imoen and her eyebrows rose. "Why especially here?"

Imoen's eyes rolled upwards. "This is a _pirate_ island, Sorkatani. Remember 'The Adventures of Moniské', that we read together in Candlekeep? I've been locked up in this place for three months, having all kinds of bad things done to me, and now I'm free I want to have some fun." An impish smile came to her lips. "I don't want to leave Brynnlaw without being ravished."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

"I don't suppose that this establishment does pub lunches," Giles muttered as they entered the Vulgar Monkey tavern.

"You are hungry again?" Jaheira raised her eyebrows. "You broke your fast most mightily this morning. I would have thought it sufficient to last you through the day."

"I do seem to have rather a hearty appetite at the moment," Giles said. "Perhaps because of all our exertions yesterday." He heard Spike chuckle, glanced that way, and saw the vampire smirking at him. A similar expression appeared on Viconia's face as she saw Jaheira's head turn to follow Giles' gaze. "In battle," Giles added hastily.

Imoen pouted. "It's all right for some," she said. Her longing to be ravished by pirates was so far unfulfilled. Her closest physical contact with them so far had been during a brief skirmish with a press gang at the dockside. It had ended without bloodshed, after Buffy and Sorkatani had competed in seeing which of them could throw a pirate the furthest into the harbor, but there had been little opportunity for Imoen to engage in any romantic or sexual liaisons. That is, if she still so inclined; the unprepossessing reality of the surrounding pirates might well have quelled her desire.

"Ah," Sorkatani, at the head of the group, exclaimed as she saw a figure sitting alone at a corner table. "Saemon Havarian. You have not yet sailed. That is good."

The smuggler captain raised his head. He was clad in a silk shirt, a bandana around his head, and tight corduroy breeches. A scabbard for a two-handed sword hung at his back, although it appeared to be empty, and he wore a rapier at his hip. He was the very model of a dashing pirate, right down to the gold earrings, although in fact he was not a pirate as such. "Not from my point of view, Sorkatani. I have not sailed because I have no ship."

"I would have thought a ship was a little big to lose," Buffy said. "It's, like, fifty feet tall."

"What, you forgot where you parked it?" asked Xander.

"Huh?" Saemon's brow furrowed as he looked at Xander. "No, my ship has been taken from me. Most unfairly seized by Desharik the Pirate King."

"Oh, you poor man," said Imoen. "You must be devastated." She approached Havarian, put her hands on the table, and bent forward. She had purchased a rather low-cut gown during her morning's shopping, of the style favored by sultry sorceresses rather than practical adventuring mages, and she had borrowed an Earth-style bra from Willow. "Why don't you tell me all about it?"

Saemon's eyes widened. He snatched his mug from the table and took a swig without removing his gaze from Imoen. "Ah, and who would you be, lass?" he asked, as he put down his beer.

"Imoen," the young mage introduced herself. "Sorkatani's sister."

"I'm not seeing the resemblance," the smuggler said. "But you're a pretty young maid, sure enough, and I'd be more than happy to have you join me."

"We'll all join you," Sorkatani said. Her gaze swung between Imoen and Saemon Havarian as she pulled out a chair and sat down. Sorkatani's forehead was furrowed in a mild frown and Giles deduced that she was puzzled by Imoen's forward behavior. It didn't seem in accordance with what he had heard of the girl, described by Sorkatani as something of a tomboy, and he wondered if it might be a side-effect of the loss of Imoen's soul. "We had intended to take passage with you to back to Athkatla, or to Tethyr," Sorkatani went on. "Tell us more of the loss of your ship, Captain Havarian. Perhaps there is something that we can do to help you regain it."

"I doubt it, lass," said Saemon. "What can anyone do against the Pirate King? A law unto himself, he is, and ruler of this island. He can do what he likes to a poor innocent sailor-man."

"You are no innocent, Havarian," Jaheira said. "Be not fooled by him, Imoen."

"You wound me, Jaheira," Saemon replied. "I brought you here, at great risk, and as a result I have lost my ship."

"Probably lost it playing cards," Spike suggested.

Saemon's eyes flickered away from Imoen's cleavage briefly. "Not exactly, friend Spike. I was winning the card game. Desharik took exception to my skills and exacted a cruel and unfair revenge."

"You mean he caught you cheating," Anya deduced.

"He could prove nothing," Saemon said. "Unfair, his action was, but there was nothing that I could do. Now I, and my crew, are stuck here. We have no ship, and we lack the force to seize one from the pirates." He glanced around at the heavily-armed adventurers. "Whereas you, on the other hand, may have such force. If you can get a ship, I can sail her, and I'll take you wherever you want to go."

Sorkatani pursed her lips. "A battle against the pirates in the midst of town would put many innocents at risk."

"Take over a ship in the middle of the night, by stealth," Saemon suggested.

"There may be a better solution," Giles put in. "From what I have heard the custom is that Pirate Kings are reasonably benevolent. A leader of pirates who is merciless and bloodthirsty is termed a Dread Pirate. Is that not so?"

"Aye, in most cases," Havarian agreed. "'Tis not a hard and fast rule, though, and I would say that Desharik is pretty dread as Pirate Kings go."

"Even so," Giles went on, "I think I might have a go at persuading him to return your ship without conflict. I have, as it were, a Cunning Plan."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

"_As I was going over_," Giles sang, "_the Spine of the World mountains,_

_I came on Captain Farrell and his money he was counting_

_I first produced my crossbow, and then produced my rapier_

_I said, 'Stand and deliver or a devil he may take yer'…_"

A group of pirates, who had been playing a game of horseshoes and placing small bets upon the outcome, abandoned their game and wandered toward Giles and his companions. A sleepy-eyed pirate leaned out of the upstairs window of a nearby house. The door of another house opened and a pirate emerged, tucking the tails of his shirt into his breeches, and with a busty and disheveled wench following in his wake. More pirates, and a few townsfolk, gathered. By the time that Giles was on the third verse the crowd numbered over thirty.

"_Being drunk and weary, I went to Molly's chamber_

_Taking my money with me and I never knew the danger._

_For about six, or maybe seven, in walked Captain Farrell_

_I jumped up, loosed off my crossbow, and I shot him with two quarrels…_"

Giles had made a few slight changes to the lyrics of the old song about an Irish highwayman, to reflect the absence of firearms from common usage in the Realms, and he blasted it out in the style of Thin Lizzy. It was well received, as he had expected, and the pirates were vociferous in their appreciation. Some gold coins were thrown.

Giles left it to Anya to retrieve the gold. He continued with another Thin Lizzy song, 'The Boys Are Back In Town', and it went down so well that he decided to continue the theme. 'Jailbreak' met with unanimous approval too. He decided against 'Emerald', which was too dark for the 'feel-good' mood that he wanted to inspire in the pirates, and 'Black Rose' had too many specifically Irish references. Instead he followed up with 'Rosalie', the Bob Seger song that Thin Lizzy had made their own, played the way that they used to perform it at live shows. The pirates would no doubt interpreted it as being about a rival bard, as radio stations were unknown to them, but that was a perfectly valid way of looking at it anyway. It certainly achieved the desired effect. By the second verse most of the pirates were jigging in the street.

And not only the pirates. Anya had abandoned her gold retrieval mission and was jiving with Xander, Willow and Tara and Minsc had linked arms and were whirling around, and – somewhat to his surprise – Sorkatani and Buffy were dancing together. Spike and Viconia swayed in each other's arms, as did Imoen and Saemon Havarian, and Dawn was bopping with Jaheira.

Giles surveyed the crowd as he performed the extended final section.

"_My Ro-ro-ro-ro-ro-ro-ro-ro, Ro-ro-ro-ro Rosalie,_

_Just roll me over, and I will turn you around._

_And I move my fingers,_

_Up and down, up and down…_"

Ah, yes. He could see Desharik, the Pirate King, making his way through the crowd and taking a prime position at the front by virtue of his station. Giles wanted to make sure that Desharik was fully infected by the mood and so, rather than bringing the song to an end, he moved on to a reprise of the second verse. This time he made a few tweaks to the lyrics to make them overtly piratical.

"_She's got the treasure,_

_Comes from all the cornerstones of the world._

_She's so fantastic,_

_She's everybody's favorite little Pirate girl,_

_She's got the power_

_I got the power, Rosalie,_

_Rosalie._"

He struck a final flurry of chords and bowed. The pirates cheered.

"Thank you," Giles called. "I see that we have been joined by your leader Desharik. The Pirate King!" He struck up a new tune.

"_For he is a Pirate King,_

_And it is, it is, a glorious thing_

_To be a Pirate King_

_For he is a Pirate King_

_He is!_

_Hurrah for the Pirate King,_

_And it is, it is, a glorious thing_

_To be a Pirate King_

_It is!_

_Hurrah for the Pirate King,_

_Hurrah for the Pirate King._"

Spike had joined in on the lines that were sung by the Chorus of Pirates in the opera, Giles noticed, with the ease of someone who was totally familiar with the material. It was an interesting observation; Giles wondered if Spike had seen Richard Temple performing the role of the Pirate King in the original 1880 production of 'The Pirates of Penzance'. That was speculation for another time, however, and Giles put it out of his mind and focused on Desharik.

The Pirate King was a suitably dashing figure. His shirt was silk, with wide puffed sleeves, and his breeches were tucked into traditional pirate sea-boots with turned-down tops. A rapier with a jeweled basket hilt hung at his hip rather than the cutlass favored by the common seamen. Pirates avoided plate armor, as falling overboard in such heavy gear would mean certain death, but he wore a light chainmail jerkin over his shirt. It gleamed with a subtle sheen that indicated that it was an alloy of mithral and not mere steel. Gold epaulettes decorated his shoulders. His head was crowned with a three-cornered hat that could have come straight from Earth's buccaneer era. Gold earrings glinted in the afternoon sunlight. His goatee beard and thin moustache were trimmed to precise perfection.

The woman at his side, presumably the Pirate King's consort Caiya, was less impressive. Her gown was too tight over her hips and her full breasts, she wore two necklaces that clashed horribly, and her general demeanor was more that of a floozy than of a Pirate Queen. Giles decided that he would ignore her as much as possible and concentrate on the Pirate King.

"Yes, I am the Pirate King," said Desharik. His eyes were narrowed. A shrewd operator, Giles deduced, who would not take flattery at face value easily.

"He is," sang the pirates. "Hurrah for the Pirate King!"

Desharik waved them to silence. "Thank you. A fine performance, bard, and I compliment you. Yet I sense that you want something from me."

"True," Giles admitted. "You have commandeered the ship of my, ah, associate Saemon Havarian. We had planned to sail on that ship and I would like to return it to him. I will, of course, compensate you with gold."

"Hmm." Desharik frowned. "The vessel is worth some hundred thousand gulder, bard. Are you offering that much?"

"That equates to ninety thousand danter, or thereabouts," Jaheira whispered to Giles. "We do not have that sum in coin, a'mael. It would mean selling weapons, that we may well need, or else those diamonds that Willow is so anxious that we should keep."

Giles nodded in acknowledgement and then turned back to Desharik. "Surely your dispute with Havarian at the card table was over no such sum? I offer the amount that was at stake, some eight hundred danter according to him, plus an extra thousand as recompense for your, ah, inconvenience."

Desharik shook his head. "Why should I agree to that, bard? I have the ship."

"Surely you were motivated more by the desire to teach Havarian a lesson than by the lust for profit," Giles said. "He has learned his lesson, or if not yet then certainly by the time that we take back our money from him in the form of hard labor, and you can well afford to be magnanimous."

"I'm a pirate," Desharik reminded him. "Magnanimity isn't part of the Pirate Code."

"Oh?" Giles raised his eyebrows. "Surely such a gesture, from a Pirate King such as yourself, would be very much in accordance with the Pirate Code."

Desharik's brow creased. He looked to be taken aback for a moment. He glanced from side to side, presumably seeking some excuse to turn aside and gain time to formulate an answer to Giles' argument, and his gaze alighted upon a pirate who had an unusual animal sitting on his shoulder.

The creature was the size of a cat and resembled a cross between a monkey and a squirrel. It had a big bushy tail, a pointed muzzle not dissimilar to that of a raccoon, and incredibly long fingers on its hands. It looked back at Desharik with the big eyes of a nocturnal animal and its pointed ears stood erect.

"That's an odd pet, sailor," Desharik remarked. "It's not a parrot, of course, and it's not a proper pirate monkey. What is it?"

"Aye-aye, Cap'n," replied the pirate.

Desharik waited for the pirate to continue but no more words came. The Pirate King's eyebrows descended in a frown. "I wasn't giving you an order, ye swab, I just want you to tell me what sort of animal you have on your shoulder."

The pirate seaman's forehead acquired a puzzled crease to match that of the Pirate King. "Aye-aye, Cap'n," he repeated, in a slightly aggrieved tone. The animal chattered and waved its long fingers in the air.

"Well?" demanded Desharik.

"Well what, Cap'n?" asked the sailor.

"Just tell me what sort of animal that is, blast you!" snapped Desharik.

"Aye-aye, Cap'n," replied the pirate once again.

By now Desharik looked as if he were about to explode. Giles took pity on him.

"It's a type of lemur called an aye-aye," Giles explained. "They come from Madagascar in my world. In the Realms I'd expect them to come from Chult."

"Aye, that be right," said the pirate. "My aye-aye comes from Chult, right enough, matey."

"Oh," said Desharik. "We were talking at cross purposes. My apologies, sailor. Carry on."

"Aye aye, Cap'n," said the sailor.

Desharik grimaced. He turned back to Giles. "Where were we? Oh, yes, giving Saemon Havarian his ship back. Why should I forgive him for cheating at cards?"

"Not forgive him," said Giles. "Merely lessen the penalty somewhat. A professional courtesy."

"Perhaps I might, were he another pirate captain," Desharik conceded, "but he is just a smuggler, and an extremely irritating smuggler at that. He must live with the consequences of his cheating. He can consider himself lucky that I didn't have him keelhauled."

"Very well, Lord Desharik," said Giles. "I can see that your mind is made up." Out of the corner of his eye he saw Saemon Havarian opening his mouth to speak up. He cringed inwardly, fearing that the smuggler captain would antagonize Desharik still further and put the whole plan in jeopardy, but to his relief he saw Spike seize Havarian and clamp a hand firmly over his mouth. "I shall return to my performance," Giles went on. "This is a song about what it means to be a pirate."

"_When I was just a lad, looking for my true vocation_

_My father said 'now son this choice deserves deliberation_

_Though you could be a doctor, or perhaps a financier,_

_My boy, why not consider a more challenging career?'…_"

Xander, Willow, Tara and Dawn joined in for the next lines, taking the place of the chorus of Muppet pirates from the movie.

"_Hey ho ho, you'll cruise to foreign shores_

_And you'll keep your mind and body sound by working out of doors,_"

"_True friendship and adventure are what we can't live without,_" Giles sang solo, and then was again joined by a chorus, this time including Buffy and – very much to Giles' surprise – Spike.

"_And when you're a professional pirate,_

_That's what the job's about!_"

"_Now take the pirate Rethnor, in Neverwinter they despise him_" Giles sang, substituting a Faerûnian pirate for the original song's reference to Sir Francis Drake.

"_But in Luskan he's a hero, and they idolize him._

_It's how you look at buccaneers that makes them bad or good_

_And I see them as members of a noble brotherhood._"

The pirates of Brynnlaw swayed to the rhythm as the song continued. Perhaps some of the words might have lacked resonance with them, such as when Xander came in with "_And me… I coulda been… a contender!_", but their enjoyment of the song overall was evident.

"_They'd never stab you in the back, they'd never lie or cheat,_" Giles went on.

"_They're just about the nicest guys you'd ever want to meet._"

"Well, Lord Desharik?" Giles appealed, as he continued to strum out the tune and the Scoobies hummed along in the background, "Surely you will reconsider. You'll gain a nice sum in gold, and your reputation as the very model of a Pirate King will be enhanced. I'll sing your praises throughout the Sword Coast, and all you have to do is allow Saemon Havarian to take back his ship. Say 'yes', Lord Desharik, and prove that you're the finest of Pirate Kings." He did not press for an immediate answer but went on to perform the song's final verses.

"_Hey ho ho,_

_It's one for all for one_

_We'll share and share alike with you and love you like a son_

_We're gentlemen of fortune and that's what we're proud to be_

_And when you're a professional pirate_

_You'll be honest brave and free_

_The soul of decency_

_You'll be loyal and fair and on the square_

_And most importantly_

_When you're a professional pirate_

_You're always in the best of company!_"

The assembled pirates cheered, clapped their hands, and stamped their feet. Enough gold coins were thrown to make a substantial contribution towards the sum that Giles had offered to Desharik. Anya scurried to collect up the coins, dragooning Xander and Dawn into assisting her with the task, and Giles bowed to the audience.

Desharik screwed up his eyes. "Very well, bard, I shall grant your request," he agreed. "Pay me two thousand Amnian danter and Havarian may have his ship back."

"A wise and fair decision," Giles said. "I thank you, Lord Desharik." He began to unsling his guitar. A wail of dismay from the assembled pirates greeted his move.

"More! More!" they called.

Giles smiled. "Certainly, good pirates," he assented. "Viconia, my dear, do you think that we could make an adequate stab at 'Over the Hills and Far Away' without Korgan's drumming?"

Viconia pursed her lips. "It would be less than perfect, zra'ha, but good enough, I deem," she said. "I am ready when you are."

"When do we sail, Saemon Havarian?" Sorkatani asked the smuggler captain.

"On the next tide," Havarian replied. "It would be best not to rely for too long upon Desharik's good will, I think. Three or four hours, I would say."

"Good," said Sorkatani. "That means that I will have time to get a tattoo."

"Me too," said Buffy. The two Slayers walked away together.

They were referring to magical tattoos, Giles knew, reputedly available from tattooists in the Pirate Isles. They offered a type of ward that could not be removed at the command of a captor, even one who had you under his mental control, and it was no surprise that the girls should want them after their recent experiences. In fact Giles would have liked one himself, if possible, but it seemed that he would not get the chance. The audience was waiting and the show had to go on. He nodded to Viconia and began to play once more.

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

"You have my deepest thanks," Saemon Havarian said, as they stood upon the deck of his ship and watched the island of Brynnlaw recede into the distance. "I would like to present you with a gift as a token of my appreciation." He unfastened a buckle and removed the strap that secured the empty scabbard across his back. He held it out to Giles.

"I'm not sure that we have any need for a spare scabbard," Giles said.

"Oh, it is more than just a scabbard," Saemon told him. "There is a sword blade inside. Take a look. Carefully, though, for it is exceedingly sharp."

Giles tilted the scabbard and a gleaming blade emerged. He stopped when a foot of steel had appeared and returned the scabbard to a horizontal position. "It does look like a fine blade," he conceded, "but it is hardly of any use in this condition."

Sorkatani plucked a hair from her head and applied it to the blade. The hair split in two at a mere touch. "Sharp indeed," she said. "It could make a fine weapon if re-forged. The base of the blade would have to be reformed to make a new tang, a task for a master smith, and it would lose some of its length in the process. A bastard sword instead of a greatsword, perhaps, or a longsword. Cromwell could do it."

"Hmm. I'll consult Bagpuss," said Giles, and he took out the furry creature made out of pieces of carpet. A few chords from his guitar, a snatch of song, and Bagpuss was ready to give his verdict.

"It is the blade of a Githyanki silver sword," Bagpuss announced. "The only weapon capable of severing the silver cord of an astral traveler. If it was re-forged it could be a deadly weapon, a match for Dawn's short sword Cutthroat, and would make decapitating opponents easy. Be warned, though, that the Githyanki will seek to retrieve this weapon."

"That explains why Havarian passes it on to us," said Sorkatani. "Githyanki Sword Stalkers are merciless and relentless in their pursuit."

"They can't possibly know that I had it," Havarian said. "I took it as payment for a deal. I wasn't even sure what it was myself."

"But you suspected, did you not?" Sorkatani challenged him.

"Oh, leave him alone, Sorkatani," Imoen said. "It's just a broken sword. You don't have to take it if you don't want it. Although I'd like it, if it was cut down short enough for me to use."

"It might make a good replacement for Daystar," Buffy said. "We'll see what Cromwell makes of it, 'kay?" She turned to look out over the bow. "A sword that makes chopping heads off easy could be real useful when we catch up with Bodhi."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

"Ship ahoy," a look-out announced from the masthead. "It's closing on us, Cap'n."

Saemon Havarian ran his fingers through his disheveled hair. "Thank you, Thonas," he called up to the look-out. Keep me informed."

Imoen stepped out onto the deck. Her hair was even more disheveled than that of the captain, her lips were slightly swollen, and she was still making adjustments to her clothing. "Heya," she greeted her companions. "Is something going on? Are we nearly there yet?"

Sorkatani's eyes rolled skywards. "You have been cavorting with our captain again, I see," she said. "This isn't like you, Imoen. I don't know what's got into you lately."

"Mainly Saemon," said Imoen. "What harm does it do? I'm taking the nararoot. If I want a little fun it's nobody's business but mine."

"As long as you are still of the same opinion when you regain your soul," said Sorkatani. "You are not yourself." She shook her head. "Perhaps we should tie your knees together."

"Oh, you can still do it with your knees fastened together," Imoen informed her half-sister. "You stand up and bend over, with…"

"Meep! TMI, Imoen, TMI!" Sorkatani squealed, putting her hands over her ears.

Imoen frowned. "You talk about me not being myself? I can hardly understand anything that you say these days. You have spent much too long with these foreigners. And why so prudish? Such matters are dealt with in great detail in the books that we used to read."

"It's not the same when it's somebody I know," Sorkatani said.

"Cap'n!" the lookout called again. "That ship is still closing. It's traveling faster than the wind! It will be on us in a few minutes. Don't see any way that we can outrun it, Cap'n. There must be magic involved."

"Blast," said Havarian. "Helmsman, turn three points to starboard. We'll run with the wind, for what good it will do. To arms, men! Get ready to repel boarders." He turned to address Sorkatani. "You and your friends had best do the same, miss."

"Of course," Sorkatani agreed. "I shall don my armor at once." She scurried off below decks.

Giles shrugged on his chain-mail jerkin. He doubted if he could swim far in it, if he went overboard or the ship sank, but it was relatively easy to remove the garment at need. The dragon-scale armor that most of the others wore was relatively light. Only Minsc, who adamantly refused to be parted from his full plate, was in armor that carried a high risk of drowning. Getting the giant warrior overboard would be no easy task for anyone, however, and there was no great cause for alarm on that score.

The strange ship drew steadily closer. In almost no time at all it was plainly visible to those on deck. By the time that everyone was fully armed and armored the approaching vessel was within arrow shot.

Willow scrutinized the other ship with a Clairvoyance spell. "It's full of warriors," she reported. "They're not pirates. I don't think they're even human. They're kinda pale green and their noses are funny. Like, uh, skeleton noses. Maybe they're Undead."

Sorkatani shook her head. "Githyanki," she said. "I have never seen them but they are described in volumes that I read in Candlekeep. Or they could be Githzerai, of course, but I doubt that. There is no reason for Githzerai to be chasing us and there is good reason why the Githyanki should pursue." She glared at Saemon Havarian. "We should have thrown that sword overboard."

"Too late," said Havarian. "They've found us now and they won't be pleased."

"Couldn't we, uh, just give the sword back?" suggested Tara. "We don't want it all that much, do we?"

"I would do so at once," said Sorkatani, "but it would serve no purpose. Merely by being in its vicinity we have committed sacrilege in their eyes." She nocked an arrow to her bowstring. "We must fight."

Arrows did not deter the Githyanki. Neither did a fireball from Willow, which briefly set the other ship's sails ablaze, but then went out with a suddenness that implied that a magical means had been used to extinguish the conflagration. The Gith ship didn't even slow down, despite no longer having much canvas to catch the wind, and in minutes it was alongside.

Boarding ramps, hooked at the ends to catch and lock on to an enemy ship, swung down. Minsc tore one free and threw it over the side, as did Buffy a moment later, but there were too many such ramps and the Gith began to swarm onto Havarian's ship.

The sailors ran to meet them but almost at once cowered back. One began to sob, wailed 'I can't go on, it's useless,' and cut his own throat. Even Minsc turned to flee.

Giles had the answer to that. "_Well we won't back down_" he sang.

"_No we won't back down._

_You can stand us up at the gates of Hell but we_

_Won't back down_…"

The Tom Petty song worked as well against the psychic powers of the Githyanki as it had done against the Fear aura of dragons. The sailors rallied, as did Minsc and the others of the party who were wavering, and the Githyanki were forced to resort to hand-to-hand combat. They were skilled warriors, wielding two-handed swords, but they weren't quite good enough to cope with Sorkatani and Buffy and their comrades.

Sorkatani slew a Gith commander with a double blow from Celestial Fury and Malakar. Buffy hit another with the Hammer of Thunderbolts and sent him flying over the edge of the ship. He disappeared beneath the surface and was gone instantly.

"They can't swim," Sorkatani remarked, kicking another Gith overboard.

"Crap," said Buffy. "I don't really want to kill them. Hey, getting their sacred sword back, I can kinda see their point." Despite her words she did not hold back from delivering blows that killed one Gith outright and knocked another over the side to drown.

"At 'em, lads," Saemon Havarian cried. "We're driving them back. We're winning." He delivered those words from a position at the rear, shielded from the Gith by both Slayers as well as by the swords of Minsc and Xander and the spear of Jaheira, and Imoen turned to look at him reproachfully.

"Hey, you're not fighting," she complained.

"Ah, yes, well," Saemon said. "I'm more of a leader, you see, directing the battle."

"You're a coward," Imoen accused. "I thought you were a dashing sea captain, a hero, and you're just a coward. Well, that's the last time you'll be getting between my legs."

"Ah, that's a shame," Havarian said, "but at least I'll be alive." He raised his voice to his men once more. "Push them back, my brave lads. Victory is at hand!"

Suddenly the whole ship shuddered as if it had struck something in the water. One of the boarding ramps snapped in two. The Githyanki wavered, as did the human sailors, and the fight came to a brief halt.

A figure clambered over the ship's rail. At first Giles thought that it was one of the fallen Githyanki, having escaped drowning and returning to the fray, for this new figure was also green in hue. It was a more silvery shade, however, and it was soon evident that it was no Gith. It had a sharklike maw in its pointed face, its hands were webbed and bore claws, and it had a triangular fin jutting from its back. More of the same creatures appeared, climbing up the sides of the ship, and scores of similar fins could be seen in the water.

"The sahuagin!" shouted a Githyanki leader. "They will sink our ship! Retreat, retreat!" The Githyanki horde fled back to their own ship in frantic haste. Such behavior seemed strange for members of a proud warrior race, Giles thought, and then it occurred to him that a species that drowned immediately in water would be more prone to panic in a naval battle than were humans. Perhaps it was the shape of their noses that made them vulnerable to drowning, Giles speculated, then such thoughts were driven from his mind by a realization that he and the others were in dire peril.

The sahuagin boarding party survived for mere seconds. Out of the water they were no match for Buffy and the others. They had a more insidious way of attack, however, and they had already used it. The ship heeled over.

"Cap'n!" a sailor called urgently. "We're taking in water. They've holed us, Cap'n."

The ship quickly developed an acute list to port. It was clear that the sahuagin had done major damage to the vessel. Havarian went below to determine the state of the leaks and reappeared shaking his head. "At least six holes, and they're big ones," he said. "Beyond repair. We're sinking. Abandon ship, lads, man the lifeboats."

"But, Cap'n, the fish-men will attack us there," a sailor pointed out.

"It can't be helped, lad, there's nothing else for it," said Havarian. "Luckily I have my own way out. 'Tis a shame that I can't take anyone with me." He clapped his hands together. A pale circle of distortion formed in the air around him.

"Hey!" Imoen protested. "Are you running out on us?"

"Afraid so, lass," said Saemon. He flashed her a rueful smile. "I could take one person with me – but you've already said that I won't be getting any more, and so, Imoen, I bid you farewell. It was fun while it lasted." He vanished. There was a 'pop' of air rushing into the vacated space and then no further trace of the smuggler captain.

"He is no great loss," said Sorkatani, "but our situation is perilous."

"I could get myself back to Brynnlaw," Willow said, "or four of us over to the Githyanki ship." Even as she said those words the ship in question rose from the surface of the waves, climbed into the air, and then streaked away vertically until it was lost to sight. "Uh, cancel that idea," said Willow. "It looks like I can save just me, or nobody."

"What about the coast over there?" Buffy asked. The Dragon's Neck Peninsula, stretching out into the ocean from the mainland of Tethyr, could just be made out on the southern horizon.

Willow swayed on her feet as the ship lurched. "Sorry, Buffy, it's out of my range. Maybe if I had a whole lot of time to study it with Clairvoyance but, hey, time's something we don't have."

"Then we're gonna have to swim to shore," said Buffy, "fighting off Creatures from the Black Lagoon the whole time. Not good." The sahuagin had already overturned one of the lifeboats, tipping the sailors into the sea, and it was obvious that escape by boat was problematical at best.

"I don't have to breathe," said Spike. "Get in a boat and I'll go down and stop those buggers sinking it."

"Alone against a horde of them? Even you would be overmatched, ussta 'che," Viconia warned him.

"Well, a bloke's got to try," said Spike.

"Perhaps I can do something," Giles said. He was struggling to think of a suitable song for the occasion. Unfortunately the first one that had come into his mind had been 'The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald', and a succession of similarly doom-laden nautical songs followed it into his mind. 'Sloop John B', with its refrain of 'this is the worst trip, I've ever been on', and 'Sailing', containing the ominous line 'I am sailing stormy waters', were the most innocuous that he was able to come up with. Apart, perhaps, from 'Frigging in the Rigging' – but that was very much a desperate option of last resort.

"Uh, yeah, but you'd better hurry, Giles," Buffy said. The ship was going down rapidly. Already the waves were lapping over the sides and onto the deck.

"Ah!" Giles exclaimed. "I have it." He breathed a sigh of relief and broke into song.

"_In the town where I was born_

_There lived a man who sailed the sea_

_And he told us of his life_

_In the land of submarines_…"

The deck tilted further and further. Giles felt himself sliding towards the water as he strummed his guitar.

"_So we sailed up to the sun_

'_Til we found the sea of green_

_And we lived beneath the waves_

_In our yellow submarine_

_We all live in a yellow submarine_

_A yellow submarine_

_Yellow submarine_

_We all live in a yellow submarine_…"

The sailors in the last surviving longboat, paddling away from the sinking ship as fast as they could, heard the song cut off and saw the ship slip beneath the waves. They rowed with all their strength towards the coast of Tethyr, giving thanks to the gods for their escape, cursing their cowardly captain and lamenting the heroes who had gone down to a watery grave.

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

*Author's note: the Forest of Tethir uses the Elven spelling; the country of Tethyr uses the Human spelling. It's not a spelling error or a typo.

Disclaimer: lyrics sung by Giles in this chapter are from 'Whiskey in the Jar' (traditional, variant lyrics based on those performed by Thin Lizzy, further modified by me to suit the Forgotten Realms setting), 'Rosalie' (Bob Seger), 'Pirate King' (Gilbert & Sullivan), 'Professional Pirate' (Barry Mann & Cynthia Weil, from the movie 'Muppet Treasure Island'), 'I Won't Back Down' (Tom Petty), and 'Yellow Submarine' (The Beatles, Lennon/McCartney). They are used without permission, amendments are unauthorised, and no intention to claim ownership is made. All rights remain with the original copyright holders.


	53. Chapter 53

**Chapter Fifty-three**

"Well, uh, it is yellow," Tara said.

"And it's a submarine," said Willow. "Kind of, anyway."

Xander tapped the hull. "It's made of wood."

"Not exactly bloody _Stingray_, is it?" Spike ran a hand along the yellow-painted planks until he came to one of the hoops that bound them in place. Slightly further on was a porthole of heavy glass set in a copper surround and he bent to stare through it. "Reminds me of the sub that some geezer built in the American Civil War. Saw something about it on the Discovery Channel. Or was it the History Channel? Whatever."

"Ah, yes, quite," said Giles. "I believe I see the resemblance. I must admit that it isn't quite what I had in mind."

"We are under the water?" Sorkatani took Spike's place at the porthole and peered out. "Wow. Totally cool."

"And she thinks that I've changed," Imoen muttered under her breath. "Huh."

"Astounding," said Jaheira. "I never doubted that your magical songs would save us, a'mael, but this is beyond anything that I could have imagined."

"Uh, not that I want to spoil the moment," said Buffy, "but hey, if this thing is made of wood, then those Shagging things can make holes in it just like they did to the ship. We're not out of the woods yet, people."

"Don't worry, Buff," Willow said. "This is a relatively small cylinder. I can protect it in ways I couldn't do with a great big ship." She half-closed her eyes, waved her right arm in a circle, and then uttered three phrases in a language that only Giles recognized. "Okay," she said, "that should do it."

Giles put his finger to his glasses. "Remarkable," he said. "Was that a spell that you learned on Earth?"

"Uh, no," Willow replied. "I found it in Wanev's spell book. Why?"

"It was in Sumerian," Giles told her. "Where did he find it, I wonder? Have there been others from Earth who have crossed into this world before us? Sorkatani mentioned something, I think, but I can't place it."

"His notes said it was a spell from some place called Unther," Willow informed him.

"Fascinating," Giles breathed. "I remember now. Unther and Mulhorand. I had forgotten all about it. I must remember to look into their history once we get to somewhere with a library."

"Uh, not to rain on your parade," Buffy put in, "but how are we gonna get anywhere? I don't see any engines. I think this sub is pretty much batteries not included."

"Ah. Yes, indeed, that could be a problem." Giles looked around the cabin and his gaze fell on two raised seats with pedals and gears below them. "Aha! I have the answer. It is pedal-powered."

Buffy pouted. "Don't tell me. I'm gonna have to do the pedaling."

"Actually," Giles mused, "I would think that it would work best if the pedaling team were of roughly equal strength. Spike and Sorkatani are perhaps the best matched."

"Of course," Sorkatani assented. She moved away from the portal and made for the pedals.

"Aye aye, Cap'n," Spike chuckled as he followed suit.

"Uh, what about steering?" Xander wondered. "Is that thing back there a tiller?"

"It would seem so," Giles said. "Are you volunteering to be the helmsman?"

"Aye aye, Cap'n," Xander said, grinning. He put his hand up to his shoulder and wiggled it as if it were a small animal. Willow sniggered. Tara smiled broadly. Dawn giggled. Even Sorkatani smiled.

"There should be some way of making it go up and down, 'cause hey, submarine," Willow said.

"I suppose there must be some kind of ballast tank," said Giles. "Ah, that seems to be a pump. I suggest that Buffy look after that. It doesn't look particularly efficient and I suspect that considerable strength will be required."

"Okay, I'll man the pumps," Buffy agreed. Before she could do so the ship lurched. "What was that?"

"Those shark-men things are back," Anya reported from the porthole. "Lots of them. We'd better get out of here."

"Which way?" Xander asked.

"We were going east, but the closest land is to the south," Jaheira answered. "I recommend that we make for land as quickly as possible."

"Okay, but which direction are we pointing?" Xander heaved on the tiller. "Hey, it won't move."

Buffy left the pumps and joined him. She added her strength to his and failed to move the lever. "Those Shagging things must have jammed it," she deduced.

"Uh, how long will our air last?" Tara voiced a thought that had already occurred to some of the others.

"I can refresh our air as long as necessary," Jaheira assured her. "We shall not suffocate."

"Or starve," Viconia added. "Creating food and water is not a problem."

"Going stir crazy might be," said Willow. "Giles, if you start singing '_Cabin Fever_' I'll get kinda cranky."

"Which reminds me," said Xander, "does this thing have toilets?"

"Ah." Giles walked the length of the cabin, peering at all the devices and furnishings, and shook his head. "It would appear not. I seem to remember that such refinements did not appear in submarines until the very end of the nineteenth century."

"Bummer." Xander shook his head. "Let's hope we're not in here too long or it could get kinda… unpleasant."

"I was on a submarine once," Spike reminisced. "Got kidnapped by Nazis in 1943. Got loose and ate the buggers. Ended up stranded at the bottom of the sodding Atlantic for bloody ages."

Buffy rolled her eyes. "Yeah, right."

"It's true," Spike insisted. "Angel rescued me. Wouldn't make up any story where that git saved me, would I?"

"Oh, shut up and keep pedaling," Buffy snapped. She abandoned the jammed tiller and returned to the pumps.

"Well, I want to know what happened," Dawn said. Spike beamed at her and continued his narrative.

"I've pumped out the tanks completely," Buffy reported a couple of minutes later. "We don't seem to be going up."

"The shark-men are clinging to the hull," Anya observed. "They must be holding us down. I think they're taking us somewhere."

"Maybe down to the bottom so that the water pressure flattens us," Xander suggested gloomily.

"We weren't all that far from land," said Willow. "We have to be over the continental shelf. It won't be too deep. The spell will protect us."

"It won't run out, will it?"

"Nope. I can keep it going indefinitely," Willow assured Xander. "Uh, as long as I can stay awake, anyway."

"Show me the spell," Imoen suggested. "I could take over while you rest."

"Great," Buffy muttered. "We're not gonna get squished, we're not gonna suffocate, we're not gonna starve – we can live happily ever after in a wooden box at the bottom of the ocean."

"Need I continue pedaling?" Sorkatani asked, grimacing. "If our course is dictated by the sahuagin there seems little point."

"Perhaps so," said Giles. He adjusted his glasses. "Although, if the sahuagin are indeed taking us somewhere, we may as well get there as quickly as possible."

"What, you think they're taking us to their leader?" Xander's eyebrows arched upwards.

"Well, that is fairly traditional," said Anya.

"And then what?" asked Buffy. "We sit in here and stare out through the porthole at the King of the Shark People? It's not like we can get out and talk face to face. If they can even talk."

"Water breathing, water breathing," Willow muttered. She took out a spell-book from her pack and began to riffle through the pages.

"He may know the Silent Tongue," said Viconia. "I believe that sometimes the drow encounter the sahuagin. If so I could indeed talk to him through the glass. An unlikely chance, true, but not impossible. Merely a million to one against."

"Hey, million to one chances crop up nine times out of ten," Willow said, with a smile that was reflected on the faces of Giles, Tara, and Spike.

"No, only one time in a million," Viconia said. "That is what a million to one against means, abbil."

"It is said that the underwater cities of the sahuagin often contain air," Sorkatani said. "Or so I have read. Few ever return from such a place and so I cannot vouch for the accuracy of the tale."

"We can but hope," said Giles. He crossed to the opposite side of the cabin to Anya and looked out of the porthole there. "If only I could think of some song appropriate to the situation." He fell silent, as did most of the others, and for a while there was no sound apart from the squeaking of the pedals and Spike's voice as he continued the account of his adventure in the U-boat.

"Hey!" Buffy interrupted Spike as he neared the end of his story. "Angel wouldn't do that."

"He did, Slayer," Spike stated. "Turned that Lawson bloke, Lawson fixed the engines, and we made it to the surface. If he hadn't done it we'd still be bloody down there."

"You're lying," Buffy insisted. "Angel wouldn't have vamped someone while he had his soul."

"Well, he could have let me do it," Spike said, "but no. Had to do it himself. Not that there was time for any discussion. Lawson was sodding well dying, Slayer, did you miss that bit? And he volunteered. Bloody heroic of him, if you ask me. Saved the other sailors, saved Angel and me from being stuck there, and got the Allies a Type XXI U-boat prototype a year before it was due to enter service. Think the Nazis panicked about that and started playing around with the design 'cos in the end the Type XXI pretty much missed the war altogether. Good thing, too. Had bloody tons of batteries, could stay underwater for eleven days, would have been a bit of a bugger for the convoys."

"Absolutely fascinating," Giles said. "Do go on, Spike."

Buffy rolled her eyes and turned away. There was, however, nowhere to go and nothing else to do. She sat down on a ballast tank and resigned herself to listening to Spike's tale.

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

The submarine banged and scraped against rock. It was pitch black outside. Spike and Sorkatani had stopped pedaling after the bow of the vessel had crashed into a hard obstacle with sufficient force to send the standing members of the group tumbling to the deck. Now the sahuagin were solely responsible for the sub's onward progress. It seemed that they were maneuvering it through an underwater tunnel.

Suddenly there was light at the portholes. Dim, green-tinged, but definitely light. The submarine lurched and then bobbed rapidly upwards. Willow lost her balance and fell. Minsc caught her before she hit the deck. The light brightened. The water against the portholes turned to foam and then cleared. A wavy line could be seen half-way up the glass. Above the line the light was much brighter.

"We're on the surface," Anya declared. "It looks as though Sorkatani was right about the shark-people's cities."

"Definitely of the good," said Buffy. "We can get out of this ship. And Xander can go to the bathroom."

"Hey, I'm not desperate," Xander said. "I can hold on a while longer."

"We'll probably have to fight all the shark-men, and you'll fight better if you're not keeping your legs crossed," said Anya. "There's no point in waiting."

"I didn't ask about rest rooms because I needed one," Xander said. "I was just thinking ahead."

"Will you drop the subject?" Buffy grimaced. "All this talking about bathrooms is making me need to go."

Giles slung his guitar over his back. He had been teaching Viconia '_Shadows of the Night_' to fill in time during the underwater voyage. He went to a porthole and peered out. "I believe that we may not be pitched into immediate battle," he said. "I would interpret the attitude of the sahuagin as indicating deference rather than hostility."

"They were plenty hostile up on the ship," Xander said. He joined Giles at the porthole. "Hey, you could be right, Spellsinger. It kinda reminds me of the Ewoks when C3PO got up out of the net trap. Not so much with the bowing and chanting, maybe, but something like. Maybe they think we're gods."

"Their god is a giant shark," said Sorkatani. "They may be impressed by this vessel rather than us. I will be ready for combat if the need arises."

"Me too," said Buffy, "but we might as well get out anyway. It's not like they're gonna go away if we keep hiding in here until we really, really, need to pee."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

Communication with the King of the Shark Men was proving to be almost as difficult as in Buffy's hypothetical scenario of them miming at each other through the porthole. He spoke no human language that they recognized and the sahuagin language of hisses and clicks was impossible for a human even to pronounce.

"We could have done with a Tongues spell," Buffy said. "I don't think Charades is gonna work."

"Sorry," Tara apologized. "I didn't think that I would need one."

"Hurry up, Senityili," the sahuagin king snapped, suddenly speaking in what seemed to the Scoobies to be English and to the native Faerûnians to be the Common Tongue. "I grow tired of listening to these surface-dwellers jabber."

"It is done, oh King Ixilthetocal," a staff-wielding sahuagin answered. "Speak and they will understand you."

"If such strange beings are even capable of understanding," said the king. "Well? Do you understand me, monsters?"

"Monsters?" Buffy rolled her eyes.

"We understand you, king of the sahuagin," Sorkatani said.

"Good, good." The king was eight feet tall and had disturbingly pointed teeth. "High Priestess Senityili claims that you are the Chosen of Sekolah and can rid our city of a great evil."

"I've been called the Chosen One," Buffy admitted.

"I also," said Sorkatani. "Although mainly by people who were trying to kill me," she added under her breath. Her hand was resting lightly on the hilt of Celestial Fury.

"You look remarkably fragile to be capable of much ridding of evil," the king went on.

"Hey, ridding the world of evil is what we're all about," Buffy protested.

"We shall see. Guards! Take them to face the two-headed monster. If it kills them, Senityili, then that proves they are mere ordinary surface-dwellers. If they survive, on the other hand, then we shall give them the chance to win their freedom."

"Two-headed monster?" Buffy's eyebrows rose and then she shrugged. "Hey, not like I haven't been there, seen it, killed it, and got the T-shirt."

The king had no eyebrows but he still managed to convey that he was frowning. "Senityili, your spell seems to be faulty. I will listen to this no longer. Guards, take them away. I shall go and examine the strange craft in which these creatures arrived."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

The two-headed monster was, as Buffy had guessed, an ettin. It lasted no more than ten seconds against them. Buffy smashed its knee-caps with the Hammer of Thunderbolts, Sorkatani slashed open one of its throats as it toppled, and Spike latched on to the other neck and drank his fill.

"Should keep me going for a while," Spike said, wiping his mouth. "Don't fancy eating those shark buggers. Not without chips and a deep fat fryer, anyway."

Giles choked back a laugh. "I hardly think that they would be an adequate substitute for cod," he said. "Ah. I don't believe that this world has discovered fish and chips. They do have potatoes but I have only seen them boiled. Perhaps there is scope for us to introduce a new culinary innovation."

"You'll have to wait until we get out of this particular frying pan," said Buffy. "Okay, shark guys, take us back to your leader. Let's hear about this evil he wants us to Slay."

They had to wait for some twenty minutes before the king returned. "I could not make sense of your yellow craft," King Ixilthetocal told them. "It just went straight to the bottom and stayed there. It does not move."

"Oh, crap," said Buffy. "We left the hatches open."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

"So, surface-dwellers, you have agreed to do as the king wishes," said High Priestess Senityili.

"I am reluctant to serve as an assassin but it seems that we have little choice if are to leave this place," said Sorkatani.

"Especially now he's sunk our sub," Buffy added. "It seems pretty simple. We kill this rebel prince, bring back his heart, and the king shows us the way out."

"There is another choice," said the priestess. "The king is insane."

"Well, he went for a trip in a submarine without closing the hatches," said Buffy, "which is definitely not big with the smarts, but then he can breathe under water so I guess it doesn't prove anything."

"You have seen little of him," went on the priestess. "It will not be apparent to you but it is true. He kills his own people at a whim. He sends out warriors to attack warm-blood ships that are no threat to us when we face constant threat of attack from drow and the vile heretic kuo-toa. The people of the City of Caverns dwindle in number under his misrule."

Buffy bit back the 'and we should care exactly why?' that fought to issue from her lips. "And the prince would be better?" she asked instead.

"Exactly," said the priestess. "Prince Villynaty understands what the city needs. That is why he rebelled against his father and is now in exile."

Viconia had noticed something that had passed most of the others by. "You said that you face threat of attack from the drow. How can that be? My people do not breathe water. Surely you are safe from them here under the sea."

"There is a shaft that connects the City of Caverns to the Underdark," Senityili revealed. "We cannot seal it for it provides the air without which working metal is impossible. It offers the drow a gateway and at times they attack. There was a time in which they occupied half of the city. King Ixilthetocal's father rallied our people and drove out the drow but they left many traps behind. That part of the City of Caverns is still dangerous to us. That is where the prince has made his base; not only to protect himself from the king, but to protect the city from the drow." Her facial expressions were unreadable to the humans but something about her posture gave the impression that her eyes would have been narrowing, if that had been possible for them, as she turned to stare at Viconia. "Your people."

"Fear not, shark person, I am an exile from the realm of the drow," Viconia told her. "I am doubly under sentence of death should I return. And my home city of Menzoberranzan is far from the sea and we know the shark people not. I cannot even recall the name for you in our language."

"I do not fear," said the priestess. "You are of the party of the Chosen of Sekolah. You shall help to restore the City of Caverns, as was foretold, and that you are drow is of no importance."

Viconia sniffed. "It is of importance to me, shark person."

"Did the king send the raiders who attacked Baldur's Gate?" Sorkatani asked.

The priestess made a gesture with her forearms that was probably the equivalent of a human shrug. "The names of your cities on the land are difficult for me to recall. He sent a warband to attack a nearby city, yes, but I think it is called by a shorter name."

"Velen would be the closest, if we are still near where the ship sank," said Jaheira. "Or perhaps Murran."

"The name had two sounds," Senityili confirmed. "None of the raiders returned. A waste of sahuagin lives."

"Are you saying that the prince will live in peace with the humans?" Buffy stared at the priestess, trying to read her expression, but she could not be sure of her interpretations.

"Probably," said the priestess. "I cannot speak for him but I can say that attacking your land-dwelling kind would profit us little. He must repopulate the city, in any event, before thinking any thoughts of war. I shall counsel him to refrain from attacking your kind in the future. That would be only fair repayment, if you aid us, and I am sure that he will see the wisdom of that course."

"We shall see what the prince himself has to say," said Sorkatani.

"So, what, you want us to go kill the king?" Buffy asked.

"Not yet," said the priestess. "You would at once be attacked, not just by his guards but by all the inhabitants of the city, and the prince's forces would join in that attack as they would not know that you had done the deed on their behalf. First you must meet with the prince."

"Right. So we trot up to his hideout and, hey, say 'We come in peace. Take me to your leader'?"

"Exactly," said Senityili.

"Note to self; sarcasm doesn't work with a Tongues spell," Buffy muttered. "Uh, and he's not gonna be just a mite paranoid about a bunch of, uh, surface-dwellers walking up to his place? It's not like humans are frequent visitors here, right? He's gonna think we're invaders."

"He will have spies within the king's forces," Viconia said, "if he is worthy to rule. Thus he will know that the king sends us forth to slay him. He will attack us at once."

"I can give you a token," said the priestess. She turned away and opened a hatch atop a blood-stained altar. From it she withdrew a hollow globe-shaped structure of green coral. "This orb will show him that you come from me."

"So you keep in touch with him," Xander deduced. "Couldn't you just, like, tell him we're coming?"

"I shall do what I can," Senityili replied, "but my opportunities to send messages are limited. There is always a chance that they would be intercepted. My life would be immediately forfeit if that happened; and if I sent a message such as you suggest, and it fell into the king's hands, then you also would be slain. Or, if you were successful in defending yourselves against his attack, you would inflict terrible losses upon our people."

Giles raised his eyebrows. "A very logical decision."

"Of course." Senityili's head bobbed up and down. None of the humans could interpret the gesture. "Will you do as I ask?"

"I guess so," said Buffy. "At least we'll talk to the prince before we make a decision. If he's as reasonable as you make out then, yeah, we'll back him against the king." The others nodded agreement.

"Then," said Senityili, "I shall tell you how to gain admission to the prince's stronghold."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

The City of Caverns was made up of a network of walkways standing slightly above deep channels of seawater. Tall buildings, their architecture surprisingly sophisticated and at times even beautiful, rose above them. At the apex of the domed cavern roof was an artificial sun; a globe with, presumably, multiple Continual Light spells cast upon it. If it had not been for the ever-present motif of scales and sea creatures it would have been impossible to believe that the city was the home of an apparently primitive and savage species that was humanoid only in outward shape.

Buffy gave voice to that disbelief after a brief but intense three-cornered fight against a rebel incursion and a squadron of the king's troops who had apparently not been warned about the presence of surface-dweller guests in the city. "Hey, how come a bunch of shark people could build this city anyway? It's, uh, pretty impressive."

"Perhaps they did not," said Sorkatani. "There were other civilizations in the seas before the time of the sahuagin. They may have merely taken over something that already existed." She retrieved a crossbow from one of the bodies, examined it briefly, and then tossed it aside.

"Yeah, that would make sense," Buffy said. "The shark men are just too icky to come up with buildings like these." Her attention was distracted by a cloak of shimmering cloth that bedecked a sahuagin corpse. "Ooh, shiny!"

"Actually, I found the High Priestess to be a rather sensible, ah, woman," Giles said. "Quite intelligent. If she is truly representative of their species perhaps they could indeed have constructed this metropolis."

"You are assuming that her words were true and not false promises to manipulate us," said Jaheira.

"They were true, abbil," Viconia said. "Unless she had the forethought to cast Undetectable Lie, that is."

"As she may well have done." Jaheira drummed her fingers against the shaft of her spear. "My inclination is, however, to believe that the High Priestess is a creature of honor. In so far as that is possible for such a being, at least."

"I liked her," said Tara.

Xander's eyebrows arched upwards. "Uh, you did notice that she was a cannibalistic shark monster, right?"

"She's a shark monster but I didn't see her eating anybody," Tara said. "Or even hear her talk about eating anyone, unlike Spike and his sahuagin and fries joke."

"Well, Spike's a cannibalistic vampire monster," Xander reminded her. "Uh, no offense meant, Spike."

"None taken," Spike replied. There was a grin on his face that vanished as he spotted something ahead. "Hang on. Tripwire, twenty feet in front."

"I'm on it," said Dawn. She advanced, bent down, and secured the ends of the wire so that she could safely cut the middle part.

"This must be the part of the city that the drow occupied," said Buffy. "Stay alert, everybody. Hey, Giles, can you summon up Bagpuss? I think this cloak is magic."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

"Ooh! Some big people have come to play." A shrill, childlike, voice squeaked out from the platform ahead of them.

"And not that stodgy overgrown shark-king," a second voice chimed in. "He's no fun. He won't play our games. These big people might." The two speakers, or squeakers, were imps. The little demonic beings fluttered towards the party. "Hello, big people. Do you want the drow treasure?"

Buffy rolled her eyes. "Well, duh," she said. "Is there any other reason for us to be here?"

"If you want the treasure you have to play our game," one of the imps told her.

"Don't tell me," sighed Spike. "We have to chop down the tallest tree in the forest with a sodding herring. Why does everything in this sodding world have to turn into a bloody quest?"

"It only seems that way," said Sorkatani. "Most denizens of Faerûn will go their whole lives without ever have to, how did you put it? 'Travel to the Forest of Trees, pull the Sword of Slicing from the Stone of – something – and slay the Dragon of Sodding Great Teeth' in order to be able to purchase a mug of beer. It's because you're traveling with me that you get dragged into all these quests."

"Wouldn't miss it for the world, Jabbress," Spike told her. "Okay, titch, what's your game?"

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

The imps' game proved to be somewhat less taxing than Spike's prediction. The adventurers were required to match a series of objects to their owners. As the owners in question were celebrities of Northern Faerûn, and totally unknown to most of the Scoobies, it might have been difficult had the group members from Earth been alone. As it was, however, Sorkatani completed the task without even needing to pause to think.

"You could have at least pretended to consult me," Imoen moaned, as the imps opened the treasure chest and dispelled its undead guardian. "It's like I don't have a place in the group any longer."

Sorkatani stared at her. "What do you mean?"

"Willow's better at magic than me, Anya and Dawn are better with locks and traps, and almost everyone can fight better than I can," Imoen said. "You don't seem to need me anymore."

"How can you say that?" Sorkatani's eyes opened very wide. "You're my sister."

"You didn't even know that until a few days ago," Imoen pointed out. "I'm not your real sister, anyway, just half at most. Like Sarevok."

Sorkatani's lip trembled. "You are my friend, Imoen. We grew up together. Fled from Candlekeep together. Fought the Iron Throne together."

"Grew up. Fled. Fought. All past tense, Sorkatani. You're just not acting as if I'm your best friend any longer."

The trembling of Sorkatani's lip grew more noticeable. Her eyes glistened with moisture. Then she straightened her shoulders and her mouth became a tight line. "Fine. Have it your way. Dawn and Buffy are my best friends now. Are you satisfied? Vith'os!" She spun on her heel and marched off to where Willow and Giles were examining the contents of the chest.

Imoen was prevented from following her by Jaheira's hand closing on her shoulder. "Foolish and petulant child," Jaheira scolded. "I shall make allowances for the torments you suffered at the hands of Irenicus and not turn you over my knee as you deserve. How dare you speak thus to Sorkatani after what she has been through?"

"What she's been through? What about me?"

Jaheira's eyes were cold. "You were imprisoned and harshly treated. She had to cut off the head of the man she loved." Her grip slackened and her eyes softened as she saw Imoen's lower lip quiver. "I know that you feel out of place in this group now, Imoen, but you must adjust. You have not lost Sorkatani yet but if you push too hard you will push her away. Give her time."

The byplay had passed unnoticed by most of the others. They had expected the chest to hold the Tooth of Sekolah, a magical key in the form of a shark tooth, which would open the doors that barred the surface path to the rebel prince's lair. The underwater route used by the sahuagin would be impossible for them without sahuagin assistance. Instead of the artifact, however, the chest had contained only a cloak and a pair of boots.

"Decent bit of kit," Spike said, after Bagpuss had identified the items, "but not what we were looking for." He jerked a thumb in the direction of a walkway that led away from the imps' platform. "Guess that must be where the real stuff is." He narrowed his eyes, brought his hand up to shade them, and peered into the deep shadows that obscured the path's far end. "And the real guardian. Bloody great thing like a beach-ball on steroids with a sodding enormous eye. One of those Beholder things, right?"

"Crap," said Xander. "Those things are tough. And I don't have Carsomyr."

"We have the Cloak of Mirroring," Willow said, referring to the shiny cloak that they had retrieved from the body of a dead sahuagin cleric. "Bagpuss reckons that it reflects spells. It should work on the Beholder eye-rays, right?"

"I believe so," said Giles. "Finding out could be rather, ah, hazardous."

Sorkatani marched up to him. Her fists were clenched and her eyes were blazing. "Hazardous, you said?"

"Ah, yes," Giles confirmed. "Death rays, petrifaction, painful and disabling wounds. All are distinct possibilities."

"But important, right?"

"Most certainly," Giles said. "We must retrieve the Tooth of Sekolah or we shall have to send Spike through the underwater tunnel on our behalf. And, honestly, would you be happy about relying upon Spike's negotiating skills?"

"O-kay," Sorkatani snapped. "Imoen wants to feel needed. Well, as she doesn't happen to be shagging anyone right now, she can sodding well do this."

"She does possess a suitable skill set to investigate the guardian, being both mage and thief, and the Cloak of Mirroring should in theory give her adequate protection," Giles said. "Your decision, however, appears to be based on emotion rather than logic. Is that, ah, wise?"

"I think you've been hanging with Spike a little too much," Buffy added. "Cool it, Tani."

Sorkatani deflated slightly. "Perhaps you are right. She just made me so mad."

"That's what sisters do," Buffy said.

"Then she should make me only half mad," said Sorkatani. She folded her arms.

"I'll do it," Imoen said from behind her.

"You heard?"

"Yes, I did. I'm sorry for what I said, Sorkatani."

"It's okay." Sorkatani sucked in her lower lip and bit on it. "I'm sorry too."

"Heya, I don't mind if you get mad at me sometimes," Imoen said. "Right, what's this thing you want me to do? Checking out that path along there? I can do that."

"There appears to be a beholder guarding the way," Giles warned her. "We believe that the Cloak of Mirroring would provide protection from its eye rays but I must confess that we are not absolutely certain."

"I'll risk it," said Imoen. "I'm dying anyway, according to Irenicus, so it's not like I have all that much to lose." She gave Giles a slightly shaky smile.

"Ah. I have a hypothesis about that," Giles said. "He said that both of you would fade away and die without your souls. Remember, however, that he was an elf before his transformation. A being with a life-span measured in millennia. After his soul was taken from him he began to age as if he were human. He may have made an extrapolation from his own case that was not valid for your circumstances."

"So I might live out a normal life?"

"I see no reason why not," Giles said.

"Well, that's a relief," Imoen said. "Except that I still feel sort of hollow inside."

"And yet I feel perfectly well. Even stronger than I used to be, if anything," Sorkatani said.

"Pretty sure you really have got stronger," Spike put in. "Was always a fair bit stronger than you, about as much as you were stronger than Minsc, but now I don't think there's that much," he held up a hand with finger and thumb almost touching, "to choose between us."

"Hmm. Fascinating," said Giles.

"You can find out with some arm-wrestling some other time," Buffy suggested. "Right now we have to decide who tries out that cloak on the beholder."

"I'm still volunteering," Imoen stated. "It sounds like a job for a mage thief. That's me. Checking things out is what I do best."

"Okay," Sorkatani agreed, "but be careful."

"When am I ever not careful?" Imoen took the Cloak of Mirroring from Buffy and slipped it over her shoulders.

Sorkatani rolled her eyes. "Should I start with when you followed Gorion and me into the wilderness and make a list of every time from then until now?"

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

Buffy squinted up at the spherical creature. "This is the first time that I've ever met a beholder who wasn't trying to turn me into a statue, or blast my head off," she said.

"We Spectators are unlike the other beholder-kin," the guardian explained. "More intelligent, if I say so myself, and much less psychotic." It blinked its large central eye. "And, in my case, absolutely bored to tears. I've been stuck here for forty years with no company except occasional rampaging sahuagin and those exceptionally irritating imps. I'm delighted to have some civilized company."

"Stuck here?" Sorkatani raised her eyebrows. "How come?"

"As I told your charming friend," the spectator said, "I was summoned and bound to servitude by a drow wizard. He commanded that I guard this chest." The creature used its four mobile eyestalks to point towards the container in question. "The terms of a summoning contract bind me for ninety-nine years, or until the task is completed, or until the summoner releases me from the duty. As a sahuagin thrust a spear through him, some ten minutes after he completed the ritual, that release is hardly likely to be forthcoming. I'm here for the duration. Fifty-nine more years."

"Is there a way in which we could release you?" Jaheira asked.

"Only by killing me," the spectator replied, "and even after forty years of playing tic tac toe with a pair of crazy imps I'm not quite bored enough to be willing to die. I'd fight back. You seem to be rather accomplished adventurers, and you might well be able to slay me, but I'd take at least one or two of you with me."

"We do not attack peaceful beings," said Sorkatani. She sighed. "Yet we really need to obtain an artifact from within the chest."

"I'm afraid I can't permit that," the spectator told her. "Sorry, but those are the rules."

"Wait a minute," said Anya. "You're bound to protect the chest, right? That's what the wizard said?"

"Exactly," the spectator replied, bobbing in the air. "Weren't you listening?"

"Oh, I was listening all right," Anya said. "Perhaps you weren't. He said that you must protect the chest. Not the contents."

"Ah." The spectator blinked. "I see what you mean. No, he said nothing about the contents. I can't allow you to open the chest, however."

"But you could open it," Anya said. "You could let us take whatever is inside and we wouldn't even need to touch the chest itself."

"Hmm. Yes, that would satisfy the terms and conditions," the spectator agreed. "I'd need some incentive to go along with your plan, however."

"You have suffered forty years of boredom, I think you said?" Giles swung his guitar into position. "That's where I come in. Let me entertain you."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

Buffy held aloft a leather bag. "Okay, your king-ness, here's the heart you wanted and, can I say, it is majorly gross."

The sahuagin king clapped his hands together. "Mmm, I detect the delicious scent of a rebel's ichor. Excellent, excellent. The prince is dead, long live the king."

"Then we are free to depart now?" asked Sorkatani.

"Yes, yes," said the king. "I'll send a minion to show you where the shaft to the Underdark lies."

"Thanks," said Buffy. "Uh, we'd like to say goodbye to High Priestess Semi-whatever first, okay?"

"Hah!" exclaimed the king. "That won't be possible. Her acolyte was caught sneaking around near the rebel camp. Trying to warn them that you were coming, probably, and so I sentenced her to be sacrificed to Sekolah. Senityili wasn't very happy about that and so I had her sacrificed too. It keeps things tidy. Baron Thelokassyil has been pestering me to install Tlyysixxous as Royal High Priestess, anyway, and now he can have his wish."

Buffy grimaced. "Crap. You shouldn't have done that."

"Do not presume to tell me what I should not have done, surface creature," the king growled.

"No, you really shouldn't have done that," Buffy repeated. "The prince didn't ask us to do his fighting for him. Just to keep you distracted while he moved his men into position to attack. But now you've killed someone who we kinda liked, so…"

"I told you that the surface beasts could not be trusted," hissed the king's chief advisor.

"Treachery!" the king snarled. "Baron Thelokassyil! Kill the surface creatures. I want their heads on my plate for the feast tonight."

The baron leaped at Buffy. She swung her hammer and smashed him to the ground.

Sorkatani drew Celestial Fury and struck. An attacking guard reeled back with green blood gushing from a severed arm.

Willow raised a hand and pointed. A bolt of lightning shot forth from her fingers, struck a guard, and jumped onwards to another. It sparked from sahuagin to sahuagin, injuring all that it touched, and leaving two of the guards dead on the ground. Tara used a Hold spell to freeze a sahuagin warrior in place. Minsc brought Lilarcor down upon the head of a charging guard and hewed it in twain.

Viconia summoned down a Flame Strike and turned one of the guards into a pillar of ash.

Spike rammed his rapier Namarra through the chest of a sahuagin who tried to grapple with him. As he was pulling the blade free the king jumped forward and thrust with a long spear at the center of Spike's back. The spear point pierced through the Armor of Deep Night as if the dragon-hide reinforced leather was mere tissue paper and penetrated all the way to Spike's heart.

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

"Things go well on the surface," the Matron Mother said to Irenicus. "Their outer defenses have fallen. We have driven half of their army into the outer reaches of the forest and the rest have fallen back into the city. The time will soon be at hand for you to add the power of your spells, and your sister's matchless physical might, to the assault."

"As you wish, Matron Mother," Irenicus replied.

"We have taken our first captives," the Matron Mother continued. She clapped her hands and half a dozen drow warriors entered the chamber dragging two elf prisoners.

"These two rank high among the darthiir scum, Matron Mother," one of the warriors said. "What is to be their fate?"

"Their presence sickens me." The Matron Mother turned to Irenicus. "What say you? Is it worth interrogating them, or shall we feed them to your sister?"

"Jonaleth! What are you doing with these monsters?" one of the elves burst out. "You are one of us."

Bodhi appeared at the top of a flight of stairs that led into the audience chamber. "He was," she said. She didn't bother to use the stairs but entered the room with one thirty-foot leap. Anomen and Tanova descended behind her in a more conventional manner. "Ellesime put an end to that."

"Bhuraedhi?" The elf's eyes widened as he stared at her. "You are with them too?"

Bodhi rolled her eyes. "Well, yes, obviously," she said. "You really are an idiot, Riluaneth. I remember now why I only fucked you once. Oh, yes, and you were pathetic in bed." She turned her gaze away from the elf and addressed the drow leader. "Greetings, Matron Mother. Did I hear you say something about giving these fools to me?"

"Indeed so. Drain them dry, Bodhi. The sight should prove entertaining."

Bodhi glanced briefly at the elves and then back at the Matron Mother. "If it's all the same to you, Matron Mother, I shall let my followers have them. I'm looking for something more permanent. New recruits for my band. It's quite difficult to turn elves. They usually just die. Not that I'd want to be saddled with those two permanently in any case."

"Give them to your minions if you wish," the drow ruler assented. "As long as there is plenty of blood it makes no difference to me."

"You are a vampire!" Riluaneth exclaimed. "But how? What happened, Bhur…?" His words were cut off as Tanova seized him and, after a nod from Bodhi, plunged her fangs into the elf's throat.

Anomen took hold of the other elf's shoulders but hesitated before following Tanova's example. "I'd rather eat a female," he complained. "Biting another man seems a little… unnatural."

"You're a vampire, Anomen," Bodhi snapped. "We're supposed to be unnatural. I'm not telling you to kiss him. Just rip his fucking throat out."

Anomen obeyed. Blood spurted forth in a scene gory enough to satisfy the Matron Mother's desire to witness carnage.

"My apologies, Matron Mother," said Bodhi. "Good help is so hard to find. I am seeking intelligent recruits. Are there any amongst your people of whom you would like to rid yourself? A drow vampire might be an interesting addition to my family."

"Hmm. Perhaps," the Matron Mother mused. "Solaufein? No, he is competent and useful, although annoying. We have some drow captives for whom I have no particular use. Outcasts from another city who were foolish enough to seek shelter here. I could spare one of them, if you wish."

"I would be most grateful, Matron Mother," said Bodhi.

"Very well. I shall give orders for one to be sent to you." The Matron Mother turned to Irenicus. "That was indeed a pleasing spectacle. I found it… arousing. Come with me to my bedchamber."

"If that is your desire, Matron Mother," Irenicus replied.

The drow woman laughed. "You seem to lack enthusiasm. Almost I am offended. Nonetheless, I shall take you to bed. It will be interesting to see if I can make a dent in that rigid composure of yours."

"Very well, Matron Mother," Irenicus agreed. "I shall endeavor to give satisfaction."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

"You did far more than you were asked, surface people," said Prince Villynaty. "You may keep the king's weapons, and those that you have taken from the guards that you slew, and I shall give you as much gold from the Royal Treasury as you can carry. I shall equip you with ropes, to aid with your descent into the Underdark, and with whatsoever supplies you require."

"Thanks, Prince," said Buffy.

"You have my gratitude," the former prince, now king, went on. "I knew little of the humans of the surface but you have taught me that they have bravery and honor. I shall remember this and the humans will not suffer attacks from the City of Caverns in the future."

"I thank you also," added the new Royal High Priestess, "on behalf of our people and of my late mother Senityili."

"Your mother was a great woman, Sallinithyl," Sorkatani replied.

"Indeed. I shall try to live up to her," said Sallinithyl. "Fare you well, humans."

"Are you quite recovered now, my Spike?" Viconia asked, as they departed from the sahuagin court.

"'M fine now, love," Spike assured her.

"I was afraid for you," Viconia went on. "Fear laid iron claws upon my heart. I do not wish to lose you."

"Felt the same when they told me what bitch-features did to you back in Spellhold, ussta 'che," Spike told her. He grinned. "You really did a number on that king bloke. Bloody impressive."

"Wrath filled me, and I called upon Shar for Righteous Magic," Viconia said. "Against such power, and with the Flail of Ages and Mauler's Arm in my hands, he stood no chance. Great was my fear, great was my fury, and great was my relief when I saw you rise once more to your feet." She shuddered. "You came so close to death. An inch or two deeper, so that the wood of the shaft made contact with your heart, and you would have been dust. I would have lost you forever and my world would have become empty."

"Yeah, well, he didn't quite stab deep enough," said Spike, "and you made sure he didn't get another chance. Bloody hurt, though."

"It is indeed a mighty weapon," Jaheira put in. "The enchantments that it bears eclipse even those of the spear that was hidden within the carpet in the labyrinth. It is a weapon to rank almost with Celestial Fury. Yet it disturbs me that it inflicted such injuries upon you. The spear from Spellhold wounded Willow most grievously. I would not wish another such event to happen. If you share my concerns, Spike, I shall put it aside and continue to use the Spear of the Unicorn."

"Nah, don't worry about it, Jaheira," Spike told her. "You didn't have it when it stabbed me. Just keep tight hold of it, abbil."

"I shall do so," Jaheira promised. "My intention is to use it upon Bodhi, of course, but I shall not do so unless I have strength enough to ensure that she is not able to wrest it from my grip."

"So, down into the Underdark we go," said Buffy. "Uh, any chance we could raise the sub, dry it out, and go out by the sea route instead?"

Giles raised a finger to his glasses. "I doubt it," he said. "Now that the interior has been flooded there will certainly have been extensive damage. The water is supposed to go on the outside. Even if we could get back out through the tunnels, with the assistance of the sahuagin, there would be too great a risk of ending up unable to steer or propel the craft forward. No, descending into the Underdark and pursuing Irenicus and Bodhi that way is really the only option open to us."

"And once more dread fills my heart," Viconia said. "The prospect is not welcome to me."

"Hey, it can't be that bad," Buffy said. "We're pretty tough. We'll make it."

"Do not speak lightly of what you do not know," said Viconia. "It is a realm of terror. On the surface world we are hunters. In the Underdark we will be seen as prey. Many and terrible are the foes that await us there; and the greatest danger of all will come from the drow."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

"So, you are of House De'Vir?" Bodhi raised her eyebrows. "Do you know Viconia De'Vir?"

The captive drow curled his upper lip. "A name that shames us. She was my aunt, sister to my father, before her cowardice and weakness disgraced us all."

"Cowardice? Weakness?" Bodhi's eyes widened and she shook her head. "You drow must have exceedingly high standards. I could happily spend hours thinking up insulting terms to describe her but those are two words that would not have come to mind."

"You know her?" It was the turn of the drow's eyebrows to climb high.

"I killed her," Bodhi said, "but she came right back again. Next time I'm going to rip her into shreds and feed them to some suitably ravenous beast."

"Good," said the drow. "My father was turned into a drider because of her. The stain of her dishonor lay upon us all and when Matron Ginafae angered House Do'Urden our doom was sealed."

"In that case I have good news for you," Bodhi told the drow. "What's your name, by the way?"

"Zarbalan De'Vir," the drow replied. "Son of Valas, and grandson of Matron Mother Ginafae."

"Well, Zarbalan, you can have a chance to get your revenge upon Auntie Viconia," Bodhi told him. "Won't that be nice? Oh, and now the bad news. First I'm going to kill you."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

Alex watched the adventurers say their final farewells to the sahuagin and make their preparations for their descent into the Underdark. He drained his cup of coffee and glanced at his watch.

"I'd best be going," he muttered to himself. "I don't want to keep Stephanie waiting. This seems like a pretty good place to do a Save." He clicked on the Options icon and selected Save Game. He watched for a moment, as the Save progress indicator crawled slowly around the golden death's head symbol of Bhaal on the screen, and then jumped as the game suddenly minimized itself and vanished from the Desktop. In its place was an unfamiliar text box headed 'Baldur's Gate II – Shadows of Amn' and carrying an ominous symbol; a yellow triangle containing a large black exclamation mark. It was followed by a message that he had never seen before.

_Save game failed, do you wish to quit? [Yes/No]_


	54. Chapter 54

**Chapter Fifty-four**

"Yeah, you did the right thing," Warren said. "Thanks, Alex."

"Can you fix it? 'Cause hey, if you can't save the game, they're on their own. No second chances and, man, the Realms make the Hellmouth look like Sesame Street."

Warren sucked in his lower lip and bit on it. "Well, first I have to find out what went wrong. I'd guess at running out of disk space but we added a new disk just before we left. It can't have run out that quick. Maybe one of the disks failed. At least we have everything backed up."

"The Realms are tough but so are the guys," Jonathan reassured Alex. "They have weapons that make the stuff in Randy and Joan's weapons chest look like biplanes compared to an F-16. They'll be okay."

"The trouble is a lot of the bad guys have super-cool weapons too," Warren pointed out. "I'll feel a lot better if we can get it fixed." He frowned at the PC.

"Hey, you said you started to save just when they were going down to the Underdark, right?" Jonathan queried.

"That's right," Alex confirmed. "It seemed a good time to do it."

"There's an Auto-Save exactly at that point, isn't there?" Jonathan said. He raised a hand to his chin and stroked it thoughtfully. "Maybe both saves ran together. It's a million to one chance, dude, but you know they crop up nine times out of ten. Conflict city."

"Good thinking, Batman," Warren praised. "You could be right. I hope so. I have enough to do without having to spend time on this."

"Oh, yeah," said Alex, "that reminds me. Congratulations, guys. I should have said that before but I was kinda worried about the other versions of the Scoobies."

Warren grinned. "Don't worry about it, Alex, I understand. Thanks. It's cool, huh? We're not going to sign the contract until our lawyer checks it out – hey, like I could ever have imagined myself saying something like that – but it's looking good."

"We so have to party," said Andrew. "Fame and fortune are at our fingertips."

"I keep thinking that I'm going to wake up and it'll have all been a dream," said Jonathan. He had already gone to the PC and now he clicked on the 'No' option from the error message. The game expanded itself and images of Buffy, Sorkatani, and company filled the screen. "Well, it hasn't crashed. Let's see what happens when the Auto-Save tries again."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

"I swim in memories in such a place as this," Viconia said. "Most unpleasant memories."

"If you wish to talk of them, I would gladly listen," said Jaheira.

"Me too," said Spike. "Goes without saying."

"I do not so wish," said Viconia, "not at this time. Perhaps later."

"This place is just too darn creepy," Imoen muttered. "I really want out of here."

"You and everyone else," Buffy said. She squinted into the distance. "This infravision thing wigs me out. Everything looks weird."

"Yeah, it's like we're Predators," Xander remarked. "I wasn't expecting it to be so dark. I kinda thought there would be, like, glowing fungi making just enough light to see by." He shook his head. "I guess that's 'cause it's like that in games and the movies."

"There are lights in the cities, and along frequently used trails," Viconia informed him, "and such fungi as you describe exist in some places. Much of the Underdark, however, is simply… dark."

"And our nifty magic flashlights can be seen from way further away than they light things up," Willow moaned. "Like, a sign saying 'humans coming through' that all can read from Rivendell to the mouth of Anduin."

"Heroes coming through," Minsc corrected her.

"From where to the mouth of where?" asked Imoen.

"Don't worry about it, Imoen," Buffy said. "I don't get half the things she talks about either."

"Hmm. Our vision in the darkness is still inferior to that of the native creatures," Giles said. "I believe that I can enhance it, however, but the snag is that my song will also give away our presence."

"I think that is a risk worth taking," Sorkatani said, "as long as the duration of the effect is much longer than the song."

"That didn't work too well when you tried it in the sewers under the Temple District," Buffy reminded Giles. "It worked for you, and Xander, but not for the rest of us."

"That is true, Buffy," Giles admitted, "but I have grown in mastery of my craft since then. I know what I did wrong and I am quite confident that I can be more successful this time."

"Okay, Giles, hit it," Buffy told him.

"Very well." He brought his guitar to the ready and struck up his tune.

"_I know you deceived us, now here's a surprise,_

_We know that you have 'cos there's magic in our eyes,_

_We can see for miles and miles and miles and miles and miles_

_Oh yeah…_"

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

"The City of Caverns," Jonathan said, moving the mouse pointer into position over the folder, right clicking, and displaying Properties. "The Underdark. The Elven Temple ruins. The Underdark Exit. Small Teeth Pass. North Forest. The Forest of Tethir."

"Go back through them again," Warren said, punching numbers into a calculator, "only slower this time." Jonathan obeyed. "Well," Warren said, after he completed his calculations, "that accounts for most of the increase. There's still… wait a minute… sixty-five gigs unaccounted for."

"Didn't Minsc meet up with a guy from Calimshan?" Andrew suggested. "Maybe he's gone home."

"One conversation in the market-place wouldn't turn someone into a carrier," Jonathan said. "Would it?"

"Your guess is as good as mine," said Warren. "All I know is that if the game's growing fast enough to fill a new hard drive in four days then there's no way we can keep up."

"Irenicus and Bodhi must have spread it into the Underdark," Jonathan said. "If the other big jump came from Galvarey in Tethyr then maybe there won't be any more spurts for a while."

"I hope so," Warren said. "If it keeps growing exponentially…" He shook his head. "We're running as fast as we can just to stand still. Changing over to RAID-0 has covered it but that means no redundancy. We have to get a dedicated server with a big array of disks."

"Once we get some real money we can afford it," Jonathan agreed, "but not yet, dude."

"I know." Warren scratched his chin. "We'll leave things as they are for now. Let's take the contract over to the lawyer, dudes, and see what he says. And then," a smile slowly spread over his face, "I'm going to call Katrina."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

"Cor der noror rrin doth samman?" Carlig challenged. He kept his eyes trained on the drow woman, who was at the front of the approaching party, and hefted his axe ready for combat if necessary.

"Udos ph'naut dosst ogglinnar, duergar," the drow replied, using her own language as was only to be expected from one of her arrogant race, "jahl lil waela lueth waela ragar brorna lueth wund nind, kyorlin elghinn. Usstan uil Viconia. Xun dos telanth l'xanalress de l'rivvin?"

Carlig raised his eyebrows. Why would a drow want him to speak in the tongue of humans? Certainly there were humans in her entourage, as the enormous height of one of them had made obvious even at first sight, but they would of course be slaves and of no consequence.

"Aye, I do, Malla Viconia," he answered her respectfully, in the language that she had requested, "but why would you…" His voice trailed off as he took more notice of the other members of the drow's party. Never had he seen slaves so well-equipped. They wore dragon-scale armor, matching that of the drow herself, and he could tell at a glance that they bore enchanted weaponry of great might. And could that be a surface elf among their number? Perhaps a half-breed, he guessed, but even so no such slave would ever be permitted to walk unchained and armed.

"Carlig! She bears no House insignia," his assistant hissed, "and look at her companions!" His voice lowered slightly. "She is outcast."

"And you are ill-mannered," the drow responded to the overheard remark.

"Your pardon, Malla Viconia," Carlig apologized. "Mordin simply wishes to be sure I know who I'm dealing with. It is not often that those not directly associated with a House pass this way."

"Very seldom. They do not live long," put in his bodyguard Finderlig.

"Excuse his bluntness, please, Malla Viconia. I am Carlig, a trader of sorts, and if you have coin perhaps we can do business."

"Perhaps, Carlig," Viconia said, "but I am not the leader of this party." She moved aside and gave way to two young human females. One was dark of hair, clad in armor of dragon scales, and with two swords at her waist. The other was fair, wearing no armor save for dragon-skin wrist guards, and at her hips hung a sword and a massive war hammer.

Carlig's eyebrows climbed towards the crown of his bald head. For a drow, and a female at that, to give precedence to mere humans was quite outside his experience. "Greetings," he said, and then dredged up from the recesses of his memory the courteous term for addressing female surface humans, "ladies."

"Greetings," the dark-haired one replied. "I am Sorkatani."

"And I'm Buffy the Vampire Slayer," said the fair one. She did not look to Carlig as if she was capable of slaying the dreaded neck-biters, being slim even by the standards of humans and no taller than a drow, but perhaps she had come upon one wounded and recuperating in its coffin. Anyone with a wooden stake could slay them in that state.

"What do you have to trade?" the dark one asked. "We have spare weapons that we would like to sell, or to barter, but the coin that we have is from the surface lands. Or from the bottom of the sea."

"Gold is gold," said Carlig. He focused his gaze on the hammer at the fair girl's side. It was an impressive weapon indeed, of dwarven make unless he missed his guess, and undoubtedly far too heavy for the girl to wield effectively. "I would offer you a good price for that hammer."

The girl's eyes widened. "You want to buy the Hammer of Thunderbolts? Sorry, no can do. Well, not unless you have something totally awesome to offer me in its place."

"I am sure that I could find something more suited to one of your stature," Carlig offered.

A smile spread across the face of the dark girl. "You think that Buffy's not strong enough to swing the hammer, right?" Her smile was mirrored on the faces of the other members of the group and a couple of them even broke into open laughter.

The fair girl grinned and unhooked the hammer from her belt. "Hey, I never thought of that," she said. The hammer seemed to leap into the air. She twirled it around, flipped it behind her head and under her arm, tossed it into the air and caught it as it came down, and whirled it in a figure-of-eight pattern at such speed that it became almost invisible to the eye. "Funny, it doesn't seem to be a problem," she said, and brought it to a halt. She hooked the weapon back onto her belt. "So, what have you got?"

Carlig realized that his mouth was hanging open and closed it hastily. "Nothing that can match such a weapon, I am afraid, Malla Buffy," he told her, "but I have an exceedingly fine selection of magical scrolls."

"Hey, cool!" A new voice spoke from an apparently empty space. The air seemed to part and a red-haired human girl appeared. She held a mage's staff and wore robes. "Come on, Immy, let's take a look."

"We also seek information," said the dark-haired one, Sorkatani, as the mage and another girl began to examine Carlig's scrolls. "We're chasing a bunch of other surfacers."

"We see few denizens of the surface here," Carlig told her, "but there have been two such groups in this area lately. A wizard, human, with a couple of companions at his side."

The entire group spun as one to face him. Eyes that had been crinkled at the corners with smiles were suddenly narrowed and hard. "Tell me more," Sorkatani said. Her voice was like ice.

"He was just a wizard," Carlig told them. "Courteous enough. He traded some scrolls with me and then moved on."

"How long ago?" hissed the drow Viconia.

"Perhaps fifteen days, as the surfacers count time," Carlig said. "He went north, and then we saw the flashes of spells and heard the clash of swords. He fought a drow patrol, I think, and they overcame him. A spell was cast and he disappeared. I suspect that he was Imprisoned."

As he spoke he saw the adventurers relax. "Those were not the bastards we're looking for," said a young man. "I guess we can go about our business."

"Imprisonment is a dreadful fate," one of the two girls who were examining the scrolls commented. "There are some scrolls of Freedom here. Maybe we could release him. I bet he'd be grateful."

"Sure thing, Immy," said Sorkatani. She fixed her eyes on Carlig once more. "You mentioned another group of humans?"

"Well, not humans exactly," said Carlig.

"Bloody neck-biters," Finderlig chimed in. "And one human mage."

Again the entire group froze. The very temperature around them seemed to drop. Buffy the Vampire Slayer had been resting a hand upon Carlig's trestle table. Her grip closed on it with such force that the petrified mushroom wood cracked and splintered. "Irenicus and Bodhi," she said. "Okay, which way did they go?"

The tone of her voice carried so much menace that Carlig found himself unable to reply immediately. Suddenly he no longer doubted that she truly was a Vampire Slayer.

Finderlig was less sensitive to the atmosphere. "They went into the drow city," he revealed. "Walked right in and were treated like honored guests. Must be up to no good, those ol morogh dark elves wouldn't have greeted them like that otherwise." He gulped suddenly. "Your pardon, Malla Viconia."

"Granted, duergar," said the drow woman. "Tell me, what city is that?"

"It is called Ust Natha," Carlig told her.

"I know it not," Viconia said. "What House is First there? Who is their leader?"

"House Despana," Carlig informed the drow. "The Matron Mother is named Ardulace."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

"I am truly impressed," Matron Mother Ardulace said. "You are still in control after experiences that would have reduced any other jaluk I have known to mere whimpering jelly."

"I trust that you are satisfied with my performance, Matron Mother?" Irenicus rose from the bed and picked up his breeches from the floor.

"I think that you have earned the right to call me Ardulace," the Matron Mother said. "Not in public, of course. Oh, yes, I am indeed very satisfied."

"I am pleased, Matron – Ardulace. I am afraid, however, that you will have to content yourself with this one night. I must go."

Ardulace trailed her hand up from her groin, over her stomach, and to her breast. She ran a finger around a nipple and then put it into her mouth and sucked on it lasciviously. "Are you sure?"

"I am afraid so, Ardulace. We cannot allow the elves of Suldanesselar to have time to regroup and gather their forces. This is the moment to press home the attack."

"Oh, very well," Ardulace said, pouting. She propped herself up on one elbow and watched as Irenicus dressed. "Tell me, Irenicus, why do you wear those strange guards over your ears? You did not remove them even to fuck."

"They do not cover any part of my body necessary for our activities," Irenicus replied.

Ardulace sat up. "A witty retort, and said with admirable control, but I still sensed pain behind them. I know how to recognize pain, Irenicus, few have inflicted as much as have I. What did the darthiir do to you?"

Irenicus tugged his breeches up to his waist and turned to face her. "I think that you can guess. No, I will not remove my headgear and show you."

"And I will not demand it," Ardulace replied. "Go forth, then, and wreak your vengeance upon the darthiir. Farewell."

"Farewell, Matron Ardulace," Irenicus bade her. He finished dressing and left the room. In a nearby chamber he found his sister waiting.

"Did you have a nice time?" Bodhi asked.

Irenicus scanned the room to detect any signs of secret spy-holes or Clairaudience spells before replying. "It was something that had to be done in order to keep the drow woman contented," he told Bodhi. "I took little pleasure in the deed."

"Oh, come now, everybody likes fucking," Bodhi teased.

"Not everyone is as obsessed as are you, dear sister," Irenicus replied. "Only my revenge matters. Come, Suldanesselar awaits."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

"You have my most heartfelt thanks," said the mage. "That was a most unpleasant experience."

"You're welcome," said Buffy. "Hey, what were you doing down here anyway?"

"I might ask you the same question," said the wizard, "but that would be churlish when you have done me so great a service."

"It's no big deal," Buffy said. "We're chasing an evil wizard and three vampires. We're going to kill them. Last we heard they had gone into the drow city, which is a problem 'cause we don't think the drow will exactly welcome us with open arms, but we'll figure out a way of getting to them eventually."

"Ah. I would volunteer to assist you but I doubt that I could be of much help. It was the drow who condemned me to my grim incarceration." The wizard frowned. "I don't even know why. They seemed, if not exactly friendly, at least neutral at first. I took care to bring few possessions down here, so that I would seem not worth the trouble of robbing, and they did not attack until I gave them my name. I must have contravened some local custom unknowingly."

"And what is your name, mel'zar?" Viconia asked.

The mage looked at her askance for a moment. "I suppose that if you had evil intent towards me you would hardly have bothered to free me. My name is Vithal."

"Vith'al?" Viconia's lips curled up. She seemed to be fighting against some urge for a moment, successfully at first, but then a snigger sounded from Dawn and Viconia lost her inward struggle. She broke into open laughter, followed by Dawn, Spike, Willow, and Sorkatani. Giles, Jaheira, and Tara managed to restrain themselves.

"What is so amusing?" the mage asked. Confusion, and even a trace of anger, could be read in his expression.

"You, ah, don't speak Drow, do you?" Giles kept his face straight for long enough to get the sentence out, broke into a chuckle, and then recovered.

"No, I don't," Vithal admitted. "I had a Tongues spell ready in case of need, but the group that I encountered spoke the Common Tongue and I did not use it. Why?"

"Your name means 'fuck well' in their language," Jaheira told him. "They would think that you mocked or insulted them."

"Oh." Vithal grimaced. "It seems that I did indeed unwittingly contravene local custom through no fault of my own."

"That is so," said Jaheira, "although they may have intended to attack all along and merely seized on the first pretext."

"Hey, Viconia, do any of our names mean anything, uh, dumb in Drow?" Buffy asked.

"Had such been the case, Jabbress Buffy, your sister would have doubtless informed you long before now," Viconia replied. "She speaks my tongue almost as well as do I."

"Damn, and I know about six words," Buffy lamented. "I guess she got all the language skills in the family."

"Xander's name, when pronounced after the fashion of Spike and Giles, means 'foolish but cheerful youth' in the tongue of the duergar," Viconia revealed.

Buffy snickered, as did Willow. "They got you there, Xan," Buffy said.

"Curses," the wizard Vithal muttered. "My Book of Rituals has gone. I cast it down when combat began. Without it I cannot complete my mission."

"No doubt it was taken by the drow that defeated you," Sorkatani said, "and you have lost it forever. Can you obtain another copy somewhere else?"

"Perhaps," said Vithal, "but finding that one took six years of searching, from Luskan to Calimport. It will not be easy to replace. Still, perhaps it is not yet lost beyond recovery. I had passed a group of svirfneblin mere moments before I met the drow. It is possible that it was they who found the book after the battle. If so I may be able to retrieve it from them. The deep gnomes are not evil. A payment in gold should suffice." He gazed speculatively around the group. "That would leave me with only the problem of protecting my avenue of return. The warriors that I hired for that purpose fell before the drow. If you would assist me in their place I could recompense you for your time and trouble with spell scrolls."

"Can I ask what spells?" Willow put in.

"Abi-Dalzim's Horrid Wilting," Vithal said. "Simulacrum. Incendiary Cloud."

"Cool," Willow said. "I vote we help you." Imoen nodded enthusiastic agreement.

"We must know more of your mission first," Sorkatani said, "but I am willing, as long as it is not in the cause of Evil." She cast an interrogative glance at Xander.

Xander shrugged. "I can't help you there, Tani. I'm getting all kinds of, like, low-level background Evil vibes that are screwing with my powers. Everybody shows up as kinda Evil down here. Even you, and Buff, and hey, even Tara. Even Minsc."

"Minsc, and Boo, Evil?" The giant ranger's eyebrows shot up. "Truly this place is strange. I would have to plant a boot up my own backside."

"Okay, I guess the first step is to look for your book," said Buffy. "The, uh, dark dwarves said there was a Smurf-whatever village over that way. Let's check it out."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

"Well, we've signed the contract," Warren announced. "We're not rich yet, but hey, if the game sells well we will be."

"That's great," Willow exclaimed. Similar expressions came from Tara, from Joan, from Randy, and from Umad.

"So now you can pay Rupert back the money he loaned you?" said Anya. "Excellent."

"Hush, dearest, that's hardly my first priority," Rupert said. "Congratulations, Warren, Jonathan, Andrew."

"I guess it's party time, huh?" said Alex, grinning widely.

"Sure thing," Warren confirmed. "Not tonight. Katrina can't make it, and I guess you guys have college stuff to do, so we'll wait until the weekend. Saturday, at the Bronze, and everybody's invited."

"Hey, you can't wait that long," Alex said. "You have to do something tonight. Come over to the Bronze and I'll buy you a beer."

"Why not?" Warren grinned. "I fixed that thing with Baldur's Gate, at least for now, and I could use a break. Right, dudes?"

"Yeah, we'll hit the Bronze," Jonathan agreed. Andrew smiled and nodded.

"We'll call in too, after patrol," said Joan.

"Wouldn't miss it," said Randy. "Buy you a drink as well. S'ppose it really ought to be rum – sodomy and the lash optional."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

"The wizard's book? Certainly we found it, and brought it back to our granitehome, for we thought him gone forever," the svirfneblin chieftain said. "Take it back you may, and freely, for we have no use for it."

Vithal took the book from the gnome's hands. "My book, and undamaged. Thank you, sir, and accept these fifty gold coins as a token of my gratitude."

"Most gracious you are," said the gnome. "Little of surfacers know I, for down here you come not, but it seems you are a fair and honest people. Aid I would ask of you. We are not the richest of granitehomes but pay you what we can we will."

"We're not all that interested in reward," Buffy said, "but we could use some information. We're chasing somebody who went into the drow city. You wouldn't know a way in, would you? Other than walking up to the front door, knocking, and getting sliced into salami, that is."

"The beauteous lady could help you," the svirfneblin said, "but hidden her cave is. For the way there my price is that you give us the aid that we need."

"Another 'Forest of Trees' quest," Sorkatani said, glancing at Spike. "Tell us of this task, then."

"Deep we delved," began the gnome.

"And woke the Nameless Fear," Willow cut in. "Yeah, I can guess."

The gnome frowned at her. "Indeed so. A beast of terror. One quarter of our granitehome lies now deserted for fear of the beast. Our warriors perished in attempts to slay it. Rid us of this evil and you shall receive the gem that will show you the way to the abode of the fairest lady."

"So, what is this 'beast of terror'?" Imoen asked. "I hope you mean an Umber Hulk, or a big spider, and not something… otherworldly."

"Its name is not known to us," said the gnome. "Wings it has, and claws, and horns." He made a crude sketch on a slate with a piece of chalk. "Like unto this is its shape."

"Oh, no, a demon," Imoen said. "I was afraid of that."

"A tanar'ri," said Sorkatani. "We have slain many such."

"You have?" Imoen stared at her. "I missed out on a lot."

"Excellent," Willow said gleefully. "I need a demon heart for the upgrade to Celestial Fury. Let's go, guys. Uh, anyone know a good preservative spell?"

"We shall assist you with your mission once we have slain this beast," Sorkatani told Vithal. "That would be quicker than going with you and then returning here."

"Then I will help you fight the tanar'ri," Vithal offered. "There is little point in me merely standing aside and waiting. The sooner it is dead, the sooner you can turn your attention to helping me."

Sorkatani smiled at him. "Thank you, Vithal. That would be a big help."

"Yeah, thanks, Vithal," said Buffy. "Okay, guys, saddle up. It's demon-Slaying time."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

Vithal shook hands with each of the group in turn. "Farewell," he bade them. "You have my sincere thanks. I wish you all the best in your own undertaking and I hope that my scrolls will be of service to you."

"Oh, they will be," said Willow. "Incendiary Cloud will wipe the smirk off that bitca Bhodi's face. Crispy fried vampire!"

"Long as you watch where you're casting it, abbil," Spike said. "Don't want to be the crispy fried vampire in question."

"Farewell," Vithal said again. He drew a circle in the air, stepped through it, and was gone.

"Fuck well," said Spike.

Dawn giggled. Buffy shot Spike a death glare. Giles tutted and sighed.

"What? Was just feeling sorry for the poor bloke," Spike said. "Though, it could have been worse. Suppose his name had meant Fuck Badly?"

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

"Oh, crap." Warren's hand clenched around his beer glass. He raised his other hand, pointed briefly, and hastily lowered it out of sight. "See that guy over there?"

"Who, the big guy with the pretty girl?" Jonathan frowned. "He looks vaguely familiar." He turned to Lisa. "Uh, when I say pretty, I'm comparing her with the average girl in the street. She doesn't hold a candle to you."

"Frank somebody," Warren continued. "Asshole jock. He used to make my life a total misery back in High School."

"Maybe he's grown out of it," Alex said. "Don't let it bother you, Warren."

"I can't help it," Warren said. "I see him and I remember it all. Jerks like that were why I wanted to be a super-villain."

"Yeah, I get that, but what you've done instead is better," said Alex. "In a few weeks' time you can drive past him in your Ferrari and watch him turn green."

Warren laughed. "I don't know about a Ferrari. An Aston Martin, maybe."

"That would be cool too," said Alex. "I'm going to the rest room." He pushed his chair back and stood up.

"I'll get the drinks," Andrew volunteered. "Same again?"

"Maybe I'll have a martini, shaken not stirred," Warren mused. "No, just kidding. Another beer, dude."

"I'm on it," said Andrew. He headed for the bar. Across the room Warren's old enemy rose and made for the bar too.

Warren grimaced and looked away. He concentrated his attention on Jonathan and Lisa. They talked for a minute, Warren's mood lifting, until a crash of falling glass attracted their attention.

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

Their footsteps echoed in the stone tunnel. Around them the blackness lay, seemingly impenetrable, pierced only by the light from the magical gem.

"And I thought that the Underdark outside was too darn creepy," Imoen muttered.

"Creepy to the max," Dawn agreed. "But hey, it's worth putting up with some creepiness if this 'beautiful lady' can get us into the drow city. Get us in alive and not all tied up, that is."

The others remained silent. The gem light revealed the foot of the flight of steps. They descended to that point and then the darkness was gone. They were in a massive vaulted chamber.

In the center of the chamber lay a dragon.

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

"Hey! You spilled my drinks, you asshole."

"You crashed into me," Andrew protested. "It was your fault. And you've spilled my drinks."

The jock, Frank, glared at Andrew. "I know you," he said. "Tucker's faggot kid brother, right?"

"I'm Tucker's brother," Andrew confirmed. He looked up at the huge jock and gulped. "Okay, we'll call it quits on the drinks."

"Not so fast, faggot," Frank sneered. "You owe me for two beers and two Tequila Sunrises."

"Like hell," Andrew retorted. "You bumped into me. I was just minding my own business. You should have watched where you were going."

"Listen, asshole, just pay for the goddamn drinks, you get me?" Frank put his hand on Andrew's shoulder, casually to all outward appearances, and squeezed hard. "I don't want to have to hurt you."

"Leave him alone!" Warren kicked back his chair and stood up.

"Wait, Warren, Alex will be back in a minute," Jonathan urged his friend. He glanced anxiously towards the rest room but there was no sign of Alex. "He's way too big for you to take on."

"I don't care," Warren growled. "Let Andrew go, creep."

"Who's this, your boyfriend?" Frank released Andrew's shoulder, giving him a shove as he did so and sending Andrew staggering back, and turned to face Warren. "Isn't there a gay bar in Sunnydale for you to go to?"

"Well," said Warren, advancing to within arm's reach of Frank, "judging by your unhealthy interest in my underwear back at gym class, you'd fit right in there if there was."

Several bystanders laughed. Frank flushed. "I remember you," he said. "The comic book guy. The crybaby."

"Hey, yeah, that was me," said Warren. "I wonder why I used to cry? Oh, yeah, because there was this small-time sadist who used to get his kicks out of tormenting me. Well, guess what, asshole, I don't cry any more. But you're still picking on anyone smaller than you who you think just might be gay. What are you compensating for, Frankie? Huh?"

Frank snarled, drew back a massive fist, and swung a right hook at Warren's jaw.

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

"I am Adalon, the guardian," said the dragon. "My duty is to guard the gateway, as it has been for centuries."

"That would be the gateway to the surface, right?" Buffy narrowed her eyes. "Hey, if we could get out that way we wouldn't need to go into the drow city. We could skip right by it and head Irenicus off at the pass."

"Silence, worm!" boomed the dragon.

"Hey, don't talk to Buffy like that," Xander growled.

"Sheesh, and I thought silver dragons were supposed to be the good guys," Buffy commented. "Who died and made you Oscar the Grouch?"

"I am no longer as tolerant as others of my kind," Adalon told them. "A great crime has been committed. The balance that has existed for hundreds of years has been shattered. I can no longer honor my commitment. You will assist me."

"Speak on," said Sorkatani, "and we will listen."

"Silence! No interruptions," commanded Adalon. "This is of great importance. I will tell you when you may speak." The girls exchanged eye-rolls but obeyed the dragon's command. "The drow respected the agreement for centuries, out of fear of me, and only the occasional small group would slip out on raids. There was no war. Until the two that you seek, Bodhi the Vampire and Jon Irenicus, came. They made a deal with the drow to tip the scales against their elven enemy."

"Go on," Buffy urged, ignoring the dragon's hiss of anger.

"The price that they paid was to neutralize me," Adalon continued. "They pierced my veil of darkness, entered my lair, and stole my eggs."

"Uh-oh," Buffy said, still oblivious to the dragon's demand for silence. "And if you go out to do any gate-guarding they smash them, right?"

Adalon sighed. "You are correct. A threat against which I am helpless."

"Boo shakes with disbelief," Minsc cried. "Such a crime will not go unanswered."

"You must retrieve them for me," said Adalon. "Do this, and I will reveal a safe escape route from the Underdark; one that emerges close to where Irenicus plans his next move."

"Yeah, right," said Buffy. "What's the population of Ust Natha?"

"There are thirty-two thousand in Menzoberranzan," Viconia said. "I know Ust Natha not, but I would be surprised if its people numbered less than twenty thousand."

"And we're supposed to take them on? Who do you think we are, Superman and the Justice League of America?"

"We will do what we can," Sorkatani offered, "but we will not throw our lives away."

"I do not expect you to storm the city," the dragon said in a more measured tone. "I can give you a way to enter the city unsuspected."

"Invisibility isn't going to cut it," said Willow. "Somebody always bumps into you. The next thing you know they're casting True Sight and Invisibility Purge all over the place."

"I can transform you into the likeness of drow," Adalon revealed.

"And that would work fine until I opened my mouth," Buffy answered. "We have one real drow and a couple of quick learners. How many of us speak Drow well enough to pass for one?"

"Dawn and Tara for certain," Viconia declared. "Spike, Jaheira, Willow and Sorkatani have a good chance in most circumstances. Giles would need a little luck. The rest of you could not even pass the city gates."

"I have magic that can remedy that deficiency," Adalon assured them. "Greater than a Tongues spell. It will grant you full knowledge of the language for as long as you remain within the Underdark."

"Cool," said Buffy. "Now we're cooking with charcoal."

Sorkatani shook her head. "Language or no, Minsc is never going to pass for a drow," she said. "He is more than a foot taller than any male drow and twice as heavy. No glamour could hide such a discrepancy. If you polymorph him into the full likeness of a drow his skill with weapons will be impaired. No drow could wield Lilarcor."

"I managed, and I'm only that size," said Buffy. "Although, yeah, the super-strength helps."

"Even with that obstacle overcome, and with a spell to give him knowledge of Drow beyond 'abbil' and 'jabbress', his manner of speech would still betray him," Sorkatani went on.

"Maybe I could get him to yell 'Good, meet my sword! Sword, meet Good," Willow suggested, and then shook her head. "Like that's going to work."

"My witch makes fun of me, Boo," Minsc complained. "I can be – how do you say it? – subtle. I could shout 'Sword, meet the enemy! Enemy, meet my sword!' Would that not do?"

"That's great, Minsc," said Tara, "but I don't think it's quite Drow enough."

"Minsc must, then, be a rivvil slave," said Viconia. "A warrior of such great might could have gained some degree of privilege, perhaps, if his owner was a member of a high ranking House or a fighting society." She shook her head. "Such an owner would be known throughout the city. We could not impersonate one of such stature."

"I think I'd better be a human slave too," said Xander. "The two-handed sword thing applies to me as well, and I don't want to be five foot nothing."

Giles screwed up his eyes and put a hand on top of his head. "I don't think that I would get away with it either," he said.

"Yet the difference is not so great that you could not cope if the dragon changed your size by the necessary amount," Jaheira said. "Too many slaves would be suspicious, even if we can come up with a rationale to explain Minsc and perhaps Xander."

"My glasses would attract attention," Giles pointed out.

"You do not need them," Jaheira said. "Since you sang of seeing for miles you have looked over them at all times."

"Ah, yes, now you come to mention it, you are quite correct," Giles admitted.

"Without the insignia of a House we would simply perish in a more prolonged fashion," Viconia told the dragon. "We were attacked by a drow patrol as we made our way to this cave, and we slew them, but to attempt to take their place with the insignia of the dead would be futile."

"True," said Adalon, "but that is not my plan. The city has sent forth many warriors to attack the elves. So many, it would seem, that they have left themselves vulnerable to their enemies in the Underdark. To fill the gap they called upon the city of Ched Nasad to lend them mercenaries. The group from Ched Nasad passed close by and I risked a brief excursion to intercept them. I have their weapons, their armor, their insignia, and their mercenary contract."

"Ched Nasad," mused Viconia. "The City of Shimmering Webs. It has ties to Menzoberranzan and I have been there more than once. I could act such a role and so, with my tuition, could the others. Of what House were those you slew?"

"See for yourself," said the dragon. She raised a claw from her hoard and deposited a black back-pack, made from the hide of some unknown subterranean creature, at Viconia's feet.

"The Company of the Flickering Flame," Viconia read out from a paper that she found within the pack. "I know of them. A fighting society renowned for their training in strength and love of close combat." She turned towards Minsc and narrowed her eyes. "Our wild barbarian could have gained a place in such a company, perhaps, if he had served his mistress well and proved himself."

"Mistresses," Tara said, and then blushed.

"I see the only one name mentioned," Viconia said, after searching through the pack. "Veldrin. That, then, must be the name adopted by one of us. Have you more of their belongings, tagnik'zur?"

"Only what you see, and some weapons and armor," the dragon replied. "It is enough, surely?"

"It may suffice," said Viconia. "The plan may not be as foolish as I first thought."

"Yeah, it's a million to one chance, but it just might work," said Willow. "And don't call her Shirley."

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Warren dodged. Between instinct, adrenalin, years of watching martial arts movies, and months of watching Buffy training Sorkatani in unarmed combat in the game world, he managed to make the correct move and sway aside enough for Frank's fist to pass harmlessly an inch from his chin. Then he struck back.

He didn't even need to think about what he was doing. Years of frustration and resentment guided his fist. He struck Frank squarely on the mouth with everything that he had and the bigger man toppled backwards. Frank landed on his ass and slumped down, clutching his hand to his face, and moaning.

Warren winced. Something in his fist had cracked under the impact. Maybe he'd broken a finger. It didn't matter. Frank was down and out of it. He'd won.

"Wow, Warren, that was…" Andrew began, and then his eyes widened. "Look out!" he called.

Warren spun around. The chair aimed at the back of his head by one of Frank's buddies caught him on the side of the head instead. There was an ugly crunching noise and the chair leg shattered. Warren dropped like a stone.

Alex raced to the scene three seconds too late and wrenched the chair from the assailant's hands. He punched the man in the stomach and doubled him over. Andrew dropped to his knees beside Warren. Jonathan and Lisa ran to join him.

"Christ," Alex gasped. He turned to face the bartender and shouted, "Call the paramedics! And the cops! Hurry!" His face paled as he looked down at his unconscious friend.

A thin stream of blood was trickling from Warren's ear-hole and there was a visible depression in his skull.

**Glossary of Drow Phrases**

• 'Cor der noror rrin doth samman' = (Duergar, not Drow) 'Who goes there, friend or foe?'

• 'Udos ph'naut dosst ogglinnar, duergar' = 'We are not your foes, duergar.'

• 'jahl lil waela lueth waela ragar brorna lueth wund nind, kyorlin elghinn' = 'but the foolish and unwary find surprises and among them, waiting death'

• 'Usstan uil Viconia.' = 'I am called Viconia'.

• 'Xun dos telanth l'xanalress de l'rivvin?' = 'Do you speak Human?'.

• 'mel'zar' = 'mage'.

• 'tagnik'zur' = 'dragon'.

Disclaimer: lyrics sung by Giles in this chapter are from 'I Can See For Miles' (The Who) and are used without permission, amendments are unauthorized, and no intention to claim ownership is made. All rights remain with the original copyright holders.


	55. Chapter 55

**Chapter Fifty-Five**

"Who goes there?" The gate guard stared at them with suspicion evident in his expression. "You are drow, or you would have been slain before you reached this point, but you are not the patrol that we expected. Identify yourselves!"

"Stand down, male," Sorkatani ordered. Her haughty tone was modeled on that used by Viconia to address 'inferiors'. "I am Dynefryn of Ched Nasad. I am expected."

"There is indeed a party from Ched Nasad expected," said the guard, "but the name we were given was Veldrin."

"I am Veldrin, male," announced Viconia, from two paces behind Sorkatani and Buffy, "but I am not the leader of this company of the Flickering Flame. Stand aside for Dynefryn of the Blades and Qilafae of the Iron Arm."

"My apologies," the guard replied, bowing his head slightly. "I did but do my duty in questioning you. You are welcome to pass. You are late, however, and this has delayed the plans of Solaufein. Enter, quickly, and seek out Solaufein of the Male Fighters' Society. He will instruct you on your duties in Ust Natha." He stepped aside and let the party pass.

The city beyond the gate was a remarkable sight. Despite its subterranean location it was an elevated metropolis. The vaulted cave was dominated by towering stalagmites and rock columns. Windows set into the stone revealed that these were hollow, with the city's dwellings and places of business being inside them, and walkways of metal and stone formed a network connecting the colossal pillars. A second set of walkways repeated the network high above their heads. Occasional lower stalagmites were crowned with circular platforms, presumably the equivalent of town squares, bustling with drow going about their daily lives.

"Well, we're in," Buffy, alias Qilafae, muttered to Sorkatani as they made their way along the first of the walkways towards the city proper. "So far so good, as the guy who fell off a cliff said as he passed the half-way mark." She had broken from her usual custom and was wearing a short jerkin of drow adamantine chain-mail. The Hammer of Thunderbolts was at its usual place at her hip but a drow longsword had taken the place of the Blade of Roses. A drow crossbow, shorter than a human one and with a pistol grip, was slung at her shoulder. "I just hope that getting out again will be as easy."

"Put such thoughts out of your head, Qilafae," Sorkatani counseled her. "We must play our parts with total conviction. Think arrogant and selfish thoughts."

"No problem," said Buffy. "I have a role model. I'll just keep thinking 'what would Cordy do?' and that will keep me on the right track." She glanced down at her hands, where her fingernails were discolored by traces of dried demon blood, and grinned. "I guess that right now Cordy would be demanding a hot bath."

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Joan's hair was damp and she smelt of bath oils. "I should have been there," she said. "I'm so sorry."

"Couldn't have known, pet," Randy tried to sooth her. His hair, normally slicked down flat, was disheveled and also damp. "Don't blame yourself."

"If I had been there I could have done something," Joan went on. "Have you told Katrina?"

"I called her first," Alex confirmed. "Well, actually I called his mom first, but I called Katrina right after." He frowned at Joan. "Where were you two anyway? I thought you were going to the Bronze as soon as you finished patrol."

"A vamp threw me onto a headstone," Joan explained. "My back was bruised and I thought a hot bath would ease the pain. I didn't think that half an hour would matter. Except that Randy joined me and we kinda lost track of time." The muscles in her jaw stood out as she clenched her teeth. "I should have been there. How is he?"

"A depressed skull fracture," Alex said. "He's in the ER right now." He shook his head slowly. "They're not telling me all that much, on account of me not being a relative, but it's not looking good. From what I've picked up his heart stopped twice."

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"Ah, you are the newcomers that have been sent my way," said the male drow warrior. His armor was plain and unadorned, its matt finish making it appropriate for stealth missions rather than for guard duty or the parade ground, and the grips of his twin short-swords had the patina of much use. "As if I do not have enough to accomplish in a day without having to look out for the welfare of the weak. You will find that there is no ease to be taken in Ust Natha. We pay for our existence here in blood and you shall do the same."

"Sounds good to me," said Spike. "Anybody's blood in particular?"

The drow glared at him and made no direct reply. "My name is Solaufein," he continued his address, "and for now you will do as I say to prove your worth to the Matron Mothers. Failure is death. And just because you are females," he said, fixing his gaze on Sorkatani and Buffy, "do not presume to challenge me. You are foreigners here and no better than slaves until the Matron Mothers decide otherwise."

Buffy rolled her eyes. "What is your problem, male?" she said, channeling Cordelia. "The gold that was promised to the Flickering Flame for our services was not to buy slaves. Just show us who we have to kill. It's what we do."

Solaufein's eyes narrowed. "Your reputation in your own city carries no weight here. If you wish respect you will have to earn it. Have you names, or shall I just call you 'annoying females'?"

"I am Qilafae," Buffy said. It meant 'Foe-slayer'.

"I am Dynefryn," said Sorkatani.

"And I am Veldrin," Viconia added. She had laid claim to that name because it meant 'Shadow'. She made a gesture behind her back, indicating silence, and the rest of the party took heed.

"Why did you bring slaves with you?" Solaufein asked. His gaze swung from the towering bulk of Minsc, whose distinctive blue tattoo was now hidden by a draconic glamour, to the short and squat figure of a duergar version of Xander.

"Because these slaves are very good at killing people," Sorkatani said. She gave no further explanation and Solaufein did not press the point.

"No matter. One of the Matron Mothers has taken an interest in your arrival. She has sent a Handmaiden to speak with you at the entrance platform to the city. I shall go there as well to shepherd you on your mission like a nursing mother. Quickly, now, the Handmaidens are notoriously impatient." He swept his arm around, drew a circle in the air, and stepped through it.

"I don't think I'm gonna like that guy," Buffy muttered. "Show-off jerk. Well, two can play at that game. Beam us down, Scotty."

Willow became visible and she duplicated Solaufein's gesture, as did Imoen, and the party disappeared. A second later they materialized on the specified platform.

Solaufein was speaking to a female drow. "I have commanded the mercenaries to present themselves to you, Handmaiden," he said. His tone was deferential.

"And here we are," Buffy said from just behind his shoulder. She was gratified to see him jump.

"I did not know you had mages amongst you," Solaufein said.

"And why should you, male?" Buffy allowed a sneer to creep into her voice. She turned her attention to the Handmaiden. Presumably she was someone of authority and arrogance would be a big mistake. This wasn't like talking back to a teacher; the punishment would be decapitation rather than detention. Now, what was it Viconia had said? Oh, yeah. "We are at your service, favored of Lolth," Buffy addressed the woman. "Command us and we obey."

Her words must have been well chosen. The Handmaiden gave her a tight little smile that would not have been out of place on the late Maggie Walsh's face. "Greetings, Veldrin of Ched Nasad," she said.

"Your pardon, honored Handmaiden," Viconia put in, speaking in tones more humble than Buffy had ever heard from her before, "but I am Veldrin. There was a change of plan. The two greatest warriors of our society heard of the invitation from Ust Natha and decided to accompany me. I was obliged to relinquish command."

"Oh?" The Handmaiden's eyebrows rose. "The greatest warriors of the Flickering Flame, you say? Such a claim will have to be proven. Your names?"

"They are…" Solaufein began.

"Silence, male! My question was not to you," the Handmaiden cut him off.

"I am Qilafae," Buffy answered.

"And I am Dynefryn," Sorkatani said.

"I am Imrae," said the Handmaiden. "Explain what has occurred, Solaufein, and be quick about it. The Spider Queen demands my attention."

"As you command," said Solaufein. "You know of the Devourers, of course, Qilafae?"

Buffy frowned. Devourers? Oh, yeah, that's what Viconia had called those icky squid-headed things that had – briefly – barred the way to the gnome village. "Of course. We killed three on our way here," she told him.

"Good," said Solaufein. "Perhaps you are not entirely worthless." He ignored the glare that Buffy gave him. "A Matron Mother's daughter fell afoul of them while scouting," he continued. "Her foolish escorts fled, or were slaughtered, and she was taken captive. They know a prize when they have one, these devourers, and they are taking her to their city. Once they have her there then she will be lost forever. With our army being… otherwise engaged, there are no other forces but ourselves available to perform a rescue. We must go to the entrance to their caverns and intercept them."

Buffy and Sorkatani nodded in acknowledgement. The Handmaiden, obviously satisfied that her instructions were being obeyed, turned on her heel and walked off without any word of farewell.

"Handmaiden Imrae has given me a blessed item of Lolth that will disrupt their astral travel before they reach their destination," Solaufein went on. "That is where we must pounce upon them. The Matron Mother has no desire to see her eldest daughter become a snack for the devourers and so we must not fail. Do you understand, Qilafae?"

Buffy seethed inwardly. Who did this guy think he was? He was more patronizing than Quentin Travers. Almost like a cross between fresh-into-Sunnydale Wesley and Principal Snyder. She gave him a high-grade eye-roll. "We wait outside the devourer caverns, kill the devourers, rescue the Matron Mother's daughter," she said. "Check. So, where are the caverns?"

"They are to the south-east," Solaufein said. "A rock face bars further progress in that direction. Hold your course and you cannot miss them. I shall scout ahead. You have but to join me. I presume you can manage that?"

Buffy was so infuriated that she did not trust herself to reply.

"Yes, male, we can manage that," Sorkatani said in her stead.

"It is too early as yet," said Solaufein. "The devourers are not due to travel for some time. You are free to rest and restock your supplies. I shall not give you directions to the taverns. Mercenaries, in my experience, can locate taverns even if they cannot find their posteriors with both hands. Meet me outside the devourer caverns in not more than twelve hours from now. Do not be late or you will suffer screaming torments on the rack before being dispatched to the Demonweb Pits." He made the hand gesture for Dimension Door once more and vanished.

Buffy glanced around. The platform held a small marketplace, a guard station, and a massive translucent cylinder resembling an oil storage tank. There were some two dozen drow in the vicinity, shopping or walking purposefully to unknown destinations, but none of them appeared to be paying any attention whatsoever to the strangers from Ched Nasad.

"Vi-Veldrin," Buffy said quietly, "you'll have to guide me on the customs here. What would happen if I ripped Solaufein's head off and rammed it up his ass?"

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"Arrogant jerk," Buffy grumbled. "Shepherd us like a nursing mother, huh? I am so gonna make him eat those words. 'Do you understand?' 'I presume you can manage that'. Who does he think he is?"

"Ho there, strangers!" A male drow broke into Buffy's tirade. "Which way did the surface bitch go? 'Tis fine sport, but she's quick on her feet." The speaker was a drow male. His mail shirt was richly decorated and a gilded insignia adorned his helm. He held a finely wrought spear and stood at the head of a party of six other males in slightly less impressive armor.

"Hello? In the middle of a conversation here," Buffy said, treating him to a medium grade eye-roll. "Don't interrupt."

"I shall interrupt as I please, stranger," the drow replied. "I am of House Auvrindar, Third of the city. I say again, female, tell me which way the surface elf went. Our Hunt grows tiresome and I would finish it. She ran to this junction. You could not have failed to see her."

"Do I look like someone who would pay attention to some random slave?" Buffy cranked her eye-roll up a couple of notches and then turned her back on him. "Any luck spotting a tavern yet, guys?"

The drow put his hand upon Buffy's shoulder. "Do not turn your back on me, outsider female," he snapped. "You arm your own slaves well. Do you…"

Buffy broke his wrist, seized him by the throat, and forced him backward across the platform. She transferred her grip to his uninjured arm, lifted him over the railings, and dangled him above the precipitous drop to the cave floor far below. "Interesting city you have here," she remarked. "I wonder how high up this walkway is? Hey, why don't I find out by dropping you and counting the seconds until I hear the 'splat'?"

Two of the other members of the hunting party stepped forward to intervene. Jaheira's spear-point dipped to point straight at the stomach of one of them and he froze in his tracks. The other one came to an equally abrupt halt when a razor-sharp short-sword was placed against a sensitive area of his lower anatomy by a young and pretty female.

"Please, Mistress, do nothing rash," the hunt leader gasped out. "I abase myself. I did not know that you were a mighty warrior. Return me to the platform, I beg you, Mistress."

"Now that's how I like to hear a male talk," Buffy said, grinning, and she lifted him back over the rail. "Okay, I'll let you live. Now find somewhere to be that's not here."

Giles raised an eyebrow as he watched the former hunting party scurrying away. "You certainly seem to be getting into the spirit of the role, ah, Qilafae," he said quietly.

"Yeah, well, I wasn't going to let them catch that elf girl," Buffy told him, equally softly. "Hunting people for fun is just sick." She raised her voice to its normal level once more. "As I was saying, before those guys butted in, has anybody found an inn yet? I could use a bath and, hey, maybe a drink."

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"Welcome to the Mos Eisley Cantina," Xander said, gazing around the tavern. "I see a bar, and dance floors, but I don't see any rooms. Maybe they're upstairs, or maybe this place is just for drinks and entertainment."

"They are not dance floors, Zander," Viconia told him. "They are fighting pits."

Xander raised his eyebrows. As he was currently four foot three inches tall his brows didn't go up very high. "Oh. That figures."

Buffy approached a male drow who she took to be the tavern manager. "Hi," she said. "We're new in town."

"Greetings, lovely female," he responded. "I am Szordrin, the manager of this fighting pit. Entertainment for all and a chance to gain Lolth's favor."

"Oh," said Buffy. "That's… nice, I guess."

"You seem a hardy type," Szordrin went on. "There are several dread beasts that have been captured and await your death-blow… if you dare."

Buffy's instinctive reaction would have been revulsion at the idea but she controlled herself. Viconia's briefing had been thorough. She contented herself with a raised eyebrow.

"You are the Nasadrans, yes? Recently arrived? It is said that you are ferocious warriors. There are many here who would desire to see if you fight as well as is claimed." His upper lip curled. "Of course, if you are pale and cowardly, you need not make the attempt. The Spider Queen, however, respects only those who are strong."

"Right," said Buffy. She knew that she couldn't back out of Szordrin's challenge without losing face; and, from what Viconia had said, losing face amongst the drow was the first step on a rapid journey to losing your head. "Okay, male, I'll fight in your pit. Bring on those dread beasts."

"It is gratifying to see such steel in you, female," said Szrordrin. "You shall first battle an Umber Hulk, a creature of not inconsiderable size. It is… angry."

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Buffy tossed Lilarcor back to Minsc. She barely managed to stop herself from thanking him for the loan. "Take back your weapon, slave, it has served its purpose," she said instead. Whosoever wielded Lilarcor was immune from magical Confusion. Without an edge from that innate ability the Umber Hulk had lasted only ten seconds against Buffy.

"Yay, great fun!" Lilarcor called. The sentient sword had also been a recipient of the dragon's spell and his words were in fluent Drow. "Slashing and hacking, I don't believe in slacki…" His cheerful chant was cut short as Minsc thrust the sword back into the scabbard.

"The glory is yours, female," cried Szordrin. "Here is your prize." He handed her a purse of gold. "Now, should you wish to further display your prowess, there is another dread beast that awaits bloodletting at your hands."

"Sure, why not?" said Buffy. The tavern patrons had gathered to watch the spectacle. Fighting monsters seemed like a good way to gain a reputation for toughness and thus gain status. Status would mean more freedom to move around the city and search for Irenicus, if he was still here, and for dragon eggs.

"A dreaded nabassu of the lower planes," Szordrin went on. "Captured by the Handmaidens for defying a Matron Mother and sentenced to fight in the pits. Do you dare to face it?"

"Be sure to get its heart," Willow called. "I could use a spare."

Buffy rolled her eyes. "Oh, great, I get to stick my hands in a demon's chest again. At least I haven't had a bath yet."

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"Okay," Buffy said, "so what's next?" She handed Willow a squishy leather pouch and then turned back to the manager of the fighting pit.

"Your lust for battle is impressive, Qilafae of Ched Nasad," Szrordrin said. There was a note of respect in his voice that had not been there when he first spoke to Buffy. "If you dare to continue there is a prince of the shark fiends, the ones called 'sahuagin', for you to face. A strong one that was captured, with some difficulty, in a raid upon their city."

Buffy felt the smile freezing on her face. A sahuagin prince? Villynaty? No way was she going to kill that guy. He might be a hideous shark monster but he was honorable, courteous, and all-around nicer than a whole lot of humans that she knew. Maybe she could knock him unconscious or something. "How long have you had the shark fiend?" she asked.

"Perhaps a year," Szordrin replied. "A strong fighter. It has fought many times in the pits. Several strong drow have fallen before it. Do you dare to challenge it?"

Buffy was so glad that the sahuagin couldn't possibly be Villynaty that she beamed in delight. The watching crowd drew entirely the wrong conclusion from her glee and a ripple of conversation filled the tavern. The lust for battle of this Qilafae of Ched Nasad was truly outstanding!

"Well, duh," said Buffy. "Of course I dare. Bring out your sharks."

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"The shark fiend is destroyed," Szordrin declared. "Many weak drow were slaughtered by the beast. It is good to see it put in its place. You have proven yourself, Qilafae of the Iron Arm. Take this purse of gold and know that you are worthy of Lolth's favor."

Buffy accepted the pouch. Her winnings guaranteed that local currency for board and lodging wouldn't be a problem no matter how long they were stuck in this place. "So, what else have you got?" she asked.

"There is no need to continue, Qilafae," Szordrin said. "The only fighting beast remaining is one that no-one has ever been able to defeat. It would be a waste to see such a warrior as you killed to no purpose."

Buffy gave him a fairly restrained eye-roll. "Oh? What makes you think it could kill me, male? What is this beast?"

"It is an eye tyrant. Nemesis of the Underdark," he told her. "Captured four years ago by a party of vengeful drow and it has never been defeated in the pit. It has many deadly powers. Only the bravest warriors have dared to face it and all have perished. There is no need for you to face it… unless, of course, you wish to."

Buffy felt as if she was on a roll. The watching drow were silent in hushed anticipation. Instant reputation coming up. "Sure, I'll fight it," she said. "Hey, Iimzyne, lend me your cloak."

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"You have killed the eye tyrant," Szordrin gasped. "Truly you are worthy of adulation. Mother Lolth must be proud of you indeed. Here, take this purse of a thousand coins. I can see now why House Despana sought your services. Nasadran or no, a female of your prowess would be a worthy addition to any house."

"Whatever," said Buffy, as she handed the Cloak of Mirroring back to Imoen. It seemed that it did indeed reflect the eye beams of beholders.

"Unfortunately there are no more battle beasts left in my pens. None that would be a fit match for you, at least, and it will be a long time before I can restock my collection."

"Drat, and I was having fun," said Buffy. She closed one eye. "Hey, are there any dragons around here?"

"Dragons?" Szordrin opened his eyes very wide. "I… surely not even such a warrior as you… but yes, I see others in your company wearing armor of dragon scales, so perhaps..."

Buffy extended her arms and drew his attention to her dragon-skin bracers. "Yeah, we've killed dragons. Any around here?"

"Rumors of dragon-kind come and go," said Szordrin, "but the only one we know for sure of, here, is the fearsome silver beast that hunts the drow parties that even go near the sunken passages of our ancient descent. For longer than I have been alive she has barred the way from the surface to all but small groups operating by stealth. If you could slay her you would win honor beyond compare… but I suspect that you are too late. House Despana sent armies marching to the surface and the dragon interfered not. Now all Houses have sent contingents to join the invasion and still the dragon is absent. Perhaps she is dead."

"So somebody else has killed it already? Oh, well, it can't be helped," said Buffy. She had found out what she wanted. The reason for the dragon's passivity was not common knowledge. The stolen eggs would not be anywhere that was publicly accessible. House Despana had been the first House to take advantage of the window of opportunity and that made them the prime suspects. "Anyway, it's been fun, but really I only came in here to look for a hot bath."

"Oh," said Szordrin. "The baths are upstairs. Next to the Lust Chambers."

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The route to the staircase lay past the other fighting pit. A male drow in red robes stepped in front of them as they approached.

"Welcome, warriors of Ched Nasad," he greeted them. "I am Sondal, master of the dueling pit. I trust that you have come to my arena because you have grown tired of watching mindless monsters put to death in the name of sport."

"It's more fun than hunting slaves through the city," Buffy said.

Sondal nodded. "True. A skilled female such as you will know that the only opponent worthy of a drow is another drow. I provide the opportunity."

"That's interesting," said Buffy, "but I was planning on a bath."

"You can delay a short while, surely? The next contest is about to begin. It should be a fascinating match. An inspiring display of skill from our most illustrious competitor."

Buffy held back a sigh. She really wanted a bath; but she knew that it would be most uncharacteristic for a drow to show no interest in a fight.

"Very well, let us see this duel of yours," Sorkatani said, taking the decision out of Buffy's hands.

"Of course. It was held back because of the exploits of your leader in the other arena," Sondal said.

"Joint leader," Sorkatani corrected him.

"Oh? I ask pardon, female, I did not know. You, then, may also watch from this vantage point alongside Qilafae the monster slayer. Your hirelings and slaves must take their places in the public gallery. Once they have removed themselves I shall give the signal for the contest to begin."

When the spectators were arranged to Sondal's satisfaction he addressed the crowd. "If I might have everyone's attention, with the permission of our most distinguished females and our hardiest males, I would direct you to the pit at the fore. The pride of the males of the Third House, the most illustrious weapon master Lasaonar, has accepted an unusual challenge. Four members of the Male Fighters' Society have answered a slanderous comment with a demand for blood. Lasaonar has shown his contempt by answering them all at once!"

A murmur of comment came from the crowd. Sondal paused for a moment and then continued. "Watch now, as all concerned place their lives in the pit, and their fates in their blades. As always, the equipment of the vanquished becomes the property of the victor."

Four young male drow strode into the arena and took up positions at one side of the ring. They were clad in chain mail and wielded pairs of short-swords. Their opponent, a mature male in adamantine full plate, bore a long blade with a hand-and-a-half hilt. He raised it in salute to the crowd and then adopted a guard position.

"In the name of Lolth," Sondal called, "fight!"

The younger drow rushed forward. Their attack was uncoordinated and followed no clear plan. It was easy for the experienced Lasaonar to ensure that he met only one attacker before the others reached him. The youth flailed with his short-swords, striking with both at once, and was wide open when Lasaonar side-stepped and then lashed out with the bastard sword. The blade tore through the chain-mail and ripped into the young drow's chest. A flare of flame erupted from the wound as Lasaonar pulled his sword free and the mortally wounded opponent collapsed to the floor.

The other three challengers fell upon Lasaonar with their blades. A short-sword glanced harmlessly from his heavy armor. His bastard sword gave lethal answer. Again a spurt of flame sprang up as the blade struck home. He shrugged off another blow and chopped down upon an exposed arm, shearing it off just below the elbow, and the fiery sword cauterized the wound even as it was inflicted. The young drow staggered back, leaving his comrade fighting alone, and Lasaonar slew that luckless soul with two brutal strokes.

The surviving drow youth, terribly injured as he was, brought up his sword and returned to the attack. He swayed on his feet as he advanced. His breath came out in ragged gasps and his blade wavered in his grasp. Lasaonar laughed, smote down upon the young drow's sword and knocked it to the floor, and then raised his long weapon high for the finishing blow.

"Stop!" Sorkatani's voice rang out loud enough to be heard clearly over the din of applause and chatter.

Lasaonar held back his stroke and looked up at the girl on the balcony. "Why should I, stranger female?"

"You have defeated him," said Sorkatani, "and slaying him serves no purpose. He is brave, to fight on with such a wound, and one day could be a great warrior. Unlike you."

"You dare insult me?" Lasaonar hissed. "How can you deny my prowess?"

"Prowess, male?" Sorkatani's eyebrows soared. "I see only a coward with heavy armor and an enchanted sword. Without your adamantine plate you would have been goblin meat."

"Dear Lord," Giles muttered under his breath. "What is she doing?"

"She will not let B– Qilafae outdo her," Jaheira said softly. "Fear not, she knows what she is doing. I think."

Lasaonar was almost shaking with fury. "Insolent foreigner! I shall chastise you as you deserve. Face me in the pit, female, and learn the error of your ways." He sheathed his sword and his fingers went to the buckles of his armor. "I shall fight you without armor, arrogant one, and if you survive long enough to surrender I shall make you a slave in my bedchamber."

"Dream on, male," said Sorkatani. She began to unfasten her own armor.

"Hey, T– Dynefryn, are you sure that's a good idea?" Buffy hissed.

"Hey, no problem," Sorkatani assured her. She stripped off all of the dragon-scale armor, retaining only her boots, and revealed her black silk shirt and dark breeches. She knotted her sash about her waist and slipped the scabbards of Malakar and Celestial Fury into position. Below her, in the dueling pit, Lasaonar had removed his plate armor and awaited her.

"Come, then, and meet your fate," Lasaonar challenged.

Sorkatani smiled and vaulted over the rail. It was a twelve-foot drop but she landed lightly, bending her knees to take the shock, and recovered her balance instantly.

Lasaonar's eyes narrowed. "You have some athletic ability, it seems. Perhaps you will indeed survive long enough to surrender."

"In your dreams," Sorkatani said. She put her left hand on the scabbard of Celestial Fury, with her thumb against the gilded guard, and stood waiting. Lasaonar drew his bastard sword, raised it in both hands, and looked up to Sondal on the viewing platform.

"We have another contest," the dueling master announced. "Lasaonar, easily victorious in his encounter, is now challenged by…" he turned to Buffy and raised a questioning eyebrow.

"Dynefryn," Buffy supplied.

"Dynefryn, a mercenary from Ched Nasad," Sondal completed his introduction. "You are ready, contestants? In the name of Lolth, fight!"

Lasaonar took a step forward. There was a flash. Something wet hit Sondal in the face. He blinked, raised a hand to his face, and wiped away moisture. Looking down at his hand he saw that it was red with blood.

The dueling master returned his gaze to the pit. He saw the arrogant female from Ched Nasad sliding her sword back into its scabbard. Beyond her he saw Lasaonar prone on the floor. A hideous gash ran from his left shoulder to his right hip, almost severing his torso in two, and a spreading pool of blood surrounded the body.

"You… you killed him!" Sondal spluttered.

"Well, yes," Sorkatani said. She shrugged. "I thought that was the idea."

"But… he was a weapon master! Of all the males in the city only Solaufein of the Male Fighters' Society could outmatch him."

"Indeed? Then it was bad luck for him that I am no mere male," Sorkatani said. She bent and picked up the fallen warrior's bastard sword.

"Yay for girl power," Dawn called out.

Sorkatani scrutinized the sword. "This is mine now, by custom and by right of conquest, is that not so? A clumsy thing, fit only for a male, but it may be useful for disposing of trolls." She pulled the scabbard from Lasaonar's corpse, inserted the sword, and threw it up to the platform. Buffy caught it, inspected it briefly, and tossed it to Spike.

Sorkatani stooped, picked up the severed arm that still lay on the floor of the arena, and strode towards the exit. "Come, male," she ordered the youth who sat, huddled against the wall, cradling his injured arm in his remaining hand. He stood up, a grunt of agony escaping his lips as he did so, and followed her up the steps that led out of the pit.

"Micar'lae, Jhaelirae, heal him," Sorkatani commanded in imperious tones. Tara and Jaheira rushed to obey. Sorkatani handed the severed limb to Tara and walked away to join Buffy.

"Seared by the flame blade," Jaheira observed, as she examined the injury. "It will not re-attach in this condition. The wound must be opened." She drew a knife from her belt.

"The same w-w-ith this," Tara said, grimacing as she held the grisly appendage. "We'd better do it first and then his… stump. That way he won't lose too much blood."

Jaheira nodded. She scraped her blade across the cut surface of the arm, removing the burned layer and causing blood to ooze out, and then turned back to the young drow. "Bite on this," she told him, placing a piece of hard dried meat in his hand. He nodded and did as she ordered. Beads of sweat stood out on his forehead as she took hold of his arm. He jerked convulsively as she applied the knife and his eyes rolled wildly. He swayed on his feet and uttered a muffled moan.

Blood flowed from the newly opened wound. "Drink this, and quickly, male," Jaheira ordered. She pulled the jerky from his mouth and thrust a potion bottle into his hand. He was trembling so much that he almost dropped it; but he managed get it to his lips and then began to gulp the potion of Regeneration down.

Tara thrust the severed part of the arm against the bleeding stump and held it in place. Jaheira joined in as soon as she was sure that the drow was managing to swallow the potion. Together they aligned the two pieces of the limb to match the original shape of the arm. Once she was satisfied that it was properly positioned Tara released her grip, leaving Jaheira to maintain the pressure, and cast a Heal spell upon the drow.

"Thank you," he gasped out. "I shall not be a cripple." He wiggled his fingers and smiled, somewhat shakily, at the two women. His gaze then turned to Sorkatani, who had rejoined Buffy by this time, and who was donning her armor once more. "What a warrior! She is amazing." He sighed. "I did not catch her name. I was somewhat distracted at the time."

"She is Dynefryn of Ched Nasad," Jaheira told him. She frowned at his expression of rapt adoration. "Put aside thoughts of her, male, she is far above you."

"One day, perhaps…" the youth mused. "Dynefryn. The Perfect Champion. Truly she is well named."

"Just keep your mind on your arm. Don't try to do much with that hand for at least half an hour," Tara advised him. "I'm sure you wouldn't want it to fall off. Uh, male worm."

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"Show-off," Buffy accused Sorkatani.

"Oh? And you weren't showing off when you played at slaying monsters?" Sorkatani countered. She pulled tight the last buckle of her breast-plate.

"Hey, I just wanted to ask directions to the baths," Buffy said, grinning. "It's not my fault if he wanted me to fight a few monsters."

"That's her!" The voice sounded vaguely familiar. "The one who dangled me over a hundred-foot drop and laughed as she did so."

Buffy turned to face the hunt leader and rolled her eyes. "Hi," she addressed him. "Did you catch that slave, male, or did she have two brain cells and outsmart you?"

The male drow was not alone. He was accompanied by a female, tall for a drow, whose chain mail armor was made up of links so finely wrought that it clung to her body almost like soft cloth. She glared at Buffy. "Know this, stranger," she said in icy tones, "the humiliation that you have inflicted upon a male of our House shall be avenged. I am Chalinthra of House Auvrindar and I shall teach you what it means to offend us."

"Oh, great," Buffy moaned. "That's a fancy way of saying that you want to fight me, right? I'm gonna have to wait even longer for my bath."

"Indeed, insolent child, I am challenging you to face me in the dueling arena." Chalinthra waved a hand in that direction. Her gaze followed her gesture and fell upon the slaves who were carrying the bodies of the fallen from the pit. "Know that in mere moments you shall be…" Her jaw dropped as she recognized one of the bodies. "Lasaonar! But how… who…?" She swung her head back to face Buffy. "You slew Lasaonar?"

"No, that would be me," Sorkatani informed her. "He was the victim of a tragic misunderstanding." Her lips curled in a smile. "He didn't understand that he just wasn't good enough."

Chalinthra spun on her heel and strode off to examine the body. When she returned her brows were low over her eyes and her lips were set in a tight line. "He is beyond the reach of a Raise Dead spell," she said. "Only a full Resurrection could revive one with such a terrible wound. How did you breach his enchanted armor?"

"She tricked him into taking it off," the hunt leader, who had been questioning spectators whilst Chalinthra was looking at the corpse, informed her.

"You shall suffer for that, bitch," Chalinthra snarled. "Lasaonar was my favorite male. After I have humbled your associate I shall deal with you."

"You want to fight Qilafae and then me?" Sorkatani raised an eyebrow. "Certainly, but you'll need a way of raising yourself from the dead. A difficult trick. We're not going to waste any of our spells on you just to give me a little exercise and you another thirty seconds of life."

"I shall Raise her," a new voice put in. A female drow emerged from the crowd of spectators and walked towards the prospective combatants. She wore a gleaming black breastplate, sculpted to emphasize breasts that were ample by drow standards, and flowing robes of blue-grey silk. "I'd enjoy seeing Chalinthra killed twice."

Chalinthra's lips curled back to expose her teeth. "Your services will not be required, Evelintra," she said. "I shall crush these mercenaries one by one."

"That's 'Matron Mother Evelintra' to you," the newcomer said.

"Matron Mother of the weakest House in the city," Chalinthra sneered.

"True," Evelintra conceded, "but two minutes from now we shall be the second weakest, as House Auvrindar no longer possesses a weapon master and is soon to lose its strongest warrior priestess." Her eyes seemed to twinkle as she smiled. "I've seen these girls fight."

"Bah! Your childish attempts to unsettle me are useless. I know my own prowess. My victory is assured." Chalinthra turned her back on Evelintra and stalked towards the arena. She wore a short-sword and a flail at her belt and a black shield strapped to her arm. Her hand rested on the flail for a moment, as she stared at Buffy with narrowed eyes, and then moved to the sword. She drew the weapon and adopted a guard position. "Come then, Nasadran, and feel my wrath," she challenged. Her lips began to move in the words of a spell.

Buffy's nose wrinkled. "I'm sure that's cheating," she complained. "We're supposed to wait until MC Bloodsplattered there says 'In the name of Lolth, fight!'."

"A minor infringement, but there would be nothing to stop a contestant buffing up before issuing the challenge, after all," Evelintra said. "I could bestow a blessing upon you, if you wish."

"Thanks, but no need," said Buffy. She recognized Chalinthra's chant; she had heard the clerics of her own party using it before. Draw Upon Holy Might. It would make the drow faster, stronger, and tougher than usual. It might even make her faster than Buffy. It wouldn't be enough.

Buffy made her way into the fighting pit and held her hammer with both hands. "Okay, ready when you are," she said.

Sondal made his announcement of the challenge and then called out "In the name of Lolth, fight!"

Buffy sprang forward and lashed out with her hammer, swinging it from right to left, aimed at Chalinthra's shield arm. The drow didn't try to block. Instead she swayed back, just enough to avoid the blow, and the hammer whistled past harmlessly. Buffy had missed.

A triumphant smile formed on Chalinthra's face as she swayed forward again to lunge with her sword. She assumed that 'Qilafae' would spin round in a complete circle, riding the momentum of the hammer rather than fighting it, and before the move could be completed Chalinthra would have driven her blade deep into the Nasadran's back. "Victory!" she cried as she struck.

Unfortunately for her Buffy's intention had never been to rotate through a full circle. She turned her wrists over, twisted her hips, and the hammer-blow's arc curved down and then up again. The direction of the strike was reversed faster than Chalinthra could have believed possible. The Hammer of Thunderbolts struck the drow's arm, breaking it and sending the short-sword flying across the pit, and then drove on to crash into Chalinthra's chest. The magnificent chain mail deformed under the impact and the hammer head drove into Chalinthra's ribs with barely diminished force. Bones cracked. The drow was lifted from her feet and thrown across the arena to bounce from the surrounding wall and fall to the floor.

"Victory? You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means," Buffy said, as she walked toward the fallen drow with her hammer raised. "Unless you meant my victory, of course."

Chalinthra tried to get to her feet. She managed to raise herself to her hands and knees but then her broken arm gave way beneath her and she collapsed again. Bloody spittle showed on her lips as she tried to cast a Heal spell. Buffy kicked her, not with anything like her full power but hard enough to disrupt the casting, and held the Hammer of Thunderbolts poised over Chalinthra's skull.

"Now, we can do this the easy way, or we can do it the hard way," said Buffy. "You can surrender, in which case you can patch yourself up and then get your ass kicked by, uh, Dynefryn, or you can keep on trying to fight. In which case I'll smash your skull and that nice Matron Mother will have to Raise you before Dynefryn gets to chop you into little bitty pieces."

"I… yield," Chalinthra gasped.

Buffy grinned at her. "So you're not totally stupid. Good. Now, if you want to prove you're really smart, you'll surrender to Dynefryn in advance and save her time and trouble. And save yourself a really painful death."

"Never!" Chalinthra hissed. She clawed a potion bottle from a belt pouch and began to fumble at the stopper. It wasn't easy with only one working hand. Before she could get it open Buffy reached down and snatched the bottle away.

"Naughty, naughty," Buffy scolded, as she examined the flask. "According to the rules of the arena the winner gets the loser's equipment. That means you're trying to drink my Potion of Regeneration. And, hey, I'm not gonna let you unless you ask real nice."

Chalinthra replied only with a hate-filled glare. She croaked out a Cure spell, choosing a minor one first because she had only one Heal spell left and didn't dare risk losing it if the pain from her broken ribs distracted her. Once the spell had eased the pain she recited the words of the far more powerful spell.

"You were lucky," Chalinthra said as she climbed to her feet, her injuries now completely healed. "Your time will come. First I shall destroy your sister."

"If you even lay one finger on her I'll smash your head into paste," Buffy hissed, with such venom in her voice that Chalinthra recoiled, but then Buffy's expression changed. "Oh. You mean Dynefryn. Feel free to try. Hey, I'll even let you borrow my armor. And my shield and my flail." She scooped up the fallen short-sword from the floor and examined it briefly. "Or this sword, if you like." She let the sword drop and it clattered on the ground.

Chalinthra cringed as she realized what her conqueror meant. For an instant she considered discarding the armor rather than suffer the humiliation of accepting the arrogant mercenary's offer; but she remembered the immense wound disfiguring Lasaonar's corpse and changed her mind. "I will hand them to you after I have slain Dynefryn," Chalinthra told Buffy. "Her armor will be compensation for the loss of mine."

"Whatever," said Buffy. "Just hurry up already. I want my bath."

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Two minutes later Chalinthra faced Dynefryn. The first fight had been over so quickly that the Draw Upon Holy Might spell was still in operation. Chalinthra was confident that she would prevail over the swordswoman. There would be no harm in adjusting the odds, however; although her most deadly spells were unsuited for a duel – using Earthquake within the confines of the tavern would see her executed in an extremely prolonged fashion should the wrong person suffer injury as a result, for instance – she still had a few useful tricks up her sleeve.

Even as Sondal was making his announcements Chalinthra was already chanting the words to her first spell. As the dueling master cried 'In the name of Lolth, fight!' Chalinthra spoke the final syllables. A Flame Strike lashed down from the ceiling and enveloped Dynefryn in a column of fire.

The tower of flame advanced towards Chalinthra. A blade emerged from the inferno and struck out. Chalinthra took the blow on her shield. She raised her flail but could not see her target well enough to strike. Instead she backed away.

The flames died out and Dynefryn could be seen clearly once more. She was completely unharmed. "You didn't notice the red dragon armor?" she asked, grinning broadly, and then sprang to the attack.

Chalinthra was forced onto the defensive as the mercenary delivered a rain of blows with twin blades. Her adamantine shield served her well, however, and before long she saw a chance to strike back. Her flail lashed through the air. The Nasadran parried the blow, her left hand sword coming up to connect with the flail's chain, but the head swung over the blade and the sword was caught. Chalinthra smiled in triumph and pulled to disarm her opponent.

Something struck her legs hard. The next thing she knew she was sitting on her backside on the arena floor. She was empty-handed; the flail was still wrapped around the sword. The Nasadran mercenary flicked her hand and the flail slid from the blade and shot away across the pit. Her leg lashed up and she kicked Chalinthra in the face. Hard. Very hard. Chalinthra's head jerked back and her helm flew off. Her mouth was full of blood once again, this time from smashed lips and a dislodged tooth, and her vision swam. She brought up her shield by pure reflex; in the nick of time. A sword clashed against the metal. Had she been an instant slower it would have cleaved through her skull.

Frantically Chalinthra scrambled away. The flail was far out of reach, and she had lost track of where her sword lay, but she still had a card to play. Harm. One of the most deadly spells in a cleric's repertoire. A single touch would injure Dynefryn so grievously that a shield-bash or even a slap would finish her off. If the innate magic resistance of all drow didn't protect the Nasadran, of course, but that was always a possibility. She had to hope that Lolth would look upon her with favor. Chalinthra chanted the words of the spell and then struck. She didn't even rise to her feet but drove out her hand from where she sat. She only had to touch the mercenary's leg and…

Agony seared through her. She froze and stared with horrified eyes at the sword transfixing her arm. It twisted, forcing her to bend over, and from the corner of her eye she saw the other sword, the one with the hilt of red and gold, blurring through the air and she couldn't get her shield up in…

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Chalinthra's head bounced on the ground and rolled away. Sorkatani stepped back to avoid the fountain of blood.

"Hey, what took you so long?" Buffy called.

"I didn't want to damage your armor," Sorkatani replied. "It wouldn't be much use if I cut a great big slice through it." She glanced briefly toward the announcer's platform and then flicked the blood from her swords. Sondal realized too late what she was doing and cursed as he was once more splattered with gore.

"Like I'm gonna wear it now," Buffy said. "It'll take ages to clean all that blood out of the links and hey, undressing a corpse? Not my favorite occupation."

"It would be my pleasure to have it done for you," Matron Mother Evelintra offered. "You have given me a great deal of enjoyment."

"Uh, thanks, but there's no need to go to any trouble," Buffy said.

"It will be no trouble," Evelintra assured her. "It's not as if I'll be getting my own hands dirty, after all."

"Yeah, right, what else are minions for?" Buffy glanced down at her hands. "That reminds me. I'm still covered in demon blood. Time to take that bath. Upstairs, people. And hey, Iimzyne, stay out of the Lust Chambers. That goes for you too, Dhaunae."

"I might have known," a familiar voice groaned behind her. "I tell you that you will have time to rest and resupply and what do I find you doing? Brawling in a tavern. Huh. Mercenaries."

"Hello, Solaufein," Buffy greeted him, without turning round. "What are you doing here? Don't tell me you've managed to get that stick out of your ass and decided to come have some fun."

"I fail to see what is 'fun' about engaging in pointless violence for nothing more than entertainment," said Solaufein. "I am here to summon you. There has been a change of plan."

"Hey, you said we had twelve hours," Buffy complained.

"Such was our information," Solaufein said, "but the diviners now say that the devourers are planning to travel very soon. We must hasten or we will be too late."

"Crap," Buffy moaned. "So, no bath."

"I take it that this is an important mission?" asked Evelintra.

"It is indeed, Matron Mother," Solaufein confirmed. "I hope that these… undisciplined thugs from Ched Nasad are equal to the task." Buffy turned her head to glare at him.

"I think that they may surprise you, Solaufein," Evelintra said. "They are extremely capable young ladies." She smiled at Buffy and Sorkatani. "I shall look after your acquisitions in your absence, Qilafae and Dynefryn. The armor and weapons shall be cleaned of blood and stored safely for your return."

"Thank you, Matron Mother," Sorkatani said.

"Thanks a lot, Matron Mother," Buffy agreed, flashing Evelintra a smile.

"It is a shame that you are contracted to House Despana," Evelintra remarked. "I could have used you to better purpose. Alas, House Zaughym does not have the resources to hire such redoubtable warriors and, to be honest, I did not think of it. If you find time between your tasks, warriors, call upon me. A meal, perhaps? Failing that, we shall no doubt see each other here. Perhaps our paths might cross in the Lust Chambers."

"Uh, yeah," said Buffy. "Maybe." She had no intention of crossing anyone's path in the Lust Chambers at all. Even though the fights had made her horny. Lust Chambers, so not the answer. No way.

"But Solaufein grows impatient, and so I shall not delay you further," said Evelintra. "Farewell."

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"It's Faith all over again," Giles said, shaking his head. "That's all we needed. As if things weren't difficult enough."

"I do not follow your meaning, Gelfein," Jaheira said. She was ninety-nine per cent certain that Solaufein was out of earshot but used Giles' drow alias just in case she was wrong. The dragon's spell had contained a clause that fixed the aliases in the recipients' minds and prompted them if they were in danger of slipping; in fact using the real names required a conscious effort.

"This, ah, desire by the two Slayers to outdo each other," Giles explained. "I've seen the same thing before. A second Slayer turned up in… our home. At first there was a degree of… mistrust, perhaps even hostility, between them. That was bad. However they became reconciled to each other and their relationship grew into friendship. That was worse."

"How so?"

"They began to compete," Giles said. "It all ended badly." He began to give Jaheira a brief potted history of Faith's career in Sunnydale. Before he could finish he was interrupted by Solaufein bringing the party to a halt.

"We are here," the drow warrior announced. He pointed at an opening in the nearby rock face. "That is the entrance to the devourer city. From that dread place none ever return. I hope that we have not come too late." He withdrew a small metal gadget from a pouch and scrutinized it. "Ah. My fears are groundless. The devourers have not yet passed. I shall begin the ritual that will disrupt their astral travel and bring them forth in this spot."

"How long is it going to take?" Buffy asked.

Solaufein shrugged. "The travel plans of the devourers are beyond my control. Perhaps minutes, or perhaps hours. I will continue performing the ritual for as long as it takes. There is nothing for you to do at the moment except to wait."

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"The operation was successful," the doctor said. "We've relieved the pressure on the brain and his vital signs are good. He's breathing normally. Now we just have to wait for developments. We've done everything that we can. He might recover consciousness in a few hours. It might take days." He looked down at the floor, avoiding the eyes of the patient's mother and girlfriend, and swallowed before speaking again. "It might even be weeks."

"But he will be okay, right, Doctor?" Warren's mother tried to smile but her lip trembled as she spoke. Katrina stared up at the doctor in silence, her eyes wide, her mouth set in a tight line.

"I sincerely hope so," the doctor said, "but I can't give you any absolute assurance. Only time will tell." He sighed. "You might as well go home. We'll be in touch the moment his condition changes. There isn't anything more that we can do except to wait."


	56. Chapter 56

**Author's Note:** after posting the last chapter I discovered that, all the way through the fic, fanfic dot net has been eating the line of dashes I usually use to mark scene breaks. I've found an alternative that works, and am using it from now on, and I've also been back and inserted it in previous chapters. Apologies to readers who have been faced with scenes that blurred indistinguishably into each other; it won't happen again.

As the characters are using aliases while in Ust Natha I've provided a glossary of those aliases, at the end of the chapter, and will do so in future chapters too for as long as the aliases are being used.

**Chapter Fifty-six**

"I didn't know that red dragon armor gave you total protection from fire," Buffy said. "Hey, I might not have turned it down if you'd told me."

"It doesn't," Sorkatani admitted. "It gives partial protection only, just as we said at the time, but I took extra precautions. Priestesses _always_ cast Flame Strike."

"She didn't when she fought me," Buffy said. "Not that I gave her the chance, of course. So, what, you drank a Potion of Fire Resistance?"

"Close. I had Veldrin cast Protection From Fire on me," Sorkatani revealed, "when Miss Bitch in Chain Mail was busy healing herself."

"Yeah, that would work," said Buffy.

"Silence!" Solaufein commanded. "I detect a disturbance on the Astral Plane."

"As if thousands of voices…" Xander muttered under his breath.

"The devourers come. Be ready." Solaufein set down the magical gadget and drew his swords.

Buffy took hold of her crossbow. "Okay, everybody, let's do it. Go!" The entire party turned as one and rushed away to the north-west.

Solaufein was left standing alone to face the mind flayers.

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The conversation of the mercenaries was an irritating distraction to Solaufein as he concentrated on performing the ritual. He attempted to shut their voices out of his mind but was not entirely successful.

The two leaders – a concept that was somewhat baffling, as surely one should be trying to kill the other to claim sole authority – were rehashing their fights in the tavern. What little he overheard was a sensible discussion of tactics rather than the vainglorious boasting that he would have expected from them. Presumably he had missed those parts of the conversation.

Slightly further away a mature male passed the time by performing upon a musical instrument. A surfacer instrument called a yarting, Solaufein thought, although he was not knowledgeable enough in the field to say for sure. The male seemed to be teaching a song to the priestess Veldrin. The song also seemed to originate from the surface lands, as it spoke of 'shadows of the night' and night was a surfacer concept, but Solaufein had to admit that it was a pleasant melody and both performers had good voices. At another time he would have been happy to listen. At the moment, however, it was a distraction that he could well do without.

The device that would disrupt the devourers' astral travel was simple to operate but presumably fiendishly complex in its inner workings. A githyanki creation, Solaufein believed; they were an ingenious race, with unparalleled knowledge of the astral plane, although fanatical to the point of insanity. What price Matron Mother Ardulace had paid for it Solaufein could not guess.

Whatever the secret behind its operation, and whether it was directed by the words of the chant or by the shapes in the mind of the chanter, eventually it performed as Solaufein had been promised. It began to flash, a throbbing pulse of dull orange, warning of astral travelers in the vicinity.

"Silence," Solaufein ordered the mercenaries, "I detect a disturbance on the Astral Plane."

The two annoying leaders ceased their prattle, and the musicians ended their song, but the duergar slave spoke on. A cryptic comment, incomprehensible to Solaufein, and thankfully brief.

"The devourers come," Solaufein warned them. "Be ready." He drew his swords in anticipation of the combat to come. The mercenaries did not follow suit. Instead, upon a word of command from the insufferably arrogant one of their leaders, they turned and ran. Abandoning him to fight alone against impossible odds.

"Traitors! Cowards!" Solaufein spat out. The Nasadrans were taking their revenge on him for his scathing words in the most terrible of ways. Condemning him to certain death – or worse. If he was lucky the devourers, the illithids, would eat his brain. Becoming their helpless slave, his very mind in their grasp, would be infinitely worse. That fate was certain now for Phaere, their captive, who would be dragged into their dread city. Unless he could reach her before the devourers took him and grant her the gift of a quick death…

The air parted in a score of places and ghostly forms took shape and then solidified. Devourers, their umber hulk thralls, their captive Phaere, and another drow. The report that had stated that all her escorts had fled or been slaughtered had been inaccurate. Solaufein raised his swords for his final battle.

The closest of the devourers swiveled to face him. Its facial tentacles writhed and it raised its clawed hands. It blocked his path to Phaere and he would have to battle or avoid it. Solaufein felt a sudden sensation of crushing pressure inside his head and he fought to keep his will his own. A losing battle. He was frozen in place, helpless and immobile, as the tentacles reached for his skull.

"_We don't need no domination_

_We don't need no thought control_

_No sharp tentacles in our brainpans,_

_Flayers, leave our minds alone,_

_Hey, flayers! Leave our minds alone!_

_All in all you're just another prick going to fall_

_All in all you're just another prick going to fall_…"

The music was strange, alien, unlike anything that he had ever heard before, but effective. The pressure on Solaufein's mind vanished. He could move again. He slashed with his left-hand sword and thrust with his right, driving the blade into the vile creature's body, teaching the devourer anew the Lesson of Steel that the githyanki and githzerai had formulated millennia ago.

Even as that devourer slumped to the ground, weak flesh torn asunder by the hardness of steel and gushing forth its life blood, another devourer was reeling under the impact of a volley of crossbow bolts. Chain lightning crackled and sizzled in an arc between the bulky bodies of the umber hulks. Something even bigger and more solidly built than the massive insectoid burrowers, an earth elemental, heaved itself up from out of the cavern floor and struck at a devourer with fists of stone. A fire elemental joined it and incinerated an injured umber hulk. A skeleton warrior arose from the dust, hewed with a two-handed sword, and another devourer learned the Lesson of Steel as the blade clove through its skull.

Solaufein faltered in his charge. He looked around him with his eyes widening in amazement. The mercenaries had not fled the field, had not abandoned him to his death; they had made a tactical withdrawal to open the range. They were fighting with missiles and spells, out of reach of the devourers' tentacles, and the magical music was shielding them from the mental blasts that were the only ranged weapons that the illithids possessed. They had the advantage, were exploiting it skillfully, and the devourers were dying.

He was going to live.

At least for the moment. The devourers were fully occupied with defending themselves against the elementals and undead, creatures that they could not control, and had no conventional way of striking at the mercenaries who were subjecting them to a barrage of bolts, arrows, and thrown axes. It did not take them long to think of an unconventional way. Two figures charged to the attack under their mental control. Phaere and her escort.

Solaufein plunged a sword through the chitinous belly-plates of an umber hulk, withdrew it smoothly as the beast went down, and turned to seek a new target. He saw the suicidal charge and gasped in horror. The mercenaries were thirty yards away, with a clear field of fire, and he expected to see Phaere shot down in self-defense. Matron Mother Ardulace would exact a terrible retribution upon everyone involved. Execution was the least of the penalties that he could expect to face.

The next volley of missiles was unleashed. The bolts whistled past the two drow and struck one of the remaining devourers. Phaere and her bodyguard charged on.

The song changed.

"_Emancipate yourselves from mental slavery_

_None but ourselves can free our minds_

_Have no fear of psionic energy_

'_Cause none of them can stop the time_…"

The two drow slowed and stopped. The male bent over and clasped his head between his hands. Phaere turned around and bared her teeth. "Burn, vile devourer, in the name of Lolth," she snarled. A Flame Strike seared down upon a devourer who was sheltering from the rain of missiles behind a stalagmite. The illithids, however, were even more resistant to magic than the drow. Even a priestess as powerful as Phaere had little better than a fifty-fifty chance of her magic breaking through. The flames fizzled out leaving the mind flayer unharmed.

The musician changed his tune once more.

"_In the name of Lolth_

_Once more in the name of Lolth_…"

A second pillar of flame struck home. This time the magic resistance failed. The illithid staggered out from behind the stalagmite, beating at its burning robes with its hands and thrashing its tentacles in agony, and three crossbow bolts and an axe hit it in the middle of the back. It spun around, crashed to the floor, and lay still. The axe wrenched itself from the fallen body and flew back to the hand of the duergar mercenary.

The battle was now coming to an end. The umber hulks had all been slain. The few surviving devourers were driven into the open and shot down or else perished under the blows of the elementals. The last of the illithids seemed to recognize the source of the force that was preventing it from escaping via the astral plane. It made a desperate attempt to reach, and destroy, the githyanki device. Solaufein blocked its path. He fended off its attempts to grapple with him and inflicted terrible wounds upon its arms. He was poised to deliver a finishing thrust when the skeleton warrior struck it from behind and knocked it to the ground. The earth elemental trampled the body into ruin and then melted back into the floor of the cavern.

Solaufein wiped the blood from his blades and slid them back into their scabbards. "Greetings, Phaere of House Despana," he said. "I trust that you are uninjured?"

"No thanks to you," Phaere replied. "This last-minute rescue was foolish."

"I did as I was commanded," Solaufein said, doing his best to keep his tone neutral.

"So you did, as any male must. I must have words with my mother about her choice of savior," Phaere said. "How it must gall you to be compelled to come to my aid."

"I would not have wanted you to become a prisoner of the devourers, Phaere," Solaufein said.

"So you say." Phaere turned to look at the mercenaries who were now approaching. "And who are these?"

"A contingent of mercenaries from Ched Nasad," Solaufein explained.

"Oh? Were none of our own people adequate for the task?"

Solaufein felt Qilafae's eyes upon him as he replied. "I know of none who could have been as effective," he admitted.

"They certainly have… unconventional magics at their disposal," Phaere said. She turned her attention to the mercenaries. "Which of you is the leader?"

"We are the leaders," said Qilafae, indicating herself and the swordswoman. "Qilafae and Dynefryn of the Flickering Flame."

"You seem to be adequately competent. Perhaps you may be of use to me in the future. I shall consult with my mother and speak with you later." She swung back to face Solaufein. "My escort and I shall return to the city. See if you can salvage anything of value from the wreckage and then follow."

"You are returning to the city alone?" Solaufein discounted the escort, a warrior of no great experience who had been given his position because of his obsequiousness rather than his combat skills. "That is foolishness! What if you stumble into some danger? I will not be held responsible."

"Your concern is touching," Phaere said, her upper lip curled in a sneer, "but demeaning. Do you forget that I am a High Priestess? I can handle any danger. Obey my command. You have no choice. Farewell." She turned her back on him. "Follow, male worm," she said to her escort, and walked away.

Solaufein clenched his fists tight and kept silent until Phaere was out of sight. "Blasted arrogant wench," he growled then.

"Wench?" Dynefryn raised her eyebrows. "A strange way of describing a senior priestess." She smiled. "I would certainly agree with the 'arrogant'."

"Yeah, she wasn't exactly big with the gratitude," Qilafae said. "It's kind of a shame that we splatted that kuo-toa ambush party on the way here. It would have served her right if she had run into it."

"And I would have been punished for my failure to protect her, regardless of it being at her orders," said Solaufein. "I will follow her at a distance."

"Yeah, do that. We'll tidy up here," Qilafae said. "The devourers don't usually have any good stuff, but you never know. This hammer came from one of their hang-outs."

"I did not know that you had experience in battling them beyond the one encounter that you mentioned," Solaufein said.

"Well, we didn't tell you, so why should you have known?" Qilafae's voice softened. "I'm sorry we didn't warn you about what we were going to do."

"I was convinced that you were deserting me," Solaufein admitted. "I felt that my doom was certain and that all that I could do was to sell my life dearly."

"We don't let down people who are depending on us, Solaufein," Qilafae said, "even if they are being assholes."

Solaufein frowned. "To be suspicious of mercenaries, and to question the competence of those who seem to be mere strutting undisciplined braggarts, is not being an 'asshole'."

Qilafae's eyes turned cold. "And I was just thinking maybe you'd lightened up. Okay, be like that." She turned on her heel and strode away towards the mangled body of one of the devourers.

Most of her comrades followed. One male lingered. A rogue from his armor, an assassin or a scout, and a skilled one for he was hard to see even at close quarters. He seemed to be one with the shadows.

"Made a right bleeding rothé's ear of that, mate, didn't you?" he said. "If you meant it as an apology, that is."

"I misspoke, perhaps," said Solaufein.

"Yeah, well, I noticed the 'seem to be' even if she didn't," the rogue said. "Little tip for next time. Just bloody well say 'sorry'. She won't take it as a sign of weakness. It'll help you stay on her good side. And, take it from me, you don't want to get on her bad side."

"No doubt you are correct." Solaufein looked along the trail to Ust Natha and saw that Phaere was almost out of sight. "I must go to ensure that Phaere returns safely to the city, lest I incur the wrath of the Matron Mother."

"Yeah, you do that," said the rogue. "'Fore you go, mate, question for you. Any vampires in Ust Natha?"

Solaufein squinted at the shadowy figure. Ah. That would explain how he was hard to see. His body temperature was hardly higher than that of his surroundings. "Apart from yourself?"

"Well, yeah, obviously," said the vampire.

"Perhaps in the undercity," Solaufein answered the question, "but none who are part of any of the Houses or the fighting societies. Some from the surface were guests of House Despana mere days ago but you have just missed them."

"Oh?"

"They are with our armies upon the surface," Solaufein said. "Why do you ask?"

"Just wondering what the local vamps do for food around here," the rogue said. "Don't want to eat people if it will piss off the Matron Mothers."

"You may feed upon slaves if you come to a satisfactory financial arrangement with their owners," Solaufein told him. "Some captive elves from the battlefront are beginning to arrive in the city too. I would imagine that they could be obtained cheaply."

The vampire frowned. "Like my meals to be able to fight back, mate. Eating some poor helpless bugger just isn't the same." He waved in the direction of the devourer corpses. "Pity those things taste like shit."

"There is always the dueling arena," Solaufein suggested, "or the missions that you are required to perform may provide suitable opportunities to feed." He glanced along the path to the city. Phaere and her escort were long gone. "I must go."

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"Irenicus and Bodhi have gone," Spike reported. "Up on the surface fighting the elves. We missed them."

"I suspected as much," said Sorkatani. "Let us hope that they did not talk of us while they were here. We have changed our appearance much but our dragon armor is distinctive."

Giles nodded agreement. "And, unfortunately, it gives us too much of an edge for us to discard."

"I would have done so if I had thought it necessary," Sorkatani said.

"Yeah, like you did in the fighting pit," said Buffy. "I still say that was showing off."

"Had we possessed enough high quality drow armor to equip us all I might have insisted upon a change," Sorkatani went on. "As we did not I felt that it was worth the risk. I do not believe that Irenicus would have talked about us to his new allies."

"Well, if the local equivalent of a SWAT team busts through the doors and grab us while we're taking our baths then we'll know you're wrong," said Buffy. "Hey, I don't think he'd say anything about us either."

"To reveal that he has powerful enemies on his tail would lose him face," Viconia confirmed.

"And it's not like he would expect us to turn up here anyway," Buffy said. "I think we're safe."

"Kinda weird definition of 'safe' you have there, Qilafae," said Xander. "We've finished checking out the bodies. None of the flayers have anything worth jack."

"Good," said Buffy. "Let's get back to the city. I want that bath."

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Buffy looked down at her naked body and her eyes widened. "I… Holy crap!" She put a hand to her groin and ran her fingers through her pubic hair. Or, rather, through what was left of it. A faint triangle of fine, downy, white hair. She hadn't had that little since she was about twelve or thirteen. It looked as if she was growing out a recent Brazilian wax. "Who stole my bush?"

She raised her eyes and looked around her. Communal bathrooms were the standard in most of the inns of Faerûn and she had become accustomed to seeing her companions, or at least the female ones, naked at bath-time. She'd never paid any particular attention to their pubic hair, although she had been vaguely aware that Viconia and Jaheira were fairly sparsely endowed in that department, but the changes were dramatic enough to be obvious.

Dawn had no more than a slight fuzz like the skin of a peach. Sorkatani and Jaheira were almost as denuded. The other girls had the same faint triangle as Buffy; matching that of Viconia, who as a genuine drow was of course unaffected by the spell.

The girls were all looking at each other and down at themselves. "Uh, so, it's not just the pointy ears," Willow commented. "Now that's thorough."

"Perhaps it would be best not to speak of this at the present time," Jaheira suggested, raising her eyebrows and jerking her head toward the door.

"It's okay, this room is totally blocked against scrying," Willow assured her. "Hey, I guess they're real serious about not wanting anyone peeking on girls in the bath." She picked up her Staff of the Magi, which she had propped up against the wall, and passed it from hand to hand. She remained visible. "There's even a permanent Invisibility Purge on the room. We're probably safer talking in here than even if we went right out of the city again." She returned the staff to its position against the wall and stepped into a bathtub.

Buffy tested the water temperature, decided that it was satisfactory, and followed Willow's example. "We could probably find better things to talk about than our, uh, hair."

Anya sat down in her bathtub, slid languorously under the water, and then suddenly jerked upright again. Water cascaded down her breasts. "Xander! His penis will have changed too! It will be the size of a dwarf's. How will he give me orgasms with a tiny penis?"

"Size doesn't matter," said Buffy.

Anya snorted. "That's what men with small penises say. I don't agree. Xander's is the perfect size. When he's human, that is."

"Hey, you were okay with Spi-, uh, Urlzaqh suggesting that Adalon should turn Xander into a duergar," Willow reminded her.

"That was because it meant I could still call him Xander, or at least Zander, and I wouldn't have to worry about calling him by the wrong name," Anya said. "I was a little surprised that he agreed. I suppose it's because dwarfs are more, well, macho than elves."

"Yeah, I think you're right," said Willow, "although I think he might have forgotten that the duergar are bald."

"I'd forgotten about it myself," Anya admitted, "but it doesn't look too bad on him. Rather Yul Brynner, well, apart from him being four foot tall. But what about his penis?"

Buffy wrinkled her nose. She didn't see the Yul Brynner resemblance at all and would have described the duergar Xander as being more like a scaled down cross between Minsc and Stone Cold Steve Austin. "I wouldn't worry about it. I think dwarfs might be pretty much on the same scale as humans down there. Korgan's groupies never seemed to have any complaints and some of them were human. Uh, actually they did have plenty of complaints, come to think, but about things like erratic personal hygiene and drunkenness. The size thing didn't seem to be a problem." She raised a leg out of the water and began to apply soap.

Anya nodded. "Yes, you might be right. The two halfling girls certainly seemed to be somewhat bandy-legged the next morning. I'll just have to hope that Xander has the same effect on me."

Buffy heard a snigger from behind her, recognized the voice as Dawn's, and winced. She had briefly forgotten that her sister was there and had allowed the conversation to stray into areas that were way unsuitable in front of a fifteen-year-old; although stopping Anya talking about sex, once she got started, was pretty difficult and Buffy couldn't think how she could have silenced Anya short of drowning her in the bath.

"To share a bed with a duergar slave is not normal behavior for a drow," Viconia commented, "and I would have counseled against it earlier. Now, however, I think that you should be able to get away with it. None will voice criticism that could lead to being challenged to face Dynefryn or Qilafae in the dueling arena."

"Good," said Anya, as she lathered her arms, "because I'm not going to miss out on my orgasm quota."

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"We don't usually allow slaves to stay here," said the innkeeper. His gaze went to the hilt of Celestial Fury, on which Dynefryn was lightly resting her hand, and he swallowed hard. "On this occasion I'm prepared to make an exception in the interests of my head remaining attached to my neck."

"Wise male," said Dynefryn.

"The Lust Chambers are open for your use, of course," the innkeeper continued. "I'm sure that you will have no trouble finding willing partners but if somehow you could not find ones that you regard as acceptable, or if your tastes run towards the non-consensual or the permanently damaging, there are some outcast drow from another city who are available on very reasonable terms." He squinted at the two non-drow males. "They could service your slaves. An application of tentacle rods would overcome any unwillingness."

The innkeeper smiled ingratiatingly at the potentially lethal guests. His smile evaporated as he realized that he was the focus of some extremely cold and hostile gazes. It seemed that he was mistaken in believing that the mercenaries regarded their slave warriors as only slightly inferior to drow.

Or perhaps not. One of the females put her hand on the arm of the duergar male in a fashion that he took to indicate possessiveness. "That won't be necessary," she said in icy tones. "Zander is mine."

"And Tallin is ours," added the one who seemed to be the senior mage in the mercenary band. Her hand went to the arm of the gigantic human slave in a duplicate of the other female's gesture. "He doesn't need anyone else." A second later one of the Nasadran's priestesses took hold of the human's other arm in identical fashion.

"You are sleeping with slaves?" The innkeeper's jaw dropped and his eyes widened. He saw the glares that were aimed at him, which made the mercenaries' earlier looks seem warm and welcoming by comparison, and he gulped. "Which is entirely your business," he added. "So, that's one double room," he paused and took another look at the two females holding on to the big human, "uh, one triple, and…?"

"Another double," answered a male Nasadran, clad in black leather armor with a red trim. "'Long as that's okay with you, Veldrin."

"You know I wouldn't want it any other way," confirmed a mercenary priestess.

"A double room for us also," said a Nasadran female who carried a long spear. A male of mature years, clad in a chain-mail jerkin that seemed to be of surface elf workmanship, stood at her side. The innkeeper presumed that he was the other half of the 'us' in question.

The two leaders, who had wreaked such carnage in the fighting pits, looked at each other. "Me and Dhaunae, you and Iimzyne?" suggested she of the mighty war hammer.

"Unless Iimzyne wishes to avail herself of the Lust Chambers," answered the sword-wielder Dynefryn. "I do not approve but she is old enough to make her own decisions."

"It's okay, I'm not in the mood," said a female whose hair was so badly cut that it might almost have been crudely hacked off with a dagger. "I think I've burned it out of my system. I'll share with you."

"So will that be five double rooms and a triple?" queried the innkeeper.

For some reason all of the Nasadrans turned to stare at the mage and priestess who were with the enormous human. "Uh, yes," the priestess confirmed. "F-five doubles and a t-triple."

Qilafae of the Iron Arm opened her eyes very wide, raised an eyebrow, and then turned back to the innkeeper. "Food first," she said.

"Certainly," the innkeeper said. "I shall get you menus. I recommend the rothé steaks with our special sauce."

"A question, male," said the priestess Veldrin, as the innkeeper was dishing out menus. "You mentioned captive drow from another city. Tell me, which city is that?"

"Not Ched Nasad," the innkeeper assured her. "Another Northdark city called Menzoberranzan."

"Oh? I know it well, although I have not been there for many years," said Veldrin. "Perhaps I shall take a look at these captives. I may derive some amusement from their plight."

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The cage was a dome that rather reminded Spike of an aviary. The similarity was superficial and extended only to the outer shape. A closer look revealed that the bars bristled with a variety of spikes, from small ones like the thorns of a rose bush up to large ones like the fangs of a saber-toothed tiger, and the captives inside were of course drow rather than birds.

There was no furniture within the cage, no chairs to sit on or beds to lie in, only a bare stone floor and a few piles of rags that must serve as bedding. There were at least twenty drow inside, roughly evenly split between males and females, and all were adults or at least teenagers. They were a pretty miserable bunch in Spike's opinion, skinny to the point of emaciation, and their clothing was tattered and filthy. Elves didn't sweat as much as humans, and were usually much less evident to his nose, but he had no problem smelling these drow. They obviously didn't get much access to washing facilities. Anyone who took up the innkeeper's offer of the prisoners as sex slaves would, in Spike's opinion, have to be sodding desperate or seriously strange.

Sympathy for strangers, and especially for those who belonged to groups that might be classed as enemies, wasn't an emotion that was natural to Spike even now. He felt a slight revulsion at the conditions in which the prisoners were being kept but, apart from that, his reaction was mainly to hope that Sorkatani or Tara didn't see them, get annoyed, and do something bloody stupid. He was taken completely by surprise when Viconia grabbed his bicep tightly and hissed into his ear.

"They must not see me. Investigate for me and meet me at our room." She released his arm, turned, and walked briskly away.

Spike closed one eye and tilted his head to one side. He had no sodding idea what Vicky was up to, and he wasn't even sure what she had meant by 'investigate', but he went along with her order anyway. He waited a moment to make sure that Vicky had removed herself from the vicinity and then swaggered up to the jailor.

"So, who are this lot then?" he enquired.

The jailor turned to look at him and raised her eyebrows slightly. Her hand moved a little closer to the short-sword at her hip. "I do not recognize your insignia. Who might you be, male?"

"Urlzaqh of Ched Nasad," Spike told her. "A mercenary of the Flickering Flame Company hired by your House Despana."

"Ah, yes," the jailor said, "the Nasadrans." Her hand moved away from her sword. "I heard of your leaders' exploits downstairs. These captives are nobodies, mercenary. Outcasts who attempted to pass themselves off as members of a true House."

"We were faithful servants of Lolth," a captive protested from inside the cage. "Our House was strong. We should have been triumphant. Our fate could be yours!"

"Your House was weak," the jailor sneered. "It has been wiped from history's eye. As you shall be once the method of your passing is decided."

"We were loyal. We could have given much to this city had you accepted us," said the captive. "If there is nothing left for us but death then we shall face it without fear. House De'Vir! House De'Vir!"

Spike felt something inside him twist as the prisoners were reclassified in his mind. No longer strangers, who he could look upon without compassion, but Viconia's family. A family that had cast her out, true, and they might be reclassified again after consultation with Vicky; he regarded Tara as family but he wouldn't spit on her brother Donny if the git was on fire. For the time being, however, these drow were in the category of those for whom Spike felt sympathy and would aid if he could.

"House De'Vir is nothing," the jailor taunted. "Ashes on the wind, as you, too, shall be. You should have died with your Matron in your own city. Now… we shall see, and I shall doubtless find it most amusing."

"Insolent bastard! This could just as easily be you, fools. Darkness take you both!" The prisoner turned away from the bars and sat down on a heap of rags.

"I take it that your curiosity is answered, male?" the jailor said to Spike. "Go away, then, and leave me to this tedious duty." A chair stood near the cage door; she picked up a book that lay upon the seat and turned as if to sit down.

"Not yet," said Spike. "Might have a use for those poor bastards, mightn't I?" He had been fighting back an impulse to go into game face ever since the captive had mentioned the name of her House; now he stopped resisting and allowed the change to take place.

The jailor started and dropped her book. "Your pardon. I did not know."

Spike grinned, displaying a mouthful of fangs, and reflected that it was nice to be somewhere that vampires got proper respect. "'S alright. Anyway, about these buggers. Was wondering what I was going to eat while I'm in Ust Natha. If House Despana sends me after drow, or duergar, or surfacers then I'm well sorted. Trouble is so far we've only had to fight devourers and those slimy bastards taste like shit. S'ppose there's always the dueling arena, yeah, but that would mean having to find a string of people stupid enough to be up for a challenge." He ran his tongue over his teeth. "These gits could be the answer to my problem."

The jailor frowned. "That is possible. Certainly the Matron Mother of House Despana gave one of them to some visiting vampires recently. I cannot let you have them without her authority, however, as my orders are that they are to stay alive until the means of their death is decided upon."

"Fair enough." Spike frowned. "Not that they'd be much of a meal, state they're in. Tell you what." He fished a pouch of gold from his belt, weighed it in his hand, and passed it to the jailor. "Feed them up a bit. And, yeah, let them have soap and water for washing. Don't want to have to hold my sodding nose when I'm draining them dry."

The drow opened the pouch, tipped the coins out onto her hand, and nodded. "As you wish. This shall suffice to feed them for at least a tenday."

"Yeah, right. Should have an answer one way or the other by then." Spike cast one last glance over the captive drow. His sharp hearing picked up conversation that was not meant for his ears.

One of the prisoners, a teenage boy in human terms, was sobbing quietly and apparently trying to muffle the sound by pressing his face into the rag bedding.

"Hush!" a female commanded him in a harsh whisper. "You bring disgrace upon us. Do not show weakness in front of the Ust Nathans."

"Forgive me," the boy choked out in answer. "I will try to control myself but I am afraid of being devoured by the vampire."

"Zarbalan went to his fate with commendable bravery for a male," the female said. "You must do the same if it comes to it. Death at the fangs of a vampire is not the worst that could befall us."

"I shall try to be strong, mother," the boy answered, and he fell silent.

Spike didn't let any reaction to what he had overheard show on his face. He grinned at the jailor once more. "I'll be back," he promised, and he turned and walked away.

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

Minsc looked at the huge bed and then turned to the girls. "There is only one bed," he said. "I thought that there would be three."

"Uh, I wasn't sure," Willow said, "but hey, a place with gladiator fights and Lust Chambers probably wasn't going to be catering for families." She glanced at Tara through lowered eyelashes. "It's plenty big enough for three. We could, uh, keep our clothes on, I guess."

Tara giggled. "Hey, that would spoil the fun," she said. She sat down on the edge of the bed and began to remove her boots. She wobbled as she did so and had to snatch at the bed to stop herself from falling over.

"Just how much of that wine did you have anyway?" Willow wondered. They had shared a bottle of Morimatra as an accompaniment to their meal and the drow wine was potent stuff.

"The same as you," Tara said. "I wouldn't win any prizes for co-ordination even cold sober." She tossed her boots down onto the floor and batted her eyelashes at Minsc. "Last one naked is a, uh, I can't think of anything."

"A person still wearing clothes," supplied Minsc. He set Lilarcor's scabbard down against the wall, unbuckled the straps holding the upper portion of the Doomplate in place, and pulled off the cuirass.

"Exactly," Tara said, and giggled again.

"Well, if you're sure you want to do this," Willow said, "I'm okay with it." She bit her lip, paused, and then pulled the Robe of the Good Archmagi over her head and threw it onto a chair. "How about you, uh, Tallin?"

"It is strange not being able to use our right names," said Minsc, who was setting down parts of his armor beside where he had laid Lilarcor. "I am glad that the spell reminds us or I would forget." He stood up straight, turned around, and his eyes fell on Willow. He swallowed hard. "Yes, it will be nice to share a bed with my two beautiful witches."

Tara pulled off her robe. The girls had done some hasty shopping as they passed the market on their return to town, in case anyone noticed their surface-style clothes and asked awkward questions, and their purchases had included underwear. She was wearing a spider-silk camisole. Her fingers went to its fastenings and then she hesitated. "Uh, maybe I might keep this on after all."

Willow guessed that Tara was losing her nerve and was torn between relief and disappointment. Tara looked delectable in the camisole, and Minsc looked pretty darn tasty too, but it would be a big step and, hey, what if it didn't work out? "Yeah, me too," she said. Her own garments, silk panties and the wrap of cloth that was the Faerûnian equivalent of a bra, were neither as pretty nor as appropriate for bed as Tara's underwear but there was no way that Willow was going to be the only one to get naked.

Assuming that Minsc didn't strip off all the way, that was, but he followed the girls' example and stopped when he was down to his underwear. A pair of long shorts that went down almost to his knees. His chest, for which 'mighty' was the most descriptive adjective possible, was bare. Definitely eye candy material, and Willow took a good look while she could, but it was soon hidden as Minsc disappeared under the bedclothes.

Minsc occupied the center of the bed with Tara on his right and Willow on his left. Willow lowered the covers of the bedside light, a globe with Continual Light cast upon it, and they composed themselves for sleep. For a while small scuffling noises came from a little nest of rags that Minsc had made for Boo. Eventually the hamster fell silent and Willow closed her eyes. Actually going to sleep, next to Minsc and with Tara on the far side of him, wasn't going to be easy.

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

"That was well done, my beloved," Viconia said. She rested her head against Spike's shoulder. "I am greatly pleased with your actions but I am in no mood for copulation tonight. I trust that you will understand, as you have done in the past, and content yourself with holding me only."

"No problem, love," said Spike. "What are we going to do about them? Don't like the idea of leaving your relatives to rot but I can't see any way of rescuing them."

"My thoughts are the same," Viconia told him. "It is… confusing to me. I was cast out by House De'Vir, and I would have been executed had I not been saved by my brother, and I should not care what happens to them now. Yet care I do. I saw a cousin there, and an uncle, and one with whom I shared confidences when we were both in training as priestesses, and I felt sorrow and anger. I would rescue them if I could do so without putting us at risk."

"Do we tell the boss ladies?" Spike wondered. "They'd want to spring the prisoners, bloody certain they would, but I was worried in case they went off half-cocked and did something bloody stupid."

"Half-cocked?" Viconia frowned. "I do not understand."

Spike remembered that the term had originated from the early days of firearms and sought for an alternative way of expressing his meaning. "Rushed into action without thinking it through," he said.

"Dynefryn would not do that," Viconia stated. "I do not believe that Qilafae would either. Perhaps coming upon the scene unprepared, as I did, but not if prepared in advance. We should consult with them. They may think of some plan."

"Long as it's not a cunning one," said Spike. "I take it we can't just buy your relatives as slaves, or as food for me like I kidded the jailor I wanted, and sneak them out of the city somehow?"

"It might be possible if we rise high in the favor of House Despana," Viconia said. "Yet it is rare indeed for there to be drow slaves owned by individuals. If we bought them for you to eat that could only be one at a time. It would be difficult and dangerous to keep them alive and smuggle them out of the city one by one over several days. And what would happen to them then?" She sighed. "It is beyond me. Let us sleep on it for now."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

Willow rolled onto her side, facing Minsc, and she snuggled against him. He wasn't asleep. His arm curled around her and pulled her to him. She put out her own arm and rested it on his chest. A wicked impulse struck her and she allowed her hand to drift down his body. She could always pretend that she was asleep and didn't realize what she was doing. She reached the object of her interest. Rampant and erect, as she had expected; what she hadn't expected was to find herself making contact with another female hand engaged in a similar exploration.

"Tara!" she exclaimed, the magic prompting her to call her lover by her drow name proving inadequate for this situation.

"Willow!" Tara was just as surprised. She giggled. "You're being a naughty girl."

"And so are you," said Willow. She felt Minsc's embracing arm move and his hand brushed against her breast.

"My beautiful witches are both being naughty," Minsc said. "Your touching is making me think naughty thoughts too."

So much for pretending to be asleep. Willow brought her leg over Minsc's and caressed Tara's leg with her foot. She continued to explore Minsc's erection, her hand and Tara's swapping positions as one went up and the other went down, and she brought her other arm up and put it around Minsc's neck. She raised her head to kiss Minsc, almost bumped her nose against Tara's as the other girl did the same thing, and she kissed Tara instead.

Suddenly all three of them were moving, pulling at clothes, stroking exposed flesh, probing, caressing, fondling, kissing. Willow pulled down Minsc's shorts even as Minsc was stripping Tara of her camisole. Seconds later Tara was divesting Willow of her panties and Minsc was unwrapping her breasts. Clothes were thrown from the bed, no-one caring where they landed, and in a moment everyone was naked.

Willow felt Tara's hand probing between her legs, Minsc's mouth on her nipples, her own mouth seeking out Tara's, and then Tara's head suddenly dipping down to perform an action that Willow would never have imagined her carrying out. Minsc's appreciative groan showed that Tara wasn't making a bad job of it. Then Tara released Minsc and turned to Willow. Her lips and tongue worked their usual magic and Willow was almost melting as she squirmed around until she could take over from Tara and work her own oral magic upon Minsc.

The bed seemed to be full of limbs, mouths, and erogenous zones. It was chaotic, sometimes awkward, but they managed to make it work anyway. Half an hour after they started Willow was on her hands and knees, her face buried between Tara's legs, rocking against her lover as Minsc thrust into her from behind. Tara's fingers were tangled in Willow's hair and her cries of pleasure were interspersed with giggles.

"If this… is decadence," Tara gasped out, "I could get… used to it."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

"Hey, Minsc and Willow and Tara are all in bed together," Andrew commented.

Jonathan looked up briefly but then grimaced. "Leave them to it, dude, I'm not in the mood. Anyway, like Warren said, it's not the same now they're people we know."

"Nothing's the same without Warren," Andrew said. He switched off the monitor and joined Jonathan at the table. "I don't know how we're going to cope."

"We have to try," Jonathan said. "When he comes out of the, uh, coma we want to be able to tell him that everything's going well. We can't just let things slide. We have a contract to fulfill, dude. At least he's already done most of the hard work."

"Suppose he, well, never comes out of it?" Andrew's lower lip trembled.

"He will," Jonathan said. "He has to. Don't even think anything else."

"If only they had healing spells in this world like in Faerûn," Andrew said. "A Restoration or a Heal would fix him right up."

"Yeah, but I don't know any equivalent in this world," Jonathan said. "I'll talk to Willow and Tara, maybe they might have some ideas, but I doubt it. We just have to wait for, like, natural healing."

"I guess so," said Andrew, "but it totally sucks. Why did that guy have to hit him with a chair anyway?"

"According to Alex," Jonathan said, "the guy claims that he thought that Warren must have been 'high on PCP' to have put that big jock Frank down so easily." He shook his head. "I guess what that really means is that he thought Warren was a vampire. At least he didn't stake him."

"I hope he goes to jail for a long time," Andrew said,

"And has to share a cell with a weightlifter called Bubba who wants to be his special friend," Jonathan agreed, a venomous note creeping into his voice. "But mostly I just want Warren back."

"Me too," said Andrew. "Hey, want some coffee?"

"Yeah, thanks," said Jonathan, looking up from the technical manual that he was studying. His lips twitched upward in what could just barely have been classed as a smile. "So, Minsc and Willow and Tara are doing it, huh?"

"They are," Andrew confirmed. "It was pretty dark but they were definitely all having fun."

Jonathan's hint of a smile became slightly more definite. "At least somebody is. It's a long way from the original Baldur's Gate game by now. I can just picture them if they had to redo the voice acting to cope with this kinda action." He tried to deepen his voice and adopt an Eastern European accent to emulate Minsc. "Camaraderie, adventure, and girl on girl. The stuff of legend, right, Boo?"

Andrew managed a shaky grin as he completed the quote. "Squeak!"

**Glossary of Character Aliases**

• Qilafae = Buffy  
• Dynefryn = Sorkatani  
• Gelfein = Giles  
• Zander = Xander  
• Auniira = Anya  
• Vyll'ae = Willow  
• Micar'lae = Tara  
• Urlzaqh = Spike  
• Veldrin = Viconia  
• Dhaunae = Dawn  
• Jhaelirae = Jaheira  
• Tallin = Minsc  
• Iimzyne = Imoen

Disclaimer: song lyrics used in this chapter come from 'Another Brick in the Wall Part II' by Pink Floyd, 'Redemption Song' by Bob Marley, and 'Pride (In the Name of Love)' by U2. All were amended slightly to fit Giles' purpose. They are used without permission and with no intent to profit.


	57. Chapter 57

**Chapter Fifty-seven**

"It's gonna be weird going to a party without my Xander-shaped friend," Buffy remarked, shooting a sly glance at Xander, "even if he isn't all that Xander-shaped right now."

Xander rolled his eyes. "I must have been crazy to go along with this plan. I didn't want to be five feet tall so I signed up to be four foot three. What the hell was I thinking?"

"You kept your manly breadth of shoulder," Anya reminded him, "and certain other, more important, attributes. I have no complaints about your present form."

"But you get to go to the ball and I don't," Xander complained. "Oh, well, a dinner party at a Matron Mother's place probably would be the kind of fun that isn't."

"I thought she seemed pretty, well, nice," said Tara.

"A Matron Mother can survive only by being more ruthless than those around her," Viconia pointed out. "That she is courteous of manner makes her only the more dangerous."

Tara sighed. "I guess so. I've memorized a couple of Neutralize Poisons just in case."

"A wise precaution, close friend," Viconia said, "and one that I have taken also."

"Look after Tallin, Zander," Willow requested. "Don't let him get into any trouble, okay?" A crease appeared on her forehead. "I still don't get why he ended up as 'Tallin'. Yeah, I know it's the capital of Estonia, and 'Minsk' is the capital of Belarus, but I don't get why the Brit contingent kept cracking up when I suggested 'Tomsk'."

Grins appeared on the faces of Spike and Giles. "Would have been as bad as 'Bungo' or 'Orinoco'," Spike said. "A six foot four Womble would just be dead wrong."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

"Welcome to my home," Evelintra greeted, waving a hand in a gesture of invitation. She was unarmored and her low-cut gown had slits at the side to show off her shapely legs. Gold bracelets, rather than protective bracers, decorated her wrists. A golden amulet at her neck dangled down into a cleavage that managed to be quite impressive even without the assistance of an Earth-style bra.

"Hi," Buffy said, as she walked past the armored doorman and into the home of the Matron Mother of House Zaughym. She pouted slightly. Evelintra's gown, of dove gray silk shot through with golden threads, was gorgeous. Buffy had done a little shopping in Ust Natha, and the silk shirt that she was wearing had been chosen for looks rather than practicality, but it wasn't in the same class as Evelintra's apparel and Buffy felt somewhat at a disadvantage. The rest of the party, led by Sorkatani, filed in after Buffy; until Spike reached the door.

The vampire hit an invisible barrier and bounced back. He collided with Jaheira, knocked her from her feet, and only a fast grab by Giles saved her from falling down the short flight of steps that led up to Evelintra's door.

"Sodding buggering damn!" Spike swore. "You okay, Jhaelirae? Sorry about that."

"I am, thanks to Gelfein," Jaheira answered. She stared at the doorway, her eyes narrowed, and she opened her mouth to speak.

Giles beat her to it. "I take it you forgot about the invite rule, ah, Urlzaqh?"

"Yeah," Spike admitted. "Thought the dinner invitation would have covered it." He shook his head. "I don't get it. Some places I can waltz into with no invite, even when I'm bloody sure the owner wouldn't want me there and I'm going to kill the git once I'm in, but here I go smack into the barrier and get clobbered. Doesn't bloody add up."

"There do seem to be certain… inconsistencies," Giles agreed. He remembered the occasion on which Spike had walked unhindered into the house belonging to the Slaver bosses; the invite rule should have been in operation then, if it worked in the same fashion as it did on Earth, and so there had to have been some factor in operation of which they were unaware. Before he could ask Spike about any other instances Giles saw Evelintra at the door and decided to postpone the discussion until another time.

"My apologies, Urlzaqh, it seems that I did not make myself sufficiently clear," the Matron Mother said. "Of course you are included in the invitation. Come in, please."

Spike raised an eyebrow at Giles, shrugged, and entered the house to join the others.

Evelintra led the way to a chamber where a dozen drow guests were sitting or standing, most with wine glasses in their hands, and she introduced the newcomers as they filed in. "The renowned members of the Flickering Flame warrior society," Evelintra announced. "Dynefryn, Qilafae, Veldrin, Jhaelirae, Micar'lae, Gelfein, Urlzaqh the vampire and," she paused, "I'm afraid I didn't catch the names of the other members of your group. Forgive me."

"I'm Auniira," Anya introduced herself.

"Dhaunae," Dawn added. "Qilafae's sister."

"Iimzyne," said Imoen. She had seized an opportunity to get a proper haircut, repairing the damage that had been done to her hair during her captivity, and she wore the low-cut gown that she had purchased in Brynlaw. "I'm Dynefryn's sister."

"And I'm Vyll'ae," Willow completed the introductions. A slight crease in her brow and her protruding lower lip gave away her irritation at not being one of those party members who had been recognized without prompting. She had set aside her Robe of the Good Archmagi, in case it was recognized as an extremely inappropriate garment for a drow, and she wore a locally-purchased dress. It wasn't in the same class as Evelintra's gown, or the silk dress that Tara wore, and clothes envy made her pout even more prominent.

Evelintra dipped her head in acknowledgement and turned to perform introductions in the other direction. "This is Talabrae," she began, "and Chaldiira," she went on, gesturing in the direction of a woman of her own age who was heavily pregnant, "my sister-in-law Vlondril, and my niece Akorynrae." The last named was a girl of about the same apparent age as Dawn, rail slim, whose hair was shaved away at the sides of her head. Her upper lip was curled into a sneer.

"Hi," Dawn greeted her contemporary, giving her a wide smile.

The drow girl's lip twitched upward in the start of an answering smile. "Hi," she replied, sounding almost startled, and then dipped her head and adopted the sneer once more.

Evelintra went on to introduce her male dinner guests. "Angloth, Relonatar, Szindear, and my brother Tebaonar." Buffy felt her eyes beginning to glaze over. She'd never remember all the names and she just hoped that there wouldn't be a test later.

Evelintra indicated a pair of young males, teenagers in human terms, who were in close proximity to her niece. "My nephew Geldiirn, and Akorynrae's boyfriend Krendorl." Geldiirn wore his hair in a similar semi-Mohawk style to his sister, although shorter, and his eyes were trained on Dawn with open admiration evident in his expression. "You have, of course, already met Zaknal'dor," Evelintra continued, pointing to the young male who had fought in the arena and been healed of a dreadful injury by Tara and Jaheira, "and Solaufein."

"And wasn't that an experience that was a whole lot of not fun?" Buffy muttered, glaring at the drow warrior. Her glare grew even more intense when Evelintra guided everyone to their seats for the meal and Buffy discovered that she had been placed next to Solaufein.

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

"It's disgusting," said the drow male. "Only a complete slut would fuck a slave."

"Or someone who is so shit in bed that no drow would fuck her twice," a second drow male added.

Xander gritted his teeth, stared at his plate, and tried to pretend that he hadn't heard.

"Three of the females are filthy perverts," said a third male. "The one who is screwing the duergar is bad enough but the two whores who are fucking the enormous human oaf are even worse. Their slits are probably so stretched that a normal male wouldn't even touch the sides."

Minsc's head swiveled like the gun turret of a Main Battle Tank and he aimed an icy gaze at the drow males. "You insult my witches. You need to be taught a lesson in manners by the application of a very large boot to your backsides."

Xander groaned and, with some difficulty, restrained himself from head-butting his plate of rothé steak and mushrooms. He estimated that his chance of being able to obey Willow's instruction to 'keep Minsc out of trouble' was now one in ten million at best.

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

A svirfneblin slave turned away from the table after setting down a dish of food in front of Jaheira. He bumped into another passing slave, his serving tray tipped, and the laden plate intended for Giles slipped from the tray and crashed down upon the floor.

Buffy clenched her teeth to keep herself from audibly or visibly wincing. She had seen what happened to slaves who screwed up in this city. If Evelintra killed the slave on the spot then the gnome would be getting off lightly.

"I crave pardon for my clumsiness, Matron Mother," the slave said, bowing deeply.

"Granted," said Evelintra. "It was not entirely your fault. Clean up the mess at once. Once you have done so then fetch another serving for my guest. You will make amends for your error with extra dish-washing duties after the meal."

"Of course, Matron Mother," said the gnome. "I must fetch cloths for the cleaning."

"Do so," Evelintra said. "At once, that our guests are not kept waiting." The gnome bowed deeply and scurried off. Evelintra turned to Giles. "Your pardon, Gelfein, your food will be delayed slightly."

"That's quite all right, Matron Mother," Giles said. He fought to keep his eyebrows down but was unable to prevent them from creeping upwards. Viconia wasn't even trying to conceal her astonishment and her mouth was hanging open.

"You are surprised at my lenience?" Evelintra arched an eyebrow and smiled. "Others may slay slaves for the slightest mistake or misdemeanor. I cannot afford to follow their example. Replacements aren't cheap." Her smile grew wider. "I have found that there are other advantages. My servants can learn from their mistakes. Such mishaps as you have just observed happen less frequently than in other Houses."

"There is logic behind your actions," Viconia conceded, "but it is not the custom."

"My House, my customs," said Evelintra, shrugging. "I would not hesitate to slay a slave whose error stemmed from malevolence but a simple accident, or an honest mistake, in my eyes warrants only minor punishment." She focused a sharp gaze on Viconia. "Do you of the Flickering Flame not treat your own slaves just as well, or better?"

"True," Viconia admitted, "but we are well aware that we are unusual in that respect."

"Unusual, but not unique," said Evelintra. "Some see my attitude as a sign of weakness. I don't agree, I think that it is only good sense, but I have been able to persuade only a few to see things my way." She waved a hand in a gesture encompassing the guests who sat around the long table. "Almost all of whom are here now."

"I must admit that I was dubious at first," put in Talabrae. "I thought it possible that discipline amongst the slaves would break down to the point of mutiny." She was thinner and less curvaceous than Evelintra, with a much flatter chest, but she still seemed to ooze sexuality. A multitude of miniature rings adorned her ears and her wrists were bedecked with a dozen slim gold bangles. "I was pleasantly surprised. Even though now I order executions only for offences where there is malicious intent, or when the wrongdoer attempts to conceal his mistakes, and floggings only when the offender is willfully negligent, discipline has not suffered appreciably. Household expenses have dropped by thirty-eight per cent and productivity has risen."

"As I told you it would," said Evelintra. She turned to face Spike. "I am afraid that from your point of view, Urlzaqh, my unconventional attitude has a drawback. I have no malefactors, or expendable slaves, to feed to you. I apologize for my failings as a hostess and I hope that you will not be too discontented with having to make do with wine."

"What, don't I get any of that fish?" Spike cocked his head to one side and quirked his scarred eyebrow upward. "Looks right tasty. Even without chips, salt, and vinegar."

"You eat normal food?" Evelintra's eyes widened.

"Doesn't do a lot for me as food," Spike said, "but that doesn't mean I don't enjoy it."

"Oh. Your pardon." Evelintra raised her hands and clapped them together. "Servants, bring another plate of fish for our guest Urlzaqh."

"At once, Matron Mother," said the closest slave, and he hastened to obey.

Buffy suddenly realized that an invitation to dinner with any Matron Mother other than Evelintra, and perhaps Talabrae, would indeed have resulted in a hapless slave being dragged in and served up to Spike as a Happy Meal on legs. She smothered a gasp of horror at the thought, sensed eyes turning toward her, and hastily snatched up her goblet of wine and drank.

Oops, big mistake. Well, not completely a mistake, maybe, 'cause if there had been anything odd about her expression the choking and coughing would hide it pretty well, but this was so not the way to look smooth and sophisticated at a dinner party. Buffy had expected the drow Morimatra wine to be, well, smooth and sophisticated. Nope. It was rough, raw, and flavored with fiery spices. It was like swallowing a porcupine. Alive.

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

Xander took up his position in the dueling arena. Great, just freaking great. 'Don't let Minsc get into any trouble'. Yeah, right. Now they were in a cage match to the death against four drow guys.

It had to be a set-up. The drow weren't any that he'd seen before, or not that he could remember, but their House Auvrindar insignia was a dead give-away that this wasn't just a random bunch of guys who didn't like humans or duergar. It was payback for Buffy and Sorkatani terminating the House Auvrindar weapon master and priestess.

It seemed a pretty dumb plan to Xander. Even if these guys were sure that they could kill him and Minsc he couldn't see what the drow thought they were gaining. They had to know that Sorkatani and Buffy would just kill them right after. Unless they thought that killing slaves wouldn't bring any retaliation but, hey, if they didn't think it would matter to the two leaders they wouldn't be doing it anyway.

Not that Xander was going to give them the chance to carry out Stage One of the Evil Vengeance Plan ™. He hadn't seen these drow fight but he'd seen their House weapon master in action, twice if you counted the single second that it had taken Sorkatani to slice the guy in half, and the late Lasaonar had been supposed to be the best fighter in House Auvrindar. He'd been pretty good, yeah, but Xander wouldn't have backed down from taking the guy on. The current four, against Xander and Minsc together, shouldn't be too much of a problem. Xander might be dwarf-size right now, and his two-handed sword Flame of the North was way too big to handle, but he had acquired Lasaonar's Blade of Searing bastard sword and, at this size, it made a pretty good substitute.

"Evil, meet my sword," Minsc rumbled, as he reached back to take hold of Lilarcor's hilt.

One of the drow males held up a hand. His mouth was twisted in a sneer. "Hold, giant. You have forgotten something crucial." The sneer turned into a sardonic grin. "A slave who draws steel against a drow is executed. If you touch the sword you seal your fate."

"What!" Xander gaped. "You have to be kidding. We're in a freaking death match here and you think we won't use our swords?"

"If you use them, you die," the drow said. He turned to face the arena master who stood on the platform overlooking the cage. "Is that not so, Sondal?"

"It is," the Master of Ceremonies confirmed. He hefted a crossbow. "It will be my duty to shoot you down if you break the law, slaves. I hope that it does not come to that. I'd rather not have Dynefryn annoyed at me. It is bad enough that she will undoubtedly spray me with the blood of these fools without giving her an excuse to do anything worse."

"She will do nothing," said one of the drow fighters. "When we leave here we set off at once to join the troops fighting the elves." He drew a slim rapier. "First, a human and a dwarf as a warm-up."

"We cannot use our swords? That is unfair," Minsc said, "but if that is how it must be, then so be it. Evil, meet my boot. Boot, meet Evil!"

Xander raised his fists. "Let's get ready to rumble."

"In the name of Lolth," Sondal called out, "fight!"

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

Giles bent his head forward and looked at Evelintra over the top of non-existent glasses. "I gather that you do not support this war against the surface elves?"

"It is sheer stupidity," Evelintra declared. "What do we have to gain? Territory? Hardly. Few of us would wish to live under the sun. Loot? I fail to see how we can win enough to defray the cost of the war. The elves do not have great stores of gold or jewels. Their made goods are inferior to our own, save that their armor and weaponry does not decay in the rays of the sun, and that is a quality of no relevance except when we are fighting against them. Our troops will have to capture much equipment just to break even. Slaves? Surface elves make terrible slaves. All know this."

"There is the matter of revenge, I suppose," Talabrae said, with no great conviction behind her words.

"Revenge? Huh." Evelintra snorted. "Yes, the surface elves wronged us grievously, but that was thirteen thousand years ago. We have avenged ourselves many times over since then. Also, it was the sun elves who attacked our kinsfolk. The moon elves were neutrals until we foolishly dragged them into the war. The wood elves were our allies in those days. Attacking the wood elves of Suldanessellar on the grounds of revenge makes no sense."

Viconia raised her eyebrows. "You are familiar with the Secret Histories? I had thought them unknown in this city. When those we met in the tavern told of the founding of Ust Natha they related myths and folk tales as if they were historical fact."

"The truth is less glorious than the myth," said Evelintra. "Yet there is much of which we can rightfully be proud."

"Not including this war," said Solaufein. "I agree with you that it is at best pointless and at worst dangerously foolish. Ardulace sees advantage only for herself, and House Despana, and cares not that she damages the city in the process." He fixed his gaze on Buffy. "If you pass on my words to your employers, Qilafae, then so be it. I will not hide my opinions."

"Hey, I'm not going to go telling tales," Buffy told him. "I think pretty much the same way as Evelintra."

Evelintra smiled impishly. "Not in all respects, I think," she said. "I'd rather fuck than fight."

"Hey, I like fucking too," Buffy said. The total lack of any innocuous euphemisms for sexual intercourse in the Drow language made her statement come out a lot more bluntly than she had intended. "Uh, I just like fighting _first_. It gets me hot." Buffy saw Willow's eyebrows going up, Spike's lips twitching into a smirk, and a wide grin appearing on Dawn's face. Whoops. She hadn't meant to be so forthcoming; blame it on the Morimatra.

"Your fighting style is unusual and effective," Solaufein remarked. "Perhaps you would join me in a sparring session at another time?"

Buffy raised her eyebrows. Was that a come-on? Maybe it was. Well, Solaufein was being a lot less of an asshole than when they'd first met, in fact he seemed to be a pretty nice guy, and hey, she could understand him not taking to her straight away when he thought she was just a cold professional killer. No need to give him the big brush-off. "Maybe I might," she said. "We'll see how things go."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

The drow advanced, his feet gliding smoothly over the stone flags, rapier poised for a lethal thrust. Xander gritted his teeth. If he could use his sword the drow would be toast. Literally, with the Sword of Searing. Without a sword it was a whole different ball game. That extra thirty inches of reach gave the drow a huge advantage. Somehow Xander had to get inside the sword's arc. He flicked a glance at his other opponent, who was hanging back a little, and saw that drow gulping down a potion and then blinking out of sight. Invisibility. Crap. That brought a whole new level of urgency to the game.

Xander lowered his head and charged. He took a hit from the rapier as he went in but it glanced harmlessly from the enchanted dragon-scale armor. He slammed into the drow, taller but lighter than Xander in his duergar form, and knocked the guy from his feet. Xander followed him down, grabbing for the sword arm, catching it and slamming it against the stone floor, forcing the drow to let go of his rapier, and then they were rolling across the stone floor, grappling and punching at each other, first one on top and then the other, with the invisible drow presumably hovering over them waiting for a clear shot at Xander. Well, no way was Xander going to give the guy an easy target. He used hands, elbows, feet and knees every chance he got, doing as much damage as he could, but he kept moving the whole time. Keep rollin', rollin', rollin', rollin', yeah.

Xander caught a brief glimpse of Minsc raising one of his two opponents over his head and hurling him at his other foe. There was no time to keep looking and to see how the move worked out. Xander tried to take advantage of being momentarily uppermost by slamming the drow's head down against the stone flags. Simultaneously he felt a flare of pain in his right side. The drow had managed to draw a dagger with his left hand and force it between the dragon armor's scales. Xander gasped in pain, banged the drow's head against the floor again, and then threw himself over in another roll just a scream came from the other side of the arena.

It was a piercing shriek, high and filled with unmistakable agony, and Xander couldn't stop himself from glancing in that direction. Neither, luckily, could the invisible drow, who had just committed himself to a thrust. There was a second scream as the rapier drove home into the wrong target, penetrating easily through the drow chain-mail, and the attacker popped into visibility with his mouth dropping open in horror at his mistake. Xander swept a leg around and tripped him before he could react. The drow lost his grip on his rapier, leaving it sticking into his accidental victim, and fell backward onto his ass.

The drow scrambled away. Xander pushed aside the suddenly limp body of his first opponent and climbed to his feet. He pulled the dagger out of his side. Using it in the fight would probably count as 'drawing steel against a drow' and get him shot. Not worth the risk. He dropped it on the ground and shot a quick glance across at Minsc's side of the arena.

One of Minsc's opponents was down on the ground, lying motionless, and from the angle at which the drow's neck was twisted Xander deduced that he wouldn't be getting up again. The giant ranger was holding his other foe by one arm and the groin. Xander winced. That explained the screams. Minsc lifted the drow, screaming and struggling ineffectually, high above his head and dashed him down head-first onto the stone flags with dreadful force. The screaming stopped abruptly.

Xander could feel blood trickling down his side, inside his armor, but the wound didn't seem to be deep and it wasn't slowing him down. He rushed the last drow and unleashed a flurry of punches. The drow jumped back, sidestepped, and drew a dagger. Xander bored in again, relying on his armor to protect him, but the drow dodged and backed off once more.

Too far. A huge hand clamped on the back of his head and an arm wrapped around his neck. "You should not have said those things about my lovely witches," Minsc growled. "Now you shall pay!" He heaved and wrenched. There was an ugly crunching sound and the drow slumped in his arms and went limp.

"The victors, Tallin and Zander, slave warriors of the Flickering Flame Company," the Master of Ceremonies announced. There were relatively few spectators for the bout, certainly nothing like as many as had flocked to see Sorkatani and Buffy in action against renowned champions, but there was a ripple of applause. Xander got the impression that most of those applauding were female. The males stayed silent.

"As slaves you cannot claim the equipment of the fallen," Sondal continued. "It becomes the property of your owners and will be held here until they return and claim it."

Xander shrugged. "Okay by me." He took a healing potion from his belt pouch; he didn't want to risk anyone recognizing his paladin 'lay on hands' healing ability, something that no 'evil' duergar should be able to do, and getting suspicious. "All I want to do is patch up my wound, get back to the table, and finish off my interrupted meal."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

Evelintra pushed back her chair and rose to her feet. "If everyone is finished," she said, "we can adjourn to the other room for drinks."

Buffy wrinkled up her nose. "I'm not sure," she said. "I'm not much for drinking. I like to keep a clear head for fighting, you know? I've had about as much as I can handle."

"The same is true for me," Sorkatani said. "The meal was excellent, and I have enjoyed the conversation, but perhaps we should go now."

"Oh, please stay longer," Evelintra said. "The drinks do not have to be alcoholic or hallucinogenic. I even have some exotic beverages imported from the surface. 'Tea', and 'chocolatl', and even a rare delicacy called 'coffee'."

The corners of Sorkatani's mouth turned down, as they always did when coffee was mentioned, but she managed to force a rather shaky smile onto her face. "I would like to try 'chocolatl', I think," she said.

"Certainly, Dynefryn," Evelintra said. "It is said to possess aphrodisiac qualities. I do not know if that is true, but after all," she gave a distinctly wicked grin, "how could I tell?"

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

"Now I understand what some people see in humans," a drow woman remarked. "What a magnificent specimen! When he broke that fool's neck I simply oozed with lust."

"Oh, yes, so did I," said another. "I hear that they are very well endowed, too."

"I must have him," declared the first. "Slave, accompany me to the lust chambers and service me."

Xander suppressed a groan. More trouble. At least he was being spared the unwanted attentions, his current duergar body obviously not possessing the same lust-inspiring qualities as Minsc's six foot four wall of muscle, but things didn't look good for the Rashemen ranger. The drow who was hitting on Minsc wasn't even a hot chick, like that Evelintra babe who had invited the others to the party; she was a hard-faced bitch who reminded Xander of a jet-black version of Maggie Walsh.

Minsc looked puzzled for a moment and then his brows descended and his forehead creased up in a stern frown. "My mistresses would not approve," he said. "I will not go with you, lady."

"What? You dare disobey me? I shall have you flogged, insolent human!"

"I, uh, don't think you want to do that, lady," Xander pointed out. "If you harm Tallin then Vyll'ae won't like it. She'll turn you into some little crawling bug. Or, hey, maybe she'll just set you on fire."

"Wretch of a duergar, are you threatening me?" The drow glared at Xander.

"Nope. Just pointing out that you're gonna be pissing off a majorly powerful Archmage," Xander said, "and, hey, take it from me, that's never a good idea."

"An Archmage?" The drow woman took a step back. "I did not know."

"My Vyll'ae is a powerful witch indeed," Minsc confirmed.

"Huh. You may depart, uncouth barbarian slave, I have lost interest in your smelly human body," said the drow. "I shall purchase a more aesthetically pleasing specimen." She spun on her heel and walked away quickly. The other woman who had expressed interest in Minsc went with her.

Xander heaved a sigh. "Now can we get back to our meal?"

"I am hungrier now than when we began," said Minsc, "and thirsty. A few beers, perhaps, once we have eaten."

"I have a better idea," Xander advised. "Stick to water."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

"Solaufein tells me that you are a bard of quite extraordinary skills," Evelintra said to Giles. "Perhaps you would entertain us?"

"Certainly," Giles answered without thinking. "Ah, that is, if you are sure that you would be interested," he added, as it occurred to him that most of the songs in his repertoire were full of references to subjects, such as the sky, the sun, the seas, and the mountains, that would be as alien to the drow as fast cars and motorbikes had been to his audiences in Athkatla.

"Of course I am interested," Evelintra assured him. "Why would I not be?"

"My songs are a little… unusual," Giles told her. "I have done some, ah, planewalking, including spending some time in a planar prison with a troupe of entertainers from the city of Sigil, and most of my songs originate in other worlds." All true, of course, although he was putting it in a way that invited the drawing of conclusions that were not so true. "They may be somewhat, ah, strange to your ears."

"I look forward to hearing them," Talabrae said. Several of the other guests spoke up to agree.

"I would appreciate hearing your music in a context other than in the middle of a pitched battle, while devourers sought to tear the brains from my head," Solaufein added.

"Very well," Giles assented. He produced his Bag of Holding from his belt, withdrew the guitar, and also took out a tan-tan, a Faerûnian instrument closely resembling a tambourine, which he passed to Viconia. He checked the guitar's tuning, struck a couple of random chords, and screwed up his forehead as he considered what songs would go down best amongst the drow. "Hmmm. Ah. No, perhaps not. Hmm. I wonder. Yes. I have it." He poised his fingers over the strings. "This song is called 'Purple Haze'."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

Minsc pushed his plate away. "A beer would be nice," he said, "but perhaps you are right and we should drink only water."

"I just don't think this would be a good time to get even a little drunk," said Xander. He noticed a familiar drow female heading straight for them. Phaere, the Matron Mother's daughter who they had rescued from the Mind Flayers. "Although I didn't expect to be proved right quite this soon."

"You are the slaves of Dynefryn of the Flickering Flame, are you not?" the drow girl addressed them.

"We are, Handmaiden," Xander confirmed, hoping that he was using the right form of address. It seemed to satisfy Phaere.

"Where are your mistresses? I have an urgent task for them."

"They're at a party," Xander informed her. "A Matron Mother invited them."

Phaere frowned. "A Matron Mother? Who? Of which House?"

Xander decided that playing dumb would be a good move. "Uh, she's called something like Evil-Lyn," he said. Buffy had coined the variation on Evelintra's name after their first meeting. "I don't know which House. Sorry."

"Evelintra?" Phaere's lip curled. "If they are with that decadent and debauched slut then they will doubtless be drunk and probably engaged in a perverted orgy. They would be in no fit state for combat. I shall have to rely upon you two miserable slaves. Gird yourselves for battle and come with me."

Xander raised his eyebrows. A drunken orgy? Spike would be all for it, yeah, and maybe Viconia, and Imoen hadn't exactly been keeping her legs together since she'd been rescued, but he couldn't see the idea raising any cheers from the others. Willow and Tara? 'Only ever been kissed twice' Sorkatani? Buffy, especially with Dawn being there? No way. The Hammer of Thunderbolts would start swinging the second anybody even suggested a game of whatever was the drow equivalent of Strip Poker. And, hey, why would Phaere be so down on drunken orgies anyway, unless it was because she hadn't been invited? He decided she was just telling lies about somebody she didn't like and put the idea out of his head.

"What are we to fight?" Minsc asked.

"Does it matter? Your only function is to slay the enemies of House Despana," Phaere said. "You have no choice but to obey."

"Hey, we can't prepare for the fight if we don't know who we're fighting," Xander pointed out.

Phaere scowled at him. "Your manner is insolent, slave. Your mistresses of the Flickering Flame treat you too leniently, it is clear, and you would benefit from a touch of the lash. Still, short and ugly one, I concede your point. The foe is a Beholder."

"Oh, crap. This is not good." Xander clenched his teeth. He didn't have Carsomyr, with its anti-magic properties, to shield him from a Beholder's eye beams. This was going to be tough. He hoped that Imoen had left the Cloak of Mirroring behind, rather than taking it with her to the party, otherwise Anya might come back and find that her Xander was now a stone statue of a duergar.

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

"An excellent song, Gelfein, and skillfully performed," Evelintra praised. "Solaufein did not exaggerate your accomplishments."

"Indeed so," added Talabrae. "The minstrel who wrote it was a surfacer, I deem, for it mentioned kissing the sky, and yet it is plain that he or she was familiar with the effects of consuming large quantities of Morimatra."

"That is correct," said Giles, "and indeed I have heard that he died from over-indulgence in something not dissimilar. I am glad that the song met your approval."

"It most certainly did," said Evelintra. "Perhaps you would favor us with another song?"

"Of course," Giles said. He thought for a moment, glancing around the room for inspiration, and his gaze fell on Evelintra's niece. Her appearance, so redolent of teenage rebellion although she would in fact be well out of her teens chronologically, struck a spark of inspiration. He did not introduce the song but launched straight into the opening riffs and then the lyrics.

"_You got your mother in a whirl_

_She's not sure if you're a boy or a girl_

_Hey babe, your hair's all right_

_Hey babe, let's go out tonight_

_You like me and I like it all_

_We like dancing and we look divine  
You love bands when they play it hard  
You want more, and you want it fast  
They put you down, and say I'm wrong  
You tacky thing, you put them on_

Rebel Rebel, you've torn your dress  
Rebel Rebel, your face is a mess  
Rebel Rebel, how could they know?  
Hot tramp, I love you so…"

Some of the lyrics toward the end of the song would be meaningless to this audience, Giles knew, but he doubted if anyone would ask for an explanation. His expectation was correct. Only applause and praise followed the final chords.

"I do not wish to impose upon you, Gelfein, but would you continue to play?" Evelintra asked. "The simple entertainments that I had planned would seem flat indeed by comparison with your songs."

"It's no imposition," Giles assured her. "I enjoy playing. Hmm. I hadn't actually planned on performing here, however, and it may take me a moment to think what to play next."

"Bitch, please," Buffy piped up. Dawn sniggered.

Giles glanced at Viconia, who nodded and stood up, and then they began the requested song.

"_I hate the world today…_"

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

"I'm beginning to really hate this place," Xander muttered under his breath. He wiped Beholder blood from his face, grimaced, and touched a finger gently to a scorched and blistered patch on his cheek.

"A good deed done, my friend," Minsc declared. "We have kicked the butt of Evil most mightily. At least, I think we have kicked its butt, for in truth I am not sure that these round creatures have butts to kick. Boo says, well done." Minsc cocked his head to one side. "He also says that he hopes that they bring him back some nuts from the party. Or green vegetables, for he is growing tired of mushroom."

"I don't think they have green vegetables in Ust Natha," said Xander. "Kinda hard to do the whole…" He stumbled over the next word. He wasn't totally sure that he would have been able to pronounce 'photosynthesis' correctly in English but there didn't seem to be a word for it in drow at all. "Uh, it's hard to do the getting energy out of sunlight thing without the sunlight."

"Out of the way, slaves," Phaere commanded, approaching with a short-bladed knife in one hand and a pouch in the other. She had taken no part in the fight at all.

Xander's eyebrows rose as he watched the drow priestess slicing off the eyestalks from the Beholder's corpse and put them in her bag. "Is that why we had to kill this, uh, guy? So you could collect his eyes?"

"None of your business, slave. Do not presume to question your superiors," Phaere snapped. "Your work is done. Return to the tavern and wait for your mistresses."

"That's okay, ma'am, no need to thank us," Xander muttered. He raised his voice to normal levels. "Come on, Tallin, let's go. I could use a bath."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

"Do you have any suggestions as to what we should perform next, Veldrin?" Giles asked Viconia.

Her mouth opened to reply but then closed again. Her eyes grew wide and she raised her face toward the ceiling. "Yes, at once," she said, apparently speaking to someone unseen. "I obey." She lowered her head again and addressed Giles. "I must sing 'Shadows of the Night', mentor. Play it."

Giles raised his eyebrows. Was this a command from Shar? It would seem so. "Of course, Veldrin," he assented.

Evelintra raised a hand. "Excuse me for just one moment before you begin," she said. "There is an order that I must give to the kitchen staff." She stood up and hurried from the room.

Giles took a moment to look around the guests. He noticed, rather to his surprise, that the young drow warrior who had briefly lost his arm in the arena now had that arm around Sorkatani and she was not objecting. Evelintra's nephew had reached the same stage with Dawn. Buffy, whom he would have expected to be at the very least aiming death glares at the boy, was too occupied with Solaufein to have noticed. Spike, however, had his eyes trained in Dawn's direction and could be counted upon to remove the lad's hand at the wrist if it ventured into any debatable territory. Imoen was sitting on the lap of the drow male who had been paired with her at the dining table, his arms about her waist, but that was not really much of a surprise.

"My apologies," Evelintra said, returning after only a moment. "If you would continue now?"

"Of course. Ready, Veldrin? One, two, three…"

"_We're running with the shadows of the night_

_So baby take my hand it'll be all right_

_Surrender all your dreams to me tonight_

_They'll come true in the end…_"

Giles cast his eyes over the audience as he played. At first he was primarily interested in the apparent attempts of some of the drow men to court the unattached female members of the party, as he could see this resulting in problems in the near future, but as his gaze passed across Evelintra an expression on her face caused him to concentrate his attention upon her.

The Matron Mother was looking at each 'Flickering Flame' member in turn, spending some five seconds staring at each, with her brow furrowed in apparent concentration but a half-smile playing over her lips. Until she came to Spike. Her jaw dropped and her eyes became wide circles. She gaped in obvious astonishment for only a moment and then her face adopted a neutral expression. She shook herself, smiled once more, and focused her gaze upon Viconia.

'_Oh, dear_,' Giles thought. '_She knows something. Has she spotted that Spike is the wrong sort of vampire, or seen through his disguise somehow?_' It was a disturbing possibility but there didn't seem to be anything that could be done about it at the moment. He tried to put the matter aside for the time being and concentrate on his playing. After all, if his suspicions about Viconia's momentary phase-out were correct, he was performing for a goddess and it really wouldn't do to hit any wrong notes.

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

"I wish Warren could be here to see this," Jonathan said.

"Me too," said Andrew. He gazed at the screen. "Uh, this is probably a real dumb idea…"

Jonathan suppressed a groan. If even Andrew thought an idea was dumb it probably set new records for stupidity.

"…but, if Warren's going to stay in that coma for ever, suppose we, uh, put him into the game world? That would have to be better than just lying there, right?"

Jonathan scratched his head. Maybe that wasn't such a totally bad idea. Being in Faerûn, meeting up with wizards and elves and warrior maidens, compared to being in a coma? If he was in the same position he'd probably go for it, he thought, if he had the chance. Of course they couldn't exactly ask Warren. There was quite a lot of potential for badness. Consulting with someone who possessed the quality of common sense, such as Tara, would probably be a good idea before they actually did anything. Katrina too; it wouldn't be right to make any decisions for Warren without consulting her.

"I mean, if it had happened there, they could fix Warren right up with a Heal spell, maybe a Restoration," Andrew went on. "Or, hey, what about if we brought Tara out instead?"

"I don't know if her spells would work in this world," Jonathan said. "Look, let's think about this. It wouldn't do much good dropping Warren into Ust Natha. It's a pretty scary place."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

"Thanks for the party," said Buffy. "It was totally great."

"If so, much of the credit must go to Gelfein, and to Veldrin," Evelintra said. "I must thank you as well, Qilafae. I would never have thought of adding milk to chocolatl, or to coffee, and it improves the flavor significantly."

"Just a tip I picked up when we were, uh, traveling on another plane," Buffy said. "I'm glad it worked out." She had made the suggestion before she remembered that milk in the Underdark came from rothé, the shaggy creatures that looked like those musk ox things that sometimes showed up on Discovery Channel programs about the Arctic, and not from cows. Luckily the taste of the milk hadn't been too strange.

"We must do this again some time," Evelintra went on. "I would love to hear more of Gelfein's songs." She shot a sidelong glance at where the young warrior Zaknal'dor was saying goodbye to Sorkatani. "I am sure that my other guests would delight in spending more time in your company, too."

"Yeah, we'd like that, if we get the time," Buffy said.

"Before you go," Evelintra said, "I would like to give you each a little gift as a memento." She clapped her hands and a slave rushed to her side. The gnome passed her a small sack. Evelintra opened it and pulled out a gold chain bearing a black stone pendant. "There is one for each of you. I have included an extra pair for your two slaves. Wear them at all times. They will bring you luck."

"Hey, you shouldn't have," Buffy said.

"Take them," Evelintra urged. "Think of them as payment for Gelfein's music, if you like." She put the necklace back into the sack and held it out to Buffy.

"Okay, and thanks," Buffy said, accepting the pouch. "Goodbye, Evelintra."

"Yeah, 'bye, Matron Mother," Spike added. "What a swell party it's been."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

"Well, I'm guessing you had a good time," said Xander, "unlike me."

"We did," Anya confirmed. "It was a great party. It's a shame you couldn't have been there. Were you terribly bored?"

"No, not bored," Xander told her. "Hey, bored would have been good. We fought in the arena and we weren't allowed to use our swords, we had to go hunt down a rogue beholder for a snotty bitch who didn't even say thanks, and, hey, our meal went cold. When the mushroom sauce gets cold it tastes like snot."

"Oh, poor Zander," Anya said. "I'll make it up to you." She put her mouth close to his ear and whispered.

Xander's glum expression vanished and was replaced by a broad smile. "Hey, yeah, that makes it worth missing out on the party."

"It was pretty cool," said Buffy. "Hey, it was more, well, normal than any party we ever went to back on Earth. No zombies, no human sacrifice, pretty much a total absence of suckage. I had a good time."

"Me too," said Dawn. "I even met a boy."

"Don't get too involved," Buffy cautioned her. "We're not staying here long, remember, and, hey, evil drow." She glanced aside at Sorkatani, who was looking somber, and decided that she didn't need to repeat her warning for Tani's benefit. "Although, maybe it's a shame," Buffy went on. "Solaufein really isn't as much of an asshole as I thought. He's pretty okay really. And I so have to think of a new nickname for Evelintra. Evil-Lyn doesn't fit. She's nice."

"She is still a drow priestess, and therefore undoubtedly a creature of Evil," Giles reminded her. "She seemed to detect something odd about S- Urlzaqh at one point. I am somewhat concerned about what use she might make of her discovery."

"Hey, I detected something odd about Urlzaqh years ago," Buffy said airily. "Don't worry about it. Hey, Vyll, would you check out those necklaces that Evelintra gave us? I don't think she'd give us cursed things that'll turn us into frogs, or whatever, but, hey, better safe than sorry."

"Sure thing, Qil," Willow said. She took the bag of pendants from Buffy and began to cast an Identify spell.

"I must admit that I also felt a liking for Evelintra," Jaheira said, "despite the lustful glances that she was bestowing upon Gi- Gelfein. In other circumstances I would be glad to call her friend. I hope that there will not be any cause for conflict between us."

"She is unlike any Matron Mother that I have met before," said Viconia. "I am tempted to ask her to purchase and take into her House those members of House De'Vir who are held captive here. I believe that she would treat them well."

"Yeah, only I don't think they'd let her do that," Spike said. "House Zaughym's pretty low on the pecking order, right? Maybe you could ask Talabrae? She didn't seem too bad either and her lot are, what, Fourth House in the city, did I get that right? She might be able to swing it."

"If she follows Evelintra's ways too closely she risks losing influence," Viconia pointed out. "It is a possibility that I shall keep in mind, although making the suggestion to her would need to be done cautiously."

"Hey, this is real strange," Willow announced, looking up from the necklaces.

"So, what do they do?" Buffy asked.

"Well, they radiate Evil," Willow revealed. "One whomping great stack of Evil."

"Is that the kind of Evil where we have to throw them into the fires of Mount Doom?" asked Dawn, "or just the kind where we can't wear them but we can sell them without risking any world-endage?"

"Pretty bad Evil vibes," Willow said. "Not Sauron level, I'd say, but close."

"I kinda expected the Evil," Buffy said. "So, what else do they do?"

"Nothing," Willow replied. "Nothing at all."

Buffy frowned. "Can I say, huh?"

"They don't do a thing except radiate Evil," Willow clarified. "If we wear them we'll show up as totally Bad."

"That would screw my abilities up," said Xander, "although the general buzz around here has them pretty screwed up anyway unless I concentrate like crazy."

"So why would she give them to us, unless she knows that we're not what we're supposed to be?" Buffy wondered.

"That would explain her look of total surprise after she stared at Spike," Giles said. "A non-Evil vampire is rather a contradiction in terms."

"Like a non-Evil drow priestess," said Buffy. "Uh, sorry, Veldrin." Viconia rolled her eyes but said nothing.

"Evelintra wore an amulet that was not dissimilar, although more elaborate," Giles pointed out. "Could it be that she is also, in fact, not Evil?"

"If so," Viconia said, "there is only one possible explanation. She must be a priestess, not of She who I will not name, but of Eilistraee. She plays a dangerous game, if that is so, and if it is discovered she will be executed in ways too horrible for me to mention in the presence of Dhaunae."

"Well, let's not blow her cover," said Buffy. "We wear the necklaces and we keep our mouths shut. Right, guys?"

"Of course," said Giles, "as long as Evelintra does not blow our cover. I would much prefer that none of us be executed by any method, horrible or otherwise." He turned to Viconia. "Veldrin, am I correct in believing that you received a direct command from, ah, a divine source during our performance?"

"That is so," Viconia confirmed. "My goddess informed me that she grew impatient."

"And she was listening, I take it? My word. A Divine Command Performance. I sincerely hope that she liked it."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

"_We're running with the shadows of the night_," sang Shar, Mistress of the Night. "_So baby take my hand it'll be all right…_" She beckoned imperiously and a shadowy servitor rushed to answer her summons.

"What is your will, oh Nightsinger?" the minion asked.

"Bring to me the petitioner Yoshimo," Shar commanded, "for I much desire to speak with him."

The servitor bowed low. "At once, Lady of Loss," he said. "I shall bring you the limp and beaten shade of Yoshimo."

"Fool, that was not my command," Shar snapped. "I said that I wished to speak with him, not interrogate him. Treat him with courtesy."

The shadow creature had no visible eyebrows but the play of darkness on his features conveyed an impression that, had he possessed them, they would have been raised. "Your wish is my command, my Lady. I obey." He turned and scurried away.

**Glossary of Character Aliases**

• Qilafae = Buffy  
• Dynefryn = Sorkatani  
• Gelfein = Giles  
• Zander = Xander  
• Auniira = Anya  
• Vyll'ae = Willow  
• Micar'lae = Tara  
• Urlzaqh = Spike  
• Veldrin = Viconia  
• Dhaunae = Dawn  
• Jhaelirae = Jaheira  
• Tallin = Minsc  
• Iimzyne = Imoen

Disclaimer: song lyrics used in this chapter come from 'Rebel Rebel' by David Bowie, 'Bitch' by Meredith Brooks, and 'Shadows of the Night' by Pat Benatar. They are used without the permission of the copyright holders and with no intent to profit.


	58. Chapter 58

**Chapter Fifty-eight**

"_Because the night belongs to lovers_

_Because the night belongs to lust_

_Because the night belongs to lovers_

_Because the night belongs to us…_"

The fighting pits stood empty and neglected. The tavern's patrons had eyes only for the pair of musicians who performing upon an improvised stage. Szordrin, master of the beast fights, and Sondal, supervisor of the dueling cage, were swaying along to the rhythm like everyone else. Even some patrons of the lust chambers on the floor above were wandering down, drawn by the music, some of them still engaged in making adjustments to their clothes as they joined the crowd.

Phaere's lips were curled in a sneer as she made her way through the throng. As the daughter of the Matron Mother of the city's premier House she was an important personage in Ust Natha. The tavern's occupants should have scurried aside to open a path for her through the crowd. They didn't. She had to force her way through. Her imperious demands of "Out of the way, worm!" were ignored or greeted with glares and growls of "Hush!" Delegating the task of clearing the way to her attendant male was a dismal failure. The pathetic fool cowered back from any who showed anger at his attempts to make a path.

"You useless excuse for a flunky," Phaere snarled, "get out of my way." She overtook him and shoved aside a woman who barred her progress.

The woman stumbled, turned around, and fixed Phaere with a furious stare. "How dare you lay hands upon me, upstart child!" she spat out. "I should have you disemboweled."

Phaere ignored her and thrust forward into the gap that had opened up. Her attention was fixed on the table near the stage at which sat those members of the Flickering Flame who were not performing. They were her objective and the reason for her visit to the tavern. She paid no attention to the woman whom she had barged out of her path.

"Should I cut her throat, Matron Mother?" one of the woman's attendants offered.

The Matron Mother pursed her lips. "No, Ardulace would object, perhaps violently," she said. "If Phaere should lose her favor, however… Now, hush."

On the stage the male bard, Gelfein, was playing a complicated series of notes while the female, Veldrin, contented herself with beating out the rhythm upon her tan-tan. Phaere glanced at them briefly. Gelfein was a skilful musician, she had to admit, and very attractive for an older man. She was not here to be entertained, however, and she paused only for a moment and then, as Veldrin began to sing once more, Phaere pressed forward once more.

"_With love we sleep  
With doubt the vicious circle  
Turn and burns  
Without you I cannot live  
Forgive, the yearning burning  
I believe it's time, too real to feel  
So touch me now, touch me now, touch me now  
Because the night belongs to lovers_

_Because the night belongs to lust…_"

Phaere had no difficulty in locating those for whom she sought. Their enormous human fighting slave, even sitting down, was easy to spot at a distance through the crowd. She headed that way and soon saw the other members of the Flickering Flame, sitting at the tables in front of the stage, with some personages from Ust Natha society mingling with their group.

Talabrae, Matron Mother of House Godendar, and her current paramour. Evelintra, ruler of the small and weak House Zaughym, whose friendship with Talabrae gave her a disproportionate amount of influence – at least for the moment – and a couple of members of her household. And Solaufein.

He was sitting beside Qilafae. Very close to her, touching her even, and as they lifted their goblets to drink their hands moved in unison. Phaere clenched her teeth tightly together. This was infuriating, even intolerable. Tormenting Solaufein, who had been plunged into such delightfully amusing depression when she had cast him aside, was her favorite occupation. It would all be ruined if he had found someone else.

It was doubly infuriating that the person in question was Qilafae. Rumor had it that the Nasadran was a fighter without equal, other than perhaps her compatriot Dynefryn, and so simply killing her was not really a viable option. Nor was having her executed; Ardulace valued the services of the mercenaries too highly and would refuse any such request. No, Phaere would have to be subtle. She could amend the instructions for one of the forthcoming missions, perhaps, to make it much more hazardous. Yes. That idea had possibilities.

It would have to wait for another time, however, as the current mission was ridiculously straight-forward. She forced a smile onto her face and addressed the mercenary leaders. "Greetings, Dynefryn and Qilafae. I have work for you."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

The gates of the city closed behind them. "Gnomes," Solaufein said, as they walked out across the elevated walkway that led to the caverns of the Underdark. "This task is meaningless. Why does she wish us to slay gnomes? They are no threat to the drow."

"It sure made Evelintra mad," Qilafae said. "I thought she was going to strangle Phaere."

"Indeed so," said Solaufein. "Trade with the svirfneblin is House Zaughym's main source of income. Perhaps that is the very reason behind this insane mission." He shook his head. "In some places there are svirfneblin cities that hold thousands of warriors, mages, and clerics controlling the elemental spirits of the rocks. Worthy foes, they would be, if it came to war. Here? Granitehome is little more than a village. A couple of hundred miners and traders with no more than a handful of fighters worthy of the name. There is no honor in fighting such a foe. Indeed it would hardly be 'fighting' at all. With thirteen such warriors as yourselves at my back it would be simple massacre. It disgusts me."

"You don't have to come along," Qilafae suggested. "Go back to the city and leave it to us. It's not like we're going to have any trouble."

Solaufein shook his head. "No, Phaere's command was specific, and backed by the word of Matron Mother Ardulace. I must obey, even though I detest the necessity."

"Why?" Qilafae exchanged a glance with Veldrin. "You're not part of House Despana, right? How come she gets to give orders to the Male Fighters' Society? Ardulace is the head of the number one House, I know, but that doesn't make her the boss of you."

"In normal circumstances you would be correct, yes," Solaufein agreed, "but she has claimed emergency powers because of the war and a majority of the Matron Mothers went along with it. In matters deemed to be related to the security of the city her authority is, for the moment, held to be supreme."

"The fools!" Veldrin tossed her head. "She will abuse that power. Who decides what is and what is not a matter of security? Her, is it not?"

"It is," Solaufein confirmed. "Evelintra told me that she and Talabrae warned the other Matron Mothers that they were placing themselves in Ardulace's power. Ardulace countered by saying that their words verged on treason, and that only unity could ensure victory against the elves, and the assembly was swayed."

"Bloody idiots," Urlzaqh the vampire muttered.

"True," said Solaufein, "but it is done, and cannot be undone, and so I must obey." He sighed. "There is nothing for it but to carry out the orders, even though they are the product of gross stupidity, and wipe out the svirfneblin patrol."

Qilafae's lips curled up into a smile that lit up her whole face. Solaufein couldn't help but notice how attractive she was when she was not looking at him with scorn. "Hey, I have a better idea," Qilafae said. "Let's not, and say we did."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

"I guess it must be about the first time anyone was ever glad to get attacked by two hundred goblins," Buffy said, as she pulled her new chain-mail hauberk over her head. "All the blood and fireball smoke made for pretty convincing evidence. Of course the down side is that we're all covered in blood and stinky smoke."

"It will wash off," Sorkatani said, gesturing toward the steaming bathtubs. "As you say, it was corroborative evidence that fooled Phaere completely. Getting a little dirty is a small price to pay." She laid her dragon-scale armor on a bench and took off her shirt.

"Hey, remember back when we first met, and we fought some goblins?" Buffy frowned. "They gave you a hard time, and there were only a few of them. We just went through a whole army like they were nothing."

"We were but poorly equipped then," Sorkatani said, "and you were unused to this world. As for me, I had been confined in a cage and tortured. Every muscle ached. I tried to hide it, for I did not wish to reveal my weakness, but my mobility was significantly impaired." She flashed a grin at Buffy. "Anyway, I've never been all that good with a straight sword. With scimitars, katanas, and falchions I am expert. Longswords, not so much."

"Maybe, but I still think you've improved a whole lot since then," Buffy said. "Me too, I guess, in fact all of us are way tougher than when we started." She took off her pants, bent over a tub, and dipped her hand into the water to test the temperature.

"Zander would say we've gone up levels," Willow remarked, "and, hey, he'd be right." Tara nodded agreement.

"Indeed we have all learned much," Sorkatani agreed. "It is just as well, for the Underdark is testing us to the utmost." She stepped into a hot tub. "At least there are moments of comfort between the fights."

Buffy sighed with pleasure as she followed suit and sat down in the hot water. "Yeah, there is that. This place might be, like, a totally evil dictatorship, but they sure know how to do bathrooms."

"That's because women run the place," Willow commented. "If the men were in charge the city would be all shiny gadgets and cool shit but nobody would ever pick up the damp towels."

"There are inns run by men where the bathroom service is reliable," Jaheira pointed out, "although I will concede that the innkeepers there have wives who may be responsible for reminding them to keep the water hot and the towels dry. Remember, also, that the drow have slaves to perform all the menial tasks and wreak harsh punishments upon them if things are not to their satisfaction."

"I guess the hot and cold running slaves are the down side of the hot and cold running water," Buffy agreed. She raised a leg from the water and applied soap. "It's a shame. You know, if you ignore the giant spiders wandering around in the streets, and the random acts of violence, there are a lot of things about this city to like."

Willow's lips twitched upward at the corners. "Such as, the men?"

Buffy rolled her eyes. "Most of them are pathetic losers with a nasty streak," she said. "Although," she paused and began to soap her other leg, "some of them are okay."

"Like Solaufein?" Willow pressed.

"He's not so bad," Buffy conceded. She lowered her leg again. "He wants to take me out on a date."

"You should totally go for it," Dawn advised her. "He's hot."

"Drow males are expected to become highly proficient in the arts of the bedchamber," Viconia added. "You would find it an enjoyable experience, I am sure." She frowned. "A word of advice. Do not present yourself to be taken from behind. It would be extremely unusual for a drow. Enough so that it would arouse suspicion. It is regarded as… submissive."

"And the guy on top position isn't? Weird. Anyway, I so wasn't planning on fucking him on a first date," Buffy said. She grimaced at her own words, which had come out in much cruder terms than she had intended to use in Dawn's presence, but the language's lack of subtlety in sexual matters had betrayed her. Oh, what the hell, with Viconia and Anya around there wasn't one whole lot of point in trying to shield Dawn from conversation with adult content. "I wasn't thinking further ahead than maybe some kissing."

"I can't see us being here long enough for you to take it slow," Willow pointed out. "Go for it, Qil. Seize the day."

"I'm tempted," Buffy confessed, "but I so don't see any way that we could have a long-term relationship."

"Just go for it anyway," Dawn advised her. "Don't worry, sis, you're not setting a bad example for me. I can see the special circumstances, and hey, you totally deserve to have a little fun. And there is, like, ten times more sparkage between you and Solaufein than there ever was with Anomen."

Buffy sighed. "I guess you're right," she admitted. "I liked Anomen, I was, well, fond of him, but, yeah, there wasn't so much with the sparkage. That doesn't mean that I don't miss him." She reached to the floor for a jug of hot water to rinse her hair. "I'm going to kill Bodhi for what she did to him. Well, and for one whole lot of other things too, but mainly for Anomen."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

Bodhi kissed Anomen, long and deep, and then pulled away. "The sun will be setting soon," she said. "We should get dressed."

"As you wish, my lady," Anomen said. He rose to his feet and bent to pick up his clothes. Bodhi sat up and planted a kiss upon his cock, causing it to twitch in response and begin to rise and grow, and Anomen uttered something between a grunt and a moan.

Bodhi chuckled. "I sense you would not be averse to another bout of love," she said, "but, alas, there is no time. Get dressed." She turned away from him and reached out to retrieve her underclothes from the ground at her side. Her eyes fell upon the most recent recruit to her vampire band.

The young drow lay on top of a naked elf girl, slowly thrusting into her in a desultory fashion, his fangs clamped on to her breast. She was whimpering faintly and making feeble movements that could have been either a cooperative response to his thrusts or else futile attempts to get free.

"Zarbalan, stop playing with your food," Bodhi scolded him. A smile played upon her lips.

Zarbalan pulled back from her breast. "I crave pardon, Matron Mother," he said.

"Oh, I'm not annoyed," Bodhi told him, "but we have to go soon. It is almost time to launch our assault upon the city. Hurry up and finish her off."

"At once, Matron Mother," Zarbalan said. He opened his mouth wide and plunged his fangs into the girl's throat. He gulped down blood for a moment and then pulled back. The elf flopped to one side, eyes staring sightlessly, as Zarbalan withdrew from her and stood up. "I don't think I was going to come again anyway," he said. "It wasn't as much fun once she stopped fighting and screaming."

"At least it was quieter, and less distracting to me," Bodhi said. "I love the sound of elves screaming as much as the next vampire but not necessarily while I'm fucking." She slipped her arms through the shoulder-straps of her bra. "Get dressed."

"An odd garment," Zarbalan commented, as Bodhi put her hands behind her back to fasten the bra. "Surfacer wear, I presume? I saw none such when I was last upon the surface, although that was long ago, and I was too busy trying to stay alive to have much contact with surface females. The fastening seems awkward. Why does it not fasten at the front?"

Bodhi shrugged. "It is a garment from another world, brought to Faerûn by our enemies, and I don't think they have spread far from Athkatla as yet. I assume that the fastening is meant to be done by maidservants. I am flexible enough that it causes me no problems but perhaps I shall have it done by minions once we are back in Athkatla. We shall have to create minions as fast as we can anyway, to increase our numbers, for no doubt Sorkatani and Buffy will be pursuing us and we are too few to prevail against them without my brother's assistance."

"They are indeed formidable," Anomen agreed.

"Right. So, we don't fuck around," Bodhi said. "No games, no raping, just kill when we have the chance. We don't take them all on at once, at least not before we have a large number of minions, but we pick them off one by one if we can. If there are more than three of them – no, make that more than two of them – we just run. Don't even try to fight. They're just too fucking dangerous."

"They must be fearsome warriors indeed to withstand your might," Zarbalan said.

"Too fucking right," Bodhi agreed, "and that includes your aunt, even though you seem to think that she's a weakling, so don't you take any stupid chances. I did, after we'd taken them prisoner, and it cost us. I was so full of power that I thought that I could beat them easily. I was wrong. We lost Lassal, Valen, Tolgerias, and all our minions. I must confess that it was mainly because of my over-confidence. Well, I won't make that mistake again."

"It is good to hear that you have learned caution, sister." Irenicus entered the shaded glade, ducking his head as he passed under the edge of the awning that protected the vampires from any stray sunbeams that penetrated the overhead canopy of leaves, and Tanova followed at his heels. Irenicus halted and raised a sardonic eyebrow at Bodhi. "I was expecting to have to drag you away from your pleasures, as usual, but I see that you are already preparing yourself. I am impressed. Have you learned responsibility as well, at long last?"

"I thought that it might be me who had to drag you away from your pleasures," Bodhi countered, her gaze flickering to where Tanova leaned against Irenicus with her head against his shoulder.

Irenicus rarely smiled, a supercilious sneer being the closest he came in most circumstances, but the smile that came to his lips carried genuine warmth for once. "It was not easy to arise from our bed," he admitted. "Only the knowledge that my revenge is almost at hand gave me the impetus to tear myself from Tanova's arms." He raised a hand and caressed the Amulet of Power, formerly Tara's, which adorned his neck. "This was a valuable find indeed."

Bodhi grimaced as she pulled on her boots. "They had a treasure trove of magical items and we took only a mere handful. Curse our lack of forethought. I didn't even think to acquire a pair of their dragon-hide boots." She stood up and put a hand to her hip. "I lost my favorite sword to them, too, and the ones of theirs that we took are useless to me. Overall I lost out. Still, I am glad that you and Tanova were able to find a little happiness."

"The amulet was not necessary," Tanova put in. Her tone indicated that she was probably pouting beneath her veil. "I love you, Jon, I would never harm you. See, I have drawn no blood, even though you had the amulet."

"I know that you would not do so willingly, my dear," Irenicus said, "but I could not be sure of what you would do in the heat of passion. Perhaps I was wrong and we have wasted much time."

"Time that we shall never get back," Tanova said, with an edge of bitterness in her voice. "Unless…" She drew in a deep breath and then reached up to her face and removed the veil. "Do not do this thing, Jon, I beg you. Would your revenge not be satisfied by pillaging the city, massacring the inhabitants, and handing Ellesime over to the drow to be a slave? Come with us to Athkatla, my love, and forget about godhood."

Bodhi paused in the middle of fastening the buckles of her leather armor. "Listen to your wife, Joneleth," she urged. "Come back to Athkatla with us. Help me take over the Shadow Thieves, and you can take over the Cowled Wizards, and we'll rule the city. Power enough for anyone, surely? With your help I could take Spike prisoner and rip from him the secret of how it is that he can walk freely under the sun."

"Oh, I know that," Anomen put in.

Irenicus shook his head. "My mind is made up. I am half-way to godhood and I shall not stop now. Why should I not achieve what three mere human adventurers achieved only a few short years ago? I am sorry, Tanova, but you shall not sway me from this course."

"I feared as much," Tanova said. She fastened up her veil once more.

Bodhi turned to Anomen. "You know Spike's secret? Why did you not say so before?"

"I did not think that it was of any importance," Anomen replied.

"Fool!" Bodhi hissed. "With that vulnerability removed I would be invincible."

"Forgive me, my lady. It is not something we could use," Anomen said. "Spike comes from another world, with a different sun, and the rays of this sun do not harm him. In his own world he must shun the daylight as do we."

"Interesting." Bodhi stared into space. "Very interesting. If our sun does not harm him, then logically it is probable that his sun would not harm us. If we could travel to his world it would lie at our mercy."

"They sought for a way to return, when they first came to Toril, but without success," Anomen told her. "They are content here, now, and seek no longer. I doubt if we would be able to go there."

"Perhaps not," said Bodhi, "but I shall watch for any such opportunity. Joneleth, your aid would be invaluable in this project. Will you not reconsider, or at least delay your own mission for a while?"

Irenicus shook his head. "I have a limited window of opportunity. If we do not strike now this army that we have assembled will dissipate. Perhaps, though, I may be able to aid you in this matter once I have Ascended."

Bodhi rolled her eyes. "I won't hold my breath." She grinned. "Although it wouldn't do me much harm if I did. Very well, then, my brother. The sun is almost down. We can begin the assault on Suldanessellar. Spike's world can wait until another time."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

"I don't know how long I can take this sitting around waiting," Katrina said, "hoping every day that he's going to wake up, and then he doesn't, and the same the next day. I want to do something, anything, to help. Jonathan's idea might be all kinds of crazy but it just might work. I think it's worth a try."

Tara bit her lip. "If only I was as good at healing magic as the other me is, but I'm not, and I don't know how to find anyone who can do healing spells outside of the game world. Putting Warren into the game is the only way to get at that kind of magic."

"I thought you'd just shoot me down straight away," said Jonathan. "It's a crazy idea, I know, but it's the only thing that I could think of that has any chance at all."

"I don't think it could do any harm, even if it doesn't work the way it's supposed to," Willow said. "Hey, maybe just putting him into the game and taking him out again will, like, kick-start him into consciousness even if the spells don't carry over into this world."

"I say we go for it," Katrina said. She held up the magic crystal. "I don't like the idea of breaking the crystal to release his memories. I think I can come up with an electronic method."

"You're the expert," Jonathan said.

"I think 'expert' is putting it a little too strong," Katrina said. "I didn't even know magic existed until a few weeks ago. I do know about magnetism and data storage. It should be enough. Breaking the crystal can be the fall-back position." A shaky smile played on her lips. "At least it gives me something constructive to do."

"You think Warren will be okay in that Athkatla place?" Willow asked. "You said it was tough going even for Joan, I mean Buffy, at first, and hey, Warren isn't any kind of super-hero. He's just a normal guy."

"He was a hero that night in the Bronze," Jonathan reminded her. "Yeah, it would be dangerous for him to be there for long, I guess, but we should be able to get him in and out quick enough that there isn't any problem. We drop him in close to a temple, with plenty of gold and a letter telling him what to do, and then we pull him out right after the priests cast the spell. Even if he wants to, like, go exploring, we don't give him the chance."

"We'll take things slow," Willow said. "I don't want things to go wonky the way they did when the other me cast the spell in the first place. No more mind-wipes and multiple copies of us. I'm pretty sure I can focus it through the crystal. Precision targeting instead of area-of-effect."

"The way to beat Murphy's Law is not to leave any openings for things to go wrong," Katrina said. "It works in engineering. It should work for magic too. We don't rush this, we do everything properly, and we make sure we get it right first time."

"I'm good with that," said Willow. "I'll start reading up on the spell right away."

"I'll work out a template for Warren's character," Jonathan said, "and pick out a spot in Athkatla where we can drop him in without attracting attention."

"Maybe we should wait until Buffy's group gets back there," Tara suggested. "That might be safer than putting him into the city all by himself."

Jonathan shook his head. "I don't think that would be a good idea," he said. "They'd start asking questions and they might find out that they're inside a computer game. I don't know how they'd react. They might get pretty mad with Warren. Anyway, they seem pretty happy there these days, and I don't think we should mess things up for them."

"I agree," Willow said. "If they did start wanting to come back here then, hey, what would happen to us? No, it's best if they don't find out. I say we do it Jonathan's way."

"I guess that makes sense," Tara said.

"So, the other versions of us are still doing okay?" Willow asked.

"Well, I haven't been watching them all that closely," Jonathan said. "I've been thinking mainly about Warren. I've looked in on them a few times, that's all, to see if they've finished with the Underdark so that I can finish that part of the mod for BG2. Warren would want me to get that done."

"He would," Katrina agreed. "I'll give you a hand with it, if you like."

"Thanks, Katrina, that would be cool. Anyway, yeah, everything seems to be going well for them," Jonathan went on. "Giles is bringing Rock and Roll to a whole new audience."

"Is everything still good with the other me and the other Tara?" Willow enquired.

Jonathan swallowed. "Uh, yeah, everything's good for them," he assured her, deciding not to mention that the two girls were now sharing their bed with Minsc. He swallowed again and sought for a topic to distract Willow from any further questions along those lines. "Hey, want to hear about Buffy's new drow boyfriend?"

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

Solaufein was of high enough position within the Male Fighters' Society to qualify for private chambers instead of sleeping in barracks like the rank and file. The furnishings were functional rather than luxurious. A bed, an armoire, a chest, a weapon rack, and a couch. The dyed black pelt of a greater quaggoth, a trophy of a lone hunt, served as a rug to protect bare feet from the chill of the stone floor. The couch was just the right size for two people, lovers perhaps, to sit pressed against one another and to embrace.

"Maybe we shouldn't do this," Qilafae said, as Solaufein moved his hand from her waist to her thigh. "I can't promise anything long-term. As soon as we finish the job we set out to do we're out of here. No matter what happens between us I can't change that. I have… commitments elsewhere that I can't break."

"I understand," Solaufein said. "You have a rare sense of honor." He touched the tips of his fingers to her cheek. "It is one of the things that I admire most about you." His touch turned into a caress. "Perhaps you will return after fulfilling those commitments. Even if you do not, Qilafae, then I will remain the richer for having known you."

She gave him a flashing smile that seemed to light up her face, displaying open and unguarded pleasure in a manner that Solaufein had seldom seen in Ust Natha, and allowed him to guide her forward until their lips met. The kiss was tentative at first but deepened as passion flared between them.

Briefly they drew apart and then began again. Tongues entwined. Hands explored, fondled, caressed. Fingers manipulated buttons and pulled to unfasten bows.

"Yep," Qilafae said, drawing back from the kiss for a moment, "I totally was right not to wear the chain-mail."

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"Where is Qilafae?" Phaere frowned at the mercenary band. They sat at table, eating a meal that she presumed was the breaking of their fast, and all were present save for the woman who was perhaps their mightiest fighter.

"She slept elsewhere," Dynefryn replied. "No doubt she will return soon."

Phaere could not prevent a hiss of annoyance from escaping her lips. "She sleeps with Solaufein?"

"Perhaps," Dynefryn said. "It is no-one's business but hers."

The mercenary leader's discretion was in vain. Even as she was speaking one of the others, Qilafae's sister if Phaere remembered correctly, said "Yep, got it in one."

Phaere hardly needed the confirmation. It was hardly likely to have been anyone else. "Matron Mother Ardulace has a new task for you to perform," she announced, trying to keep her emotions from showing on her face. "It is important but not, as yet, urgent. Once Qilafae returns you are to report to the Matron Mother at the Temple of Lolth. Just Dynefryn and Qilafae, that is. There is no need for your subordinates to attend and, of course, your fighting slaves would not be permitted entry. You will be given your orders then."

"We'll be there." Dynefryn's reply was curt and to the point.

Phaere sensed insolence in Dynefryn's attitude but decided to let it pass. For the time being these mercenaries were too valuable to discipline as they deserved. There would be a time later when she would teach Dynefryn respect. The lash of a tentacle rod on those slim flanks… "Indeed you will," Phaere said, a smile coming unbidden to her lips at the thought, and she turned and walked away. She had a chance to get rid of the irritating Qilafae permanently, without Ardulace suspecting a thing, but she would have to act quickly. All it would take was a word in the ear of a member of House Auvrindar and Qilafae would be no more.

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Phaere leaned on the rail and looked out across the city. She had a perfect view of the Male Fighters' Society headquarters. It would have been nice to be closer, true, but too risky. Her involvement must not be suspected. This adjacent walkway was the best compromise as a vantage point from which to witness Qilafae's downfall.

She would not be able to stay here for long, unfortunately, and it would be very frustrating if it took place after she had gone. Already her bodyguards were fidgeting, although they had not dared to speak up to question her, pathetic males that they were. She could only hope that… ah! The door of the Male Fighters' Society was opening. Yes! There was Qilafae. Phaere smiled and stood up straight.

Qilafae had set aside her chain-mail and wore a gown of black silk, figure-revealing and ideal for an assignation with a male, but offering no resistance to penetration by an envenomed blade. The deadly war-hammer was nowhere in evidence either; in its stead Qilafae wore a sword belted at her waist. Phaere's smile grew broader as the team of four assassins moved into position surrounding Qilafae and launched their strike.

Two grabbed for her arms as the other two went in with their daggers. One struck from behind, the other from in front, perfectly synchronized. It couldn't fail.

And yet it did. Qilafae spun, wrenching the assailants who had grabbed her arms around with her as if their resistance meant nothing, and the dagger-men's attack was ruined. A leg scythed out and swept the legs out from under one of the males grappling with her. She tore her arm free from his grasp, seized the other one, and whirled him around to smite a knife-wielder. The two males went down in a heap on the walkway.

Qilafae leapt upon the remaining knife-man, caught his weapon arm, and brought her other hand across in a blow to the male's neck. He collapsed as if he had been struck with a mace.

The others were scrambling to their feet. Qilafae kicked one with such might that he was sent flying through the air. He went over the edge of the walkway and plummeted into the depths.

Two mail-clad swordsmen emerged from the Male Fighters' Society doorway. They fell upon the assassins who had assaulted their commander's guest. Their assistance was hardly needed. Qilafae had already defeated her foes and she had done so without even drawing her sword.

Phaere scowled, stepped back from the rail, and walked away.

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"An eyestalk from a beholder Elder Orb," Ardulace said, "the blood of a kuo-toan Prince, or cerebral fluid from an illithid Elder Brain. I must have one of them if I am to perform a ritual that is vital for the successful prosecution of the war."

"Okay, right. Does it matter which one we get?" Qilafae enquired.

"I do not believe so," Ardulace replied.

Phaere seized her opportunity to increase the odds against Qilafae and spoke up. "Why take chances? Surely for such warriors as these it would be a simple matter to acquire all three."

Her mother directed a cold glare at Phaere. "I suppose that it would minimize the chance of errors such as the one that you made when I gave the task to you," she said. She turned back to Dynefryn and Qilafae. "I am told that you of the Flickering Flame are fearless and skilful warriors equal to any challenge. Dare you prove it by facing all three sets of foes?"

Qilafae shrugged. "Sure, why not? Of course it's going to take us, like, three times as long, but if that's not a problem for you, then hey, we'll do it."

Ardulace frowned. "Time is not of the essence but I would not wish too long a delay. The war… goes well. Nothing is amiss."

Phaere saw Dynefryn and Qilafae exchanging a glance that spoke of skepticism.

"That's… good, I guess," said Qilafae. "Okay, we'll get to it. No problem."

"There is something that could make our task simpler," Dynefryn said. "There is a way in which we could get the job done quicker and conserve our resources for use against your enemies. We just need a few expendable bodies to serve as living shields against the beholders."

"I can spare you no troops," Ardulace said. "They are needed on the battle front. I can ill afford for any to fall against the devourers or the floating eyes. If you wish to purchase slaves for the purpose that is your own business. I will not increase your pay to cover the expenditure."

"Normal slaves would be of little use," said Dynefryn. "They would perish, or be turned to stone, too quickly to be serve much purpose. It would be different if they had magic resistance to prolong their survival. I am informed that you have drow captives, refugees from some fallen House, in your custody. They would serve the purpose admirably."

Qilafae, whose brow had been heavily creased as her colleague spoke, now beamed in one of her annoyingly broad smiles. "Hey, yeah, great idea."

Ardulace frowned. "I had planned on sacrificing those members of House De'Vir. Still, your idea has practical merit, and I can always find other sacrificial victims. Very well. You have my permission. I shall write an order for their release into your custody. Equip them at your own expense."

Once the mercenary commanders had departed, bearing Ardulace's writ, the Matron Mother turned to Phaere. "You have acted contrary to my wishes, daughter, and I am displeased."

Phaere felt her heart pound in her chest and fought to maintain an impassive expression. "In what way, mother?"

"The attempt upon the life of the hammer-wielder Qilafae was at your instigation, was it not?"

"Qilafae may have come up in conversation with one that I know in House Auvrindar," Phaere admitted, "and I did mention that she had gone alone to visit a certain male, but this was mere gossip. The use that they made of that information is not my responsibility."

"Oh?" Ardulace's lip curled. "You claim stupidity rather than malicious intent? A poor defense. I shall accept it for the moment. Make no further such errors. You have put me in a difficult position. The support of House Auvrindar has been useful to me recently but now their losses make them vulnerable. House Godendar eyes the position of Third House covetously."

"And Talabrae is outspoken in her criticism of your policies," Phaere said. "I see. Are you going to protect Auvrindar by acting against Godendar?"

Ardulace pursed her lips. "Not yet. Talabrae has been parsimonious in the extreme with her provision of forces to the war front, the treacherous bitch, and consequently she has almost as many troops within the city as have I at this time. Once the demon lord is under my command, perhaps, I might strike at her directly. For the moment I shall content myself with removing one of her allies." She bared her teeth in a wicked smile. "There's a vacancy just come up for a drow sacrifice. I know the perfect candidate."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

"All done," Willow reported. "We're screened against scrying, clairaudience, we're even covered against somebody pressing his ear up against the door."

"What about somebody drilling a hole up through the floor and sticking a periscope through?" Spike suggested.

"Oh." Willow bit her lip and looked at the floor. "I didn't think of that."

"Really, Urlzaqh, this isn't a 'Pink Panther' film," Giles said. "I hardly think that is a likely scenario."

Spike grinned at him. "Well, yeah, but you can't take anything for granted in this place."

"Damn right," Buffy agreed. "Like, it would have been nice to be able to go on a date without being jumped by a bunch of assassins. They were pretty good, too. If they'd started off invisible they might even have got me."

"Had they lurked invisibly outside the Male Fighters' Society they would have been detected and challenged," Viconia said. "They were of House Auvrindar, I take it?"

"I didn't ask," Buffy said, "and they weren't wearing any insignia. I guess you're right, though, I can't think of anyone else who'd be after me. We haven't gotten anyone else pissed at us, have we?"

"The wards that Vyll'ae cast would warn us if anyone pierced floor or ceiling to spy upon us," Imoen said. "We may talk safely."

"Good," Buffy said. "Okay, planning time, people. I think we might have found where they keep the dragon eggs."

"In the temple?" Giles put a finger to where his glasses normally would have been. "A logical choice, I suppose, as an alternative to the Matron Mother's own residence. I take it that you saw something definite rather than this being simply a guess?"

"There was a side door guarded by two golems and two drow soldiers," Buffy said. "I know it's not exactly like the churches back home but it still strikes me as kinda suspicious."

"I concur," Sorkatani said. "The guards wore House Despana insignia rather than that of the temple. The eggs are there."

"The question is, how do we get them?" Buffy wondered. "It would be tough to sneak in, get past the guards, and steal them. I think burglary is out."

"Hey, I'm pretty good, and I have the Boots of Speed to get me out of there fast if it goes wrong," Dawn volunteered. "I'm up for giving it a try."

"My combination of stealth and magic makes me the best for such a mission," Imoen said, her lips set in a pout, and she fixed Dawn with a hard stare.

Sorkatani shook her head. "I agree with Qilafae that it would be perilous in the extreme," she said. "Only as a last resort should we risk it."

"If we attack the place, well, there are a dozen priestesses and about fifty temple guards," Buffy mused, "and hey, Matron Mothers and High Priestesses are usually plenty tough. No way could we take them all out before someone raised the alarm and blew our cover wide open."

"We would have to fight our way out of the city through twenty-two thousand enraged drow," Sorkatani said. "A suicidal task, even for us."

"Less, my commander, for three thousand are on the surface fighting the elves," Viconia said, "but still insuperable odds. Even Gelfein's 'Swords of a Thousand Men' would accomplish nothing."

"Temple of Lolth," Giles muttered. "Hmm. 'In the Temple of Lolth…' Perhaps… no, teaching Veldrin the Ofra Haza part would take too long."

Buffy raised her eyebrows at Giles, decided that he wasn't going to elaborate on his cryptic utterance, and let it pass. "Okay, we can't take them by force, we can't steal them, but we have to get those eggs. Ideas, guys?"

"We need to scope the place out," Xander said. "Kinda hard to make plans when most of us haven't seen the target."

"I will not attend a service at the temple of… that goddess," Viconia stated. "I feel that it would be similarly unwise for Micar'lae to do so. Or, indeed, Jhaelirae."

"And I wouldn't be welcome anyway," Xander said. "Bummer. I guess we'll have to go in blind."

"We don't have to do it now," Buffy said. "I vote we do Ardulace's dumb 'Forest of Trees' quest to pick up monster body parts for some ritual. We bring them back, we all turn up together, and maybe she'll be happy enough that she won't think to stop the non-drow coming in."

"An excellent suggestion," Giles said. "We might spot an opportunity to act there and then, or, if not, then we can carry out valuable reconnaissance." He waggled a finger at Buffy. "That has nothing whatsoever to do with painting, sculpture, or man-powered flying machines," he continued, "as I am sure you know perfectly well."

"Yeah, I knew all along," Buffy admitted. "Okay, so we're good with the monster hunt? Good. And, hey, there's a side benefit," she added. She withdrew Ardulace's writ for the release of the House De'Vir captives from a pouch and handed it to Viconia.

Viconia raised her eyebrows. She unrolled the scroll and began to read. Her eyes widened. "Thank you, my commander," she exclaimed, and she threw her arms around Buffy and kissed her soundly.

"Hey, no need to get so excited," Buffy protested. "Anyway, it was all Dynefryn's idea."

Viconia planted another kiss upon Sorkatani. "Thank you," she said. "Let us, then, release my relatives from captivity. I shall wear a full-face helm, for were they to recognize me it could bring disaster down upon us." Her smile was replaced by a frown. "There may yet be trouble even once they are free. I am under sentence of death and this may take precedence over gratitude for their release."

"You're kidding, right?" Buffy opened her eyes wide. "I guess not. Oh, well, we'll cross that bridge if we come to it. Let's get ready to move out. This could be a tough mission. Beholders, and mind flayers, and those psycho kuo-toa fish-men. Oh my."

**Glossary of Character Aliases**

• Qilafae = Buffy

• Dynefryn = Sorkatani

• Gelfein = Giles

• Zander = Xander

• Auniira = Anya

• Vyll'ae = Willow

• Micar'lae = Tara

• Urlzaqh = Spike

• Veldrin = Viconia

• Dhaunae = Dawn

• Jhaelirae = Jaheira

• Tallin = Minsc

• Iimzyne = Imoen

Disclaimer: song lyrics quoted are from 'Because the Night', written by Bruce Springsteen and modified by Patti Smith, and are used without permission and with no intent to claim ownership or to profit.


	59. Chapter 59

**Chapter Fifty-nine**

"So we are to have an honorable death in battle." The leader of the House De'Vir band accepted the sword from Sorkatani and belted it at her waist. "I thank you, Dynefryn of the Flickering Flame."

"You do not have to die," Sorkatani told her.

"We are to run, then, and you will hunt us for sport?" The drow woman snorted. "I am tired of running. Slay us if you will, or let us die under the eye beams of the beholders, but we will not run."

"We're not going to hunt you," Tara said. She handed a sack to one of the other female drow. "Take this. Food, water-skins, and blankets. You'll need them." Willow passed a similar sack to one of the males.

"We don't hunt people," Buffy confirmed.

"Here is better armor than the poor stuff that we gave you in the city," Minsc said, swinging an enormous sack down from his shoulder and setting it down in front of the nearest drow male. "There is not enough to go around, alas, but it will be a help." The drow frowned at the sack, touched it with his foot, and then attempted to pick it up. His efforts were in vain, the sack remaining obstinately on the ground as if it had been nailed there, and he opened it up and pulled out a cuirass of plate. His brows furrowed as he stared at the armor.

"You go to great effort to lull our suspicions," the leader said. "It is wasted. If you are arming and equipping us merely to prolong your entertainment when you slay us, why not simply say so? I am not fool enough to think that we could prevail against you. Even in our cage we heard of your exploits."

"Look, I guess this must be hard for you to believe, what with all the 'all trust is foolish' thing, but we really aren't going to do anything to you," Tara told her. "We're not going to make you fight the beholders either."

"Although, hey, if you feel like giving us a hand, we won't say no," Willow added.

The drow folded her arms. "Your vampire fattened us for his table," she said. "I know not why you bother with this charade."

"That was the fucking charade," Spike said. "Couldn't say I was getting you fed and cleaned up ready to let you go, could I? Would have spoiled the whole plan."

"He arranged for you to be fed at my request," Viconia said. She removed her helmet. "Hello, Nathrae."

Nathrae's mouth gaped and her hands fell to her sides. "Viconia? It cannot be. You are long dead."

"I am alive, Nathrae, and plan to remain so. I intend for you to remain alive also, despite the manner of our parting, for you are my kin. I could not ignore your plight."

"Viconia," Nathrae repeated. "It is Viconia." She stood still for a moment and then dropped to one knee and bowed her head. "Matron Mother," she said, "command us. House De'Vir!" Behind her the others followed her lead and went to their knees. "House De'Vir!"

Now it was the turn of Viconia's mouth to gape wide open. "Matron Mother?" she echoed. "Why do you call me that?"

"You are the only surviving daughter of Ginafae," Nathrae said, "last of the blood royal. You are the rightful heir and I acknowledge you as our Matron." She cast a quick glance over her shoulder. "As do we all. To walk apart from House and Queen is to walk into the grave. We are yours."

"Bloody hell," Spike gasped, "I've been fucking royalty."

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"Pleasure… or pain," Phaere crooned. "It's your choice. Pleasure, or pain."

The youth trembled and writhed in his bonds. "I don't know what you want," he sobbed. "Please, stop hurting me."

"Stop? I've hardly started." Phaere touched a red-hot iron to the boy's nipple for a fraction of a second. "Your mind would crack if I did to you even a tenth of what the Handmaidens did to me. I'll show you, later, if you don't tell me what I want to know." She thrust the iron back into the portable brazier and left it there. "If you're cooperative it will be much less unpleasant." Her hand moved down his body, fingertips trailing over his belly, and reached her target. She caressed, teased, fondled. "Much more pleasant."

He squirmed and gasped. "No, please don't," he pleaded.

Phaere raised an eyebrow. "You would rather have the hot irons? Strange boy. Still, it's your choice."

"No, don't hurt me," he begged. "No hot irons."

"Then talk," Phaere commanded. "Tell me what I want to know."

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"It grieves me that we were not in time to save my brother's son," Viconia said. "Valas lost his life saving mine. I would have repaid in some small measure the debt that I owe him, if I had the chance, but alas it was not to be."

"I doubt if it was by chance that…" Sorkatani began. She chopped herself off short in the middle of the sentence and closed her mouth tightly.

Viconia turned and stared at her. "You believe that it was because he is my kin that Bodhi took Zarbalan? Then I brought death upon him." Her lips tightened. "My grief is doubled."

"We were all to be slain in any event," Nathrae reminded her. "There is no blame upon you, Matron Mother."

"Perhaps." Viconia's lips tightened. "I am already pledged to rip out Bodhi's black heart. I shall have Zarbalan in my mind, as well as the fallen comrades from this group, as I do so. I remember him as a small child, telling him stories as he sat as my feet… but I must put that from my mind. Dwelling upon memories would be a weakness that our deadly foe might exploit. We must strike without mercy."

"No hesitation, no tears and no hearts breaking, no remorse," Giles quoted.

"Well chosen words, my mentor," Viconia agreed. "We have other tasks that we must complete first, however."

"I think we should hit the mind flayers first," Willow suggested. "That way I can fire off as many spells as I like and get them all back with Spell Trap when we take on the beholders."

"Good thinking, Bat-girl," Xander praised.

"Yeah, I'd go with that," Buffy said. "Make with the Pink Floyd, Gelfein, and let's get moving. We have a brain to catch."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

Spike tossed aside the ogre's corpse. "That'll keep me going for a good while," he said, wiping his mouth. He aimed a desultory kick at a dead mind flayer. "Wouldn't want to have to drink those things. Probably taste like slugs."

"No doubt," Sorkatani said, wrinkling her nose as she cleaned ichor from the blade of Celestial Fury. "Let us see what the ogre was guarding."

"Treasure, I hope," Anya said. She rifled through the ogre's pouches and came up with a key. "Jackpot!"

"I think we have enough treasure, Aun," Xander commented. "We must have enough gold to buy a medium-sized castle."

"Not when you divide it between thirteen," Anya pointed out, "and we're going to give some of it to the House De'Vir people. We can always use more treasure. Oh. It's only prisoners. They are hardly ever exchangeable for goods and services."

"We must still release…" Sorkatani began, and then she caught sight of the occupants of the cell. "Oh. Githyanki."

"Drow," said one of the githyanki. "Gloat over our predicament while you can, female, but against…" He broke off in mid speech and stared at Giles, who was keeping a steady refrain going from his modified version of 'Another Brick in the Wall', protecting the group from the mental powers of the mind flayers. "I know you. You were on the ship that we attacked and you sang of not backing down." His forehead creased. "You are not drow."

"Damn," said Buffy. "Busted. Just as well Veldrin's family didn't come in with us."

Sorkatani bit her lip. "I have no love for these githyanki, but I would not leave my worst enemy at the mercy of the illithids." Her lips curled up slightly into a half-smile. "Well, perhaps Irenicus and Bodhi, but none other. Release them."

Anya opened the cell door. "I hope this will stop you chasing after us for that stupid broken sword," she said.

"I am Simyaz, the Sword Stalker," said the githyanki spokesman. "It is my sworn duty to pursue you to the ends of Toril, and beyond, to reclaim the holy Silver Sword." He dipped his head slightly. "Although in the circumstances I am prepared to declare a truce until we are out of the stronghold of the Devourers."

"Hey, we didn't steal the sword, and we're not even all that interested in it," Buffy said. "It's a nice blade, yeah, but it would need a lot of work to be any use."

Giles changed his tune for a moment. "_The time has come, a fact's a fact_," he sang, "_It belongs to them, let's give it back_." He played three hard chords and then went back to his anti-psionics Pink Floyd song.

"That's cool with me," Buffy said. She swung her pack down from her back, rummaged through it, and pulled out the scabbard holding the githyanki blade. "It was just taking up space. Here. Take it."

Simyaz accepted the scabbard, tilted it to slide the blade inside partly out, and examined it. "The Silver Sword," he breathed. "Vlaakith be praised." He slid the blade home. "When a miscreant who has stolen a Silver Sword surrenders the precious thing it does not exempt them from retribution," he said, "but you gave it up willingly, from a position of strength, and I deem that your reparation is made. I shall take no further action in this matter."

"Well, that's… big of you, I guess," Buffy said. "I guess you'll be, what, flying off on your astral plane now?"

"The Astral cannot be accessed from within this stronghold," Simyaz replied, "else we would have fled their captivity long ago. We must leave physically, through the doors, before we can depart this plane."

"Oh." Buffy ran her fingers over the grip of the Hammer of Thunderbolts. "We have a slight problem there. The door closed behind us when we came in and we can't get it back open."

"Just a temporary glitch," Willow piped up. "We'll get it done, don't worry."

"The door will not open while the Elder Brain lives, unless he wills it so," Simyaz said.

"Oh, that's neat," Buffy said. "Problem solved, people. We came here to kill the Brain anyway. Although," she added, "I can't help feeling sorry for Pinky."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

"Well done, Phaere," Ardulace praised. She glanced at Phaere's hands, grimaced, and turned to a minion. "A cloth for my daughter, at once!" The servant hastened to obey.

"Thank you, mother." Phaere took the cloth and started to clean the blood and semen from her hands. "It was a simple enough task."

"But an inspired choice of subject. I can use this information to totally discredit Talabrae and the anti-war party. We have a perfect scapegoat to blame for the reverses."

"Reverses?" Phaere frowned and tossed the stained cloth to the servant. "You have kept that news close indeed. Even I have not heard of them."

"As yet they have had little effect," Ardulace elaborated, "but more serious consequences loom. The city of the surface elves fell, as we expected, but Irenicus double-crossed us. He has sealed off the city. Screened it magically, somehow, so that it is hidden from that part of our army still outside. There is nothing that they can do but fall back."

"How many were inside?"

"Perhaps a third of our forces," Ardulace replied, "including all of the rakshasa and the golems that Irenicus provided. We had driven the elf army from the field, and forced it away from the route to the city, but it is still substantially intact. Now it is well positioned to fall upon our army's rear, or block its retreat to Ust Natha, and in numbers that match ours. The potential for disaster is high."

"Unless you can save the day with the aid of the demon. I see." Phaere frowned. She had put together a plan to slay her mother and usurp her position. To do it whilst keeping her hands clean, and preserving plausible deniability, would require her to put a degree of trust in the Flickering Flame mercenaries. Not ideal. Also, if Phaere moved too soon, she could end up being blamed for any catastrophe that befell the army. Better to let her mother handle it. If all went well with the demon, and her mother grew in power and prestige, well, there would always be another time for a coup. If Ardulace failed Phaere could seize the moment and step in, if not to save the day, then at least to place the blame. For the time being she would act the part of a loyal and dutiful daughter.

"Before I can safely summon the demon I need the offerings that the mercenaries are to provide," Ardulace said. "I hope that they are up to the task."

"They seem competent," Phaere assured her, "and they are certainly ferocious and skilful fighters. Even should they fail, and I doubt that such will be the case, they will no doubt weaken our hostile neighbors sufficiently that a small force should be able to complete the task without difficulty."

"If such proves necessary, then that small force shall be led by you," Ardulace warned.

"So be it," Phaere said.

"In the meantime," Ardulace said, "there are some executions to carry out, and they provide a perfect opportunity to kill two bats with one stone." She licked her lips. "It will be a delightfully gory way to desecrate the purity of that disgusting Holy Sword."

"It would, mother, but I think that you have forgotten something," Phaere said. "It is impossible for any of us to wield the sword."

"Ah, my daughter, you still have a lot to learn," said Ardulace. "There is a way around everything." She strode across the chamber to where an upright structure was concealed by a cloth throw. Phaere had assumed it to be a statue, no doubt of Lolth, to be unveiled at some forthcoming ceremony or holy day. Ardulace seized the cloth and, with some difficulty, pulled it free. "Behold. The perfect instrument of execution."

It was a sword. Its hilt was set into a hole drilled in a block of stone, wedges of fossil mushroom wood holding it firmly in place, the blade pointing vertically upward. That blade was huge, longer and broader than any drow weapon, and the point of the sword was as high above the floor as a standing drow could reach with arm outstretched to the full. Behind it blocks of stone had been arranged to form a flight of steps.

Phaere nodded approvingly. "A most ingenious way of utilizing a Holy Sword, mother. I look forward to seeing it in action."

"And so you shall," Ardulace promised, "very soon. Take a company of guards and perform the arrests."

"As you command, mother," Phaere said. She turned away, and walked toward the temple exit, with one final glance over her shoulder at the Holy Sword.

The sword stolen from Xander. Carsomyr.

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

Sorkatani cut away the last of the eye-stalks from the dead Elder Orb and put it into her pouch. "A task well done," she said, "and at little cost. Irenicus was a fool not to take the Staff of the Magi when he had the chance. Without it this would have been a hard and brutal struggle, and even the Cloak of Mirroring might not have been enough to get us through it without loss."

"If I still had Carsomyr we could have gotten through it without a scratch," Xander said. "It's not like it's even any use to him. I wonder what they did with it?"

"Probably chucked it down a crevasse," Spike said. "Think you've lost it for good, mate."

"Yeah, probably," Xander agreed. "Bummer."

"Daystar too," Buffy said. "Hey, you never know, we might, like, find them by accident."

"A slender hope," said Sorkatani, "but it is possible. Even without them we are as well equipped now as we were on our arrival at Spellhold. More so, even."

"Indeed so," Jaheira agreed. "This sling is a worthy addition to our armory." She took the magical weapon from Giles, who had just identified it with the aid of Bagpuss, and examined it briefly. "There is little to choose between it and my Sling of Seeking, but I think that I shall stick to what I have. Tara?"

"It's much better than mine," Tara said. "Thanks." She hung it on her belt and put her previous sling away in a pack.

"Okay, that's the beholders dealt with," Buffy said. "Just the coat toes to go."

"The kuo-toa," Sorkatani corrected her. She frowned. "We have wiped out the illithids and the beholders, save only for any who are away from their settlements, and broken their power in this area perhaps beyond recovery. If we do the same to the kuo-toa then we will leave Ust Natha as sole power in this part of the Underdark."

"There is the dragon," Jaheira said, "but she interferes not in their affairs other than barring their passage to the surface. It will leave the svirfneblin as the only targets for drow aggression."

"So, what, you think we should leave those goggle-eyed fish creatures alone so that the drow have somebody to fight?" Xander tilted his head to one side and half-closed an eye. "Where do they come on the whole Good/Evil line?"

"They are not actively evil, from what I have heard," Sorkatani told him, "but they are violent and fiercely territorial. They will attack innocent travelers who trespass in their domains without giving them a chance to explain themselves."

"Like they did to us, even before we got the disguises," Buffy said.

"I still don't think my deity would be too happy about me getting involved in a massacre," Xander said. "Can we give that one a miss and just go with what we have so far?"

"We would lose face," said Viconia. "If we wish to arrive back at Ust Natha as conquering heroes, and be invited back to the temple where the dragon's eggs are probably held, we must defeat all three foes and present Phaere with all the body parts she demanded."

"She specified the blood of the kuo-toa Prince," Anya pointed out. "There was nothing said about us having to kill him. Maybe we could make a deal."

"Don't want to rain on your parade," Spike said, "but, take it from me, it's not easy to make any kind of deal involving somebody giving up their blood. 'Specially not royalty. 'S going to end up as a fight. Unless somebody sneaks in and offs the bugger all quiet-like."

"They have keen senses," Jaheira warned, "and even invisibility may not be enough to avoid detection."

"I'd give it a go," Spike volunteered. "Long as I had the Cloak of Non-Detection, that is."

Sorkatani frowned. "I do not wish to order an assassination," she said.

"As Auniira said, there was nothing in our instructions to say that we had to kill the Prince," Giles reminded them. "We only have to obtain some of his blood. Who could be better for such a task than a vampire?"

Spike bowed theatrically. "The Big Bad is at your service." He stood up straight and tilted his head to one side. "Hmm. Not going to be easy. Can't just drink his blood, it'd get all mixed up with the ogre I ate earlier."

"Eww," Dawn said, wrinkling her nose.

"They haven't invented – bugger, they haven't even got a word for them in this language," Spike went on. He mimed operating a hypodermic syringe. "Would have to knock the bloke out, cut him, and drain some into a bottle. Not going to be easy, but I'll give it a shot. Long as he isn't sitting on a bloody throne with guards all around him, that is, wouldn't stand a bloody chance of getting away with it then."

"Will you attempt it?" Sorkatani asked.

"Yeah, why not? You lot had better be close at hand, though, so you can bail me out if everything goes arse over tit," Spike said.

"There are forty of us, counting the House De'Vir contingent," Sorkatani mused. "It would be impossible to lurk near their cavern unnoticed. Still, we would be a formidable force to challenge, and if we fort up in some nearby cave and make no overtly hostile moves then the kuo-toa might leave us alone. Let's check the place out, guys, and see how it shapes up."

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Minsc peered at the carvings on the floor of the chamber and the man-high statues that occupied niches in the walls. "This smells of Evil to me. Boo agrees. Look at his little whiskers quivering!"

"These are not the deities of the kuo-toa," Sorkatani said. "They worship the Sea Mother, a goddess in the shape of a lobster, and these look more like representations of demons."

"Especially that one," Buffy said. She pointed at a monstrous ten foot high statue at the far side of the room. "Totally gross."

Sorkatani followed her gaze. The figure had two heads, resembling those of baboons, and tentacles instead of arms. A stone altar stood at the statue's feet. "The Lord of Demons, ruler of the lowest plane of the Abyss," she said. "I shall not say his name. Evil most foul. This must be an abandoned temple to him. No doubt the kuo-toa slew the cult that worshipped here."

"Good for them," said Buffy. "Hey, Urlzaqh, you ready for your secret mission?"

"Sure thing," Spike replied. "Remember, if you lot hear me yelling for help, come running, okay?"

"We will," Buffy promised. "Good luck."

Viconia wrapped her arms around Spike and kissed him with both passion and tenderness. "Take no foolish chances, beloved," she said. "Come back to me with all your parts intact."

"Sure thing, love," he said. Viconia released him and stepped back. Spike turned to Willow. "Okay, Red, go ahead and cast your mojo."

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"My babe died at my breast because I had no milk," one of the House De'Vir females told Viconia. "My heart broke. I understood then what you had meant."

Anya grimaced and walked away from where Viconia was having a surprisingly easy time justifying to her relatives her decision to defect from the worship of Lolth.

"There is treasure here," Anya said to Sorkatani. "I can smell it."

"What, incense, spices, and perfumes?" Sorkatani grinned as Anya rolled her eyes. "Just kidding. I know what you mean. The only way there isn't going to be treasure in a deserted evil temple is if someone else has already looted it. Of course, that could well have happened, so don't get your hopes up."

"I don't think they have," Dawn put in. "There's a riddle in the carvings and I think I've cracked it. You have to make a sacrifice in front of the statue to summon the guardians. Then you kill them and loot their treasure."

Sorkatani pursed her lips. "Or they kill you and take your weapons and equipment to be part of the treasure for whosoever eventually defeats them. I do not like the idea of making a sacrifice on an altar dedicated to the most fell of all demons."

"I heard he'd been imprisoned by the gods," Imoen said. "One little sacrifice isn't going to summon him. Not in person."

"I still don't think it's a good idea," Sorkatani said.

"So, ask," said Imoen. "Get Micar'lae or Veldrin to do an Augury spell."

"Okay, okay," Sorkatani said. "You're going to keep on about it until I say 'yes', aren't you? I might as well agree now. Micar'lae, did you hear what we were talking about?"

Tara was sitting nearby in a huddle with Willow and Minsc. She looked up at Sorkatani's words. "I did," she said, "but I don't have it memorized. Sorry."

"What's an Augury spell?" Buffy asked.

"A divination to determine whether an action will bring good or ill upon us," Sorkatani explained.

"Hey, why don't we do that all the time? It could have saved us one whole lot of trouble," Buffy said.

"The action must be within half an hour and the answer often comes in cryptic form," Sorkatani told her. "Also, it is not wise to pester the gods. Do it too often and the answers will become more and more misleading. Once in a while will do no harm, however, and I think this might be a suitable occasion." She went across the chamber to Viconia's group.

"I am sworn to pursue our enemies and they have gone to the surface world," Viconia was explaining to her kin. "Taking you with us would cause many difficulties. However there are two Houses in Ust Natha that I believe would take you in, if I so requested, and accept you as full members."

"A short time ago that would have been the sum of all our hopes," Nathrae said, "but now my dreams are of the restoration of House De'Vir."

Viconia paused before replying. Sorkatani took the opportunity to interrupt.

"Veldrin," she said, "Iimzyne, Auniira, and Dhaunae want to summon the guardians of this temple so that they can be slain and their possessions looted. I'm not so sure that it's a good idea. Iimzyne suggests that we cast Augury to settle the question."

"Of course, my commander," Viconia said. "It will take me a few minutes to prepare."

"No rush," Sorkatani said. "I wouldn't let them do anything before Urlzaqh gets back anyway. Thanks." She left to return to the others.

"Your comrades are obviously aware of your true identity, Matron Mother Viconia," Nathrae commented, "and yet still they call you 'Veldrin'."

"A spell," Viconia said. "We could not risk our imposture being discovered through a careless word and have taken precautions to guard against slips. The real Veldrin is dead."

"Of course," Nathrae said. "So you may be about to battle demonic guardians? I ask that we be allowed to play a part in this fight. Thus far all that we have done is to guard your rear."

"Do not dismiss the task so lightly, Nathrae. It was truly important to us," Viconia said, "for no-one likes to be attacked from the rear."

"Oh, I don't know," Nathrae said, with a broad grin on her face. "That handsome vampire of yours could attack my rear any time."

"Somebody mention me?" Spike's voice sounded close at hand.

Nathrae jumped. "I did but jest," she said hastily.

"Yeah, don't worry about it," Spike said. "I'm back, still got all my bits, got the blood, and I nicked some good stuff off the Prince while I was at it."

"Then cancel your invisibility that I may greet you properly," Viconia said.

"No, wait." Sorkatani had reversed her course when she heard Spike's voice. "If we have a fight coming up it might be useful to stay invisible for a while."

"What, you plan on still being here when the kuo-toa find that their Prince is tied up, gagged, and stuffed in a closet?"

"Hopefully not," Sorkatani said. "Explain it to him, Veldrin, and prepare your spell. I'll gather the others."

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"A typically cryptic answer," Sorkatani said. "Now you see why we don't do this as a regular thing, Qilafae."

"Yeah, it's not exactly plain," Buffy agreed, "but I'd read it as meaning that it isn't anything we can't handle."

"And that there is extremely valuable loot," Anya said. "Let's do it. And, like Urlzaqh says, before the kuo-toa find out that their Prince has been mugged and come looking for payback."

"Very well," Sorkatani agreed. "Prepare for battle."

"Okay, buff up then, people," Buffy ordered. "I'm guessing they'll be able to cast Fear, 'cause hey, demons, so the Tom Petty song's probably a good idea, Gelfein, okay?" Giles nodded and poised his fingers over the strings of his guitar.

"I heard your request to play an active part in the fight, Nathrae," Sorkatani said, "but I am afraid I must decline. If the kuo-toa fell upon us as we battle demons we would be in a very awkward position. I ask that you guard our rear yet again."

Nathrae frowned and turned to Viconia.

"I owe Dynefryn my life, and more," Viconia told her kinswoman, "and her commands are law to me. Obey her also."

"As you command, Matron Mother," Nathrae said. She gathered her clan together and began to organize them in a formation guarding the entrance to the cavern.

"A blind venomous serpent doesn't seem much of a sacrifice," Imoen grumbled. "I hope it works. I still think we should have used Monster Summoning to call up a goblin or something."

"I will not allow any sentient being to be sacrificed to demons," Sorkatani said, "nor any harmless animal. If the serpent does not work then we call off the whole thing."

"Oh, all right," Imoen moaned. "Everybody ready? Here goes." She tossed the snake onto the altar.

A red flash of light lit up the cavern. The snake writhed, stiffened, and turned black. A smell resembling roast chicken could be detected by those nearest to the altar. Carvings on the walls blurred, moved, and turned into three-dimensional shapes.

Five humanoid figures emerged from the walls and came out into the chamber. Taller than men, clad in plate armor, and with helms obscuring their faces. They attacked instantly, without even a moment's hesitation, lashing out with two-handed swords.

"Demon knights," Sorkatani announced, recognizing the fiends on sight. She lashed out at the nearest with Celestial Fury. Her katana strike glanced harmlessly from the armor and the demon struck back.

Sorkatani brought up her parrying sword Malakar to block the return strike. The power of the demon's blow was immense. Sorkatani reeled under the impact and the demon struck again. This time Sorkatani was knocked from her feet and she fell to the floor. She rolled across the stone flags, avoiding the demon's attempt to stab down at her, and came to her feet five yards away.

Minsc whirled his sword Lilarcor through the air and smote the demon knight a mighty blow across its back. He met with no more success than had Sorkatani. The demon spun around and delivered a powerful return strike. Minsc was sent flying through the air and crashed to the ground. The breastplate of his Doom Plate armor was dented and gashed.

One of the other demon knights had drawn a Symbol of Fear. Giles' song neutralized its effects and the spell was wasted. Another had more success with its opening move, a Symbol of Stun, freezing both Dawn and Anya in place as they tried to move in for backstabs. Imoen discovered that they had ample protection against spells as her lightning bolt came straight back at her. She was wearing the Cloak of Mirroring and the spell rebounded yet again. The reflected spell glanced off at an angle and hit Tara.

Buffy had more success. She smashed the Hammer of Thunderbolts into the chest of a demon and felled it. Before it could recover Jaheira pounced on it with the Spear of Impaling she had acquired in the Sahuagin city. She drove the weapon through the demon's armor and pinned it to the ground.

Spike turned visible as he seized a demon from behind and rammed his sword into its side. The demon that had felled both Sorkatani and Minsc, a creature obviously far stronger than the others, caught hold of Spike and dragged him away from his victim. A skeleton warrior, summoned by Viconia, rained sword blows down upon the demon knight but they failed to penetrate the gleaming suit of full plate armor worn by the demon and were ignored. The fiend raised its sword and took aim at Spike's neck. Spike's attempts to tear himself free were in vain and he was helpless to avoid the threatening blade.

At that very moment the kuo-toa launched their attack upon the party of drow who had invaded their territory and assaulted their Prince. A volley of crossbow bolts was immediately followed by a charge of spearmen. A wave of kuo-toa warriors crashed into the defensive wall formed by the House De'Vir drow. Spears thrust out, swords stabbed, and maces crashed down. The drow line held.

Buffy leaped on the demon that was poised to slay Spike, caught its arm, and halted the sword blow before it could fall. They wrestled for a moment. The demon's strength was great, obviously exceeding that of Sorkatani or Spike, but it couldn't quite match Buffy. It did have size and weight on its side and the struggle ended up as a stalemate. Spike was able to wrench himself free as the demon concentrated its strength against Buffy. A fatal mistake. Spike rammed his rapier through the demon's visor and into its brain.

Xander cut the legs out from under one of the remaining demons with the Sword of Searing. Willow stripped away the magical protections from the other with a Ruby Ray of Reversal and Imoen promptly incinerated it. Viconia, who had been holding back her most potent spells because of the fiends' Spell Turning, and who had been in an agony of terror for Spike when his demise had appeared imminent, turned to the rear and unleashed a Fire Storm upon the kuo-toa. A score of them burned. The survivors turned and fled.

"They'll be back," Spike predicted. "Bloody loads more of them where those came from."

"Then we shall leave before they return," Sorkatani said. "Strip the bodies of the demons quickly."

"Nice armor," Buffy commented, as she examined the corpse of the demon knight that had felled Sorkatani and Minsc and had nearly killed Spike. "I wonder how come this one was so much stronger than the other ones? It's wearing a belt. Giant strength? That would be cool."

"Take it and let's go," Sorkatani said. "Bagpuss can check it out later."

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"Neat," Buffy said. "A Girdle of Frost Giant Strength. The thing we needed to complete the Crom Faeyr super-hammer."

"Explains why the bugger was stronger than me," Spike remarked. "So, who gets it for now?"

"It would add to our strength, Urlzaqh, but not by a great amount," Sorkatani said. "I would say that bestowing it upon Tallin or Zander would be the most efficient usage."

"Tallin got the armor," Buffy said, "although that was only fair considering the demon mangled his old stuff. I'd say Zander."

"Cool," Xander said. "Look out, here comes Super Dwarf."

"I concur," said Sorkatani. "The sword is a mighty one also. Again the choice is between Tallin and Zander."

"I can't handle a two-hander at this size," Xander said, "so that means it goes to Tallin."

"I have Lilarcor, and I am content," Minsc said. "Not only a sword, but a friend."

"Point," said Buffy, "and he has that cool immunity to Confusion too. So, what, we sell the new one?"

"Keep it until I'm back in my real body," Xander suggested. "We can make a decision then."

"Sure thing," Buffy agreed. "Urlzaqh gets the Bracers of the Blinding Strike, of course."

"I stole them, I get to keep them," Spike said.

"It was certainly worth our while fighting the guardian demons," Anya said. "The only thing is that it was my idea and I didn't get anything out of it."

"Aun," Xander said, shaking his head, "that's not what it's about."

"I picked up more than just the bracers," Spike said. "Nicked a load of gold and jewels off the Fish Prince while I was at it. I'll chuck them in the kitty."

"That's more like it," Anya said, beaming. "There's another thing. We still haven't been paid by House Despana for our 'mercenary' work, and we've certainly earned a reward. Let's hope Phaere has something good for us when we get back to the city."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

Phaere met them as they came in through the city gates. She wasted no time on pleasantries. "You have them?"

"No problem," Buffy said. "Brain goop from a devourer Elder Brain, eyestalks from an Elder Orb, and blood from a prince of the kuo-toa. All present and correct."

"I am impressed," Phaere said. "I see that you have preserved the lives of your expendable slaves, too, or most of them."

"We're keeping them," Buffy said, her tone unyielding. "They pulled their weight."

"Very well," Phaere said. "We found suitable substitutes for the sacrifice. Keep them if you wish, but you must feed and house them at your own expense. It matters not to me." She turned to the guards who manned the gates. "Lock the doors. None may leave or enter the city until Ardulace so commands."

"We obey, Mistress Phaere," a guard answered. The gates swung shut, bolts were rammed home, and keys were turned in locks. "None shall pass."

"Now I must take these items to my mother," Phaere said. "The time of the ritual nears. Go to the tavern and find something to occupy yourselves until I next call upon your services. Fight, or fuck, or what you will."

"Hey, wait up," Buffy said. "Don't we get to come to the temple and see the ritual? We did all the hard work."

"No," said Phaere, "it is not for mere hired mercenaries to participate in such a ceremony. The temple will be barred to the entry of all save the priestesses and the highest ranks of House Despana. You may not come."

"Speaking as a hired mercenary," Anya put in, "isn't it about time you actually paid us?"

"She's right," Sorkatani said, as Phaere turned a cold glare upon Anya. "You have promised much, but not delivered."

"Very well," Phaere said. "Your point is valid. Here." She unfastened a pouch from her belt and tossed it to Buffy. "Gems to the value of twenty thousand gold. Take it and be content. Farewell." She signaled to a mage who stood behind her. He cast a spell, the air swirled and shimmered, and Phaere and the mage vanished.

"Bummer," said Buffy. "I'd counted on us getting invited to the party. Looks like we'll have to do it the hard way. Come on, guys." She led the way into the city proper.

They made their way onto the platform that housed the city's main marketplace. A familiar figure was there, sitting near the market stalls, with two grim-faced guards of her household standing at her side. She stood up and approached as Buffy came into view.

"Talabrae," Buffy remarked, as she saw the Matron Mother. "She doesn't look too happy. I wonder what she wants?"

Talabrae's eyes were bloodshot, so much so that the whites were almost indistinguishable from the red irises, and her lips quivered as she spoke. "I'm sorry," she said. "I… Qilafae… I'm so sorry."

"What have you done?" Buffy grabbed the Matron Mother by the shoulders of her armor. She could smell a sour taint on Talabrae's breath. Vomit. "What did you do, Talabrae? Answer me!"

"Do? I did nothing." Talabrae lowered her eyes. "Nothing. They killed my best friend in front of me and I did nothing. I stood and watched as they impaled her. She begged me for help…" A choked sob came from her lips. "She never failed me. The truest of friends… but when she needed me I failed her. The shame… I despise myself."

Buffy released her grip and took a step back. "Evelintra? But… why? Who killed her?"

"Ardulace," Talabrae answered. "She found out that Evelintra worships… worshipped Eilistraee." Her mouth twisted into a distorted travesty of a smile. "She thanked me for denouncing my friend… but I did not. I had always taken pains not to ask Evelintra about such things, always closed my eyes to anything I should not have seen. I did not betray her… but I could not deny it, there in the Temple of Lolth before my goddess, and my friend… died thinking that I… I had…" Tears trickled down her cheeks. "I am defiled."

Buffy ground her teeth together. "I was kinda expecting I might have to kill Ardulace anyway," she said. "This is just one more reason."

"I had reason enough already," Viconia put in. "She fed Zarbalan to Bodhi. Ardulace must die." Spike growled out an obscene agreement.

"I share your grief, Talabrae," said Sorkatani, "yet your tale does not explain why you greeted Qilafae with 'I'm sorry'. What else transpired? What are you not telling us?"

Buffy grabbed Talabrae's shoulder again with force enough to deform the armor's adamantine pauldron. "Solaufein," she hissed. "What has happened to Solaufein?"

"He had the courage to act when I did not," Talabrae said, "and he tried to save her." She looked into Buffy's eyes and her lips trembled. "They… they killed him."

**Glossary of Character Aliases**

• Qilafae = Buffy

• Dynefryn = Sorkatani

• Gelfein = Giles

• Zander = Xander

• Auniira = Anya

• Vyll'ae = Willow

• Micar'lae = Tara

• Urlzaqh = Spike

• Veldrin = Viconia

• Dhaunae = Dawn

• Jhaelirae = Jaheira

• Tallin = Minsc

• Iimzyne = Imoen

Disclaimer: song lyrics quoted are taken from 'Haitian Divorce' by The Eagles, and 'Beds Are Burning' by Midnight Oil, and are used without permission and with no intent to claim ownership or to profit.


	60. Chapter 60

**Chapter Sixty**

"You… stood and watched him die." Buffy's voice was deceptively quiet. A cold light seemed to flicker in her eyes. Suddenly she moved, shoving Talabrae backward and against a market stall, bending her over and slamming her down onto the trestle table. "You didn't even lift a fucking finger to help him? Or Evelintra? What kind of a fucking friend are you?"

Talabrae's guards hastened to help their Matron Mother. Spike went into game face and barred their path. He drew his saber Namarra and extended it at throat level. "Just stay out of it," he snarled. Minsc, one hand on the hilt of Lilarcor, moved to place his intimidating bulk at Spike's side. The guards halted.

The stall-holder, whose goods had been scattered, called out angrily and raised a hand as if to act. Willow brandished her staff. Something in her expression seemed to carry the threat of life as a blind, probably neotenous, cave amphibian. The stall-holder swallowed hard and back-pedaled.

"Qilafae, this isn't helping," Tara said gently. She put her hand on Buffy's arm. "You don't think she feels bad enough already? Save it for Ardulace."

"I could not oppose our goddess," Talabrae choked out. Tears were spilling from her eyes.

"Your goddess is a piece of shit," Viconia spat out. "She cares nothing for the drow save as pawns."

Twenty yards away a priestess, who had the spider emblem of Lolth tattooed across her face, turned away from a clothes stall and glared at Viconia. "Blasphemer!" she hissed, stalking towards the group with her face contorted in fury. "I shall have you flayed alive in front…"

Celestial Fury flashed. The priestess reeled back, her fingers clutching at her throat, blood welling out between them. Her mouth moved soundlessly. One of the House De'Vir drow seized her, dragged her to the rail at the edge of the market-place, and pushed her over to plummet into the depths.

Sorkatani flicked blood from her blade and returned it to its scabbard. "This is private," she announced. "I'll kill anyone who interferes." The hubbub of the bazaar faded away and the nearby merchants and shoppers stood still.

"_Your_ goddess?" Talabrae turned her head, causing the tracks of her tears to change direction, and stared at Viconia. "You also follow Eilistraee?"

Viconia's lip curled. "Hardly. When I rejected Lolth because of her callousness and stupidly pointless sadism I was forced to flee Menzoberranzan. I turned to Shar, the Lady of Loss, Mistress of the Night."

"Oh, dear lord, there goes our cover," Giles muttered.

"Menzoberranzan?" Talabrae's gaze swept the group. "Then you are not what you claim to be."

"The real Flickering Flame guys are dead," Buffy admitted. "We came here chasing the wizard and the vampires who teamed up with Ardulace to start the war. They're long gone but we're gonna kill Ardulace before we go after them." She slackened her grip and allowed Talabrae to rise. "Are you with us or against us?"

"To kill Ardulace for what she has done is my dearest wish," Talabrae said, "but she is the Matron Mother of the ranking House and has the backing of the Handmaidens of Lolth. To go against her is treason and blasphemy."

"Oh? I thought you agreed that her war is just going to get a lot of your people killed without gaining much of anything," Anya pointed out. "Stopping her isn't treason against Ust Natha. Quite the reverse."

Tara handed Talabrae a piece of clean cloth. Talabrae looked at it blankly for a moment and then used it to wipe her eyes. "Thank you," she said. "I… how can I oppose the Temple of Lolth?"

Buffy shrugged. The blazing anger in her eyes had subsided. "We're going to," she said. "Tag along and help us out. You owe it to your friend and, hey, maybe it'll help you with the whole, uh…"

"Self-loathing," Tara suggested.

"Yeah, the whole self-loathing thing," Buffy said.

"I…" Talabrae bit her lip.

"A goddess who makes her people do things so against their nature is no worthy goddess," Viconia said. Tara and Jaheira nodded agreement. "Reject the bitch Spider Queen. Shar would welcome you at your present rank. Or take up the worship of Eilistraee, in memory of and reparation for Evelintra, although I cannot speak with authority on how you would be received in that case."

"I risk being cast out by my House," Talabrae said.

"You would be able to live with yourself again," Tara said. "Isn't that worth it?"

"I know not if I could abide by the principles of Eilistraee," Talabrae mused. "I am not merciful by nature. Yet Shar… does she not deal with loss by causing the bereaved to forget their departed?"

"No longer," Viconia stated. "I still treasure the memory of my brother Valas, who laid down his life for me, and my friend Dynaheir who was slain by the wizard we pursue. My Lady wishes her worshippers to find solace. If that can be in other ways than forgetting this is acceptable in her sight." Viconia glanced aside at Jaheira, who had raised her eyebrows in surprise, and explained. "I received a new Revelation at the time of my death. Shar wishes to… reposition herself. Talabrae would be a welcome convert without need to change her moral code." She turned back to Talabrae. "You must, however, take vengeance. That is still required."

"The desire for vengeance is not a problem," Talabrae said. Her gaze swung to the distant Temple of Lolth, where light glinted on the points of many spears in the hands of the Temple guards, and a muscle jumped in her jaw. "Achieving it may be. Yet I will try. Very well. I renounce Lolth, and all her works, and accept Shar as my patron deity."

"Apostate!" one of the House Godendar guards spat out. "You will bring doom upon us!"

"Ungrateful wretch!" the other addressed his colleague with equal venom. "Matron Mother Talabrae has ruled our House better than any before her, giving us both prosperity and justice, and has raised us from Seventh to Fourth in the City. I will follow her regardless."

The first speaker frowned. "You will? But all of us, and our families, will be imperiled by this. House Despana and the Handmaidens will destroy us."

"They can't destroy you," Spike pointed out, his eyes gleaming yellow and his fangs bared, "if they're dead."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

"Twenty-nine converts in thirty-six hours, including two of full High Priestess rank," Shar said. "A magnificent achievement. In my position your former comrades, those who came to Toril from another world, would doubtless celebrate with a gesture that involves raising one hand each and clapping them together."

"A 'High Five', as they call it," Yoshimo confirmed. "Indeed so, Lady."

Shar was in her form as the Dark Dancer, seven feet tall, twisting and turning in perpetual motion. She raised a hand briefly, palm towards Yoshimo, and then lowered it before he could decide if she genuinely was inviting him to join her in a 'High Five'. "Perhaps not," she said. "Yet it deserves some celebration, for it is a feat unparalleled. Even The Dancer Before Dawn has never performed any comparable service." She read puzzlement in Yoshimo's eyes. "Irtemara, my highest ranking priestess, who heads my church in Calimshan. She is old, and her subordinates maneuver for influence, for they expect to inherit the leadership of the priesthood when she dies." Her lips twitched into something resembling a smile. "They shall be disappointed."

"You are going to appoint Viconia?" It was an easy deduction for Yoshimo to make. "Forgive me, Lady, but I was under the impression that you were going to release her from your service."

"I have so promised," Shar confirmed, "and I shall do so, if it comes to it, but I am hoping that she will choose to stay. I granted her request in the belief that silken threads will be more effective than manacles of steel in fastening her to me. It is strange," Shar went on. "She disobeys many of my precepts, sometimes she questions her faith, and yet her worship carries a vitality that puts all others to shame. She makes me feel more… alive than I have felt in many thousands of years. I do not want to lose that power. Nay, rather would I strengthen her faltering devotion."

"She is… morally conflicted," Yoshimo ventured.

"I am aware of that," said Shar. "I intend to resolve that conflict by amending the Dogmas of Shar. In so doing I shall strengthen the fervor of her worship. If that means that I must make some changes to my precepts, well, so be it. The revisions will attract more worshippers, as Viconia has already shown, and by the decree of Ao that will increase my own power. There is already schism in my Church, as recently a faction arose that believes I want them to be more ruthless, and one that proclaims the opposite will balance things nicely." She slowed the pace of her perpetual dance. "That is, of course, assuming that she and her new recruits survive the next few hours. The odds that they face seem insuperable."

"They are in peril?" Yoshimo gritted his teeth. "Can you not protect them?"

Shar laughed. It started out almost as a croak, conveying an impression of something unused for countless ages and covered by the dust of millennia, but grew warmer and more genuine as it went on. She chopped the laugh off short. "Your concern is for Sorkatani, is it not?"

"Not for her alone," Yoshimo replied. "All of them are my friends. I desire that they all survive and get their revenge upon Irenicus and Bodhi."

"An admirable desire," Shar said, "and one of which I approve, but I cannot intervene directly. They must depend upon their own, admittedly considerable, ingenuity. We shall see in due course how they fare. Now, however, I must give you further instructions for your mission. I have not yet been able to arrange for you to meet with the servitors of my sister, no doubt because of her mistrust of me, and so I have decided to add a further task to be carried out first. It should not be arduous. Indeed, you might even find it pleasant, for you will meet one of the most beautiful female beings in all of the Planes."

"None can compare to you, Lady," Yoshimo said, bowing his head, and then he allowed himself a trace of a grin and added "except Sorkatani."

Shar bared her teeth. At first her expression resembled the rictus upon the face of a shrunken corpse, hideous and frightening, but then her lips softened and it became recognizable as an answering grin. Her eyes even seemed to twinkle with genuine humor. "Of course. This lady, however, wears less clothing. You shall see."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

"Ardulace has sent three hundred of her followers to the army on the surface. That leaves House Despana with perhaps five hundred armed retainers. There are a hundred guards at the Temple," Talabrae told them, "and fifty priestesses."

"Forty of us, against six hundred and fifty," Buffy said, frowning. "Not good. How many guys do you have?"

"My House is smaller than Despana," Talabrae said, "but I prevaricated, and found excuses, and was able to get away with sending only thirty to the army. That left me with four hundred retainers at my command. Alas, I fear that I might not be able to count on all of them in the circumstances. You saw that even one of my personal bodyguards wavered. I think," she paused and her lips moved silently, "there are at most two hundred that I could trust to stand by us. Some of Evelintra's House fled to me after her arrest. That gives us another fifty, all absolutely trustworthy." She bit her lip. "If they do not hear and believe the lie that it was I who betrayed Evelintra, that is."

"It's a help, I guess, but, hey, still not loving the odds," Buffy said. "What about, what's her name, Chaldiira? She's your friend too, and Evelintra's. Could her House help out?"

Talabrae pursed her lips. "She is vulnerable whilst she is with child. I do not believe she would risk aiding us. The situation is even worse than you have stated," she went on, "for House Auvrindar will rush to attack us as soon as we move. They hate you, and seek vengeance, and they fear that I plan to usurp their position as Third House in the city." Her lips formed into a tight and mirthless smile. "Quite correctly."

"If we march openly against the Temple most of the populace will attack us," Viconia said. "Thousands of them, from all sides, and we would be crushed. Vyll'ae, can you transport us? Iimzyne?"

"Not this many," Willow replied. "I could manage just us, I guess, but then we'd have to fight, like, a hundred guards by ourselves. I never saw the inside of the Temple anyway. I could take us to the outside but we'd still have to get through the doors."

"I guess we're going to have to do it the hard way," Buffy said. "Zander, what do you think? Can we do it?"

Xander shook his head. "I don't know, Qil. The walkways are the only way to approach the place. If we just march straight on in there we're gonna get involved in a straight slugging match. With them having the numbers… we'll get creamed."

"Walkways," Giles muttered. "Walkways. Constitution of the walkways…"

"The Male Fighters' Society," Buffy suggested. "Solaufein is… was… pretty damn popular. They have to be hurting." A mirthless smile came to her lips. "Not the way I am, but still... You think they might be up for some revenge?"

"You harbor false hopes, Qilafae," Talabrae replied. "It... it was…" Her control faltered and tears appeared in her eyes once more. She swallowed hard, clenched her jaw, and wiped away the tears. "His own men stabbed him in the back," she revealed in an icy tone. "Some fought with him, and died with him, but others betrayed him. Their admiration was not enough to inspire them to oppose their goddess."

"The gates are locked," Giles said to himself, "and we're in a market square. Hmm. No factory chimneys, of course, but there are stalagmites. 'Anti-Christ' doesn't mean anything here, but the radio edit version… hmm. We have several battle priests…"

"We'd better come up with something fast," Buffy said. "I'm guessing that this demon Ardulace is summoning is in a whole different league to the ones that have been donating to Vyll'ae's squishy heart collection."

"A Lord of Demons," Talabrae said. "A minor god in all but name."

"Damn," Buffy said. "I'm picturing Glory, only twenty feet tall and with horns and a tail. Not fun. We have to move now."

"I think I may have something to tip the odds in our favor," Giles said. "Yes. It should work. I'll need a drum. One that can be played whilst marching."

Anya scuttled to a nearby stall. Most of the goods on display were toys, many rather gruesome as they were intended for drow children; a miniature torture rack for dolls, My Little Drider, My First Tentacle Rod, and the like. A few of the items were ornaments and curiosities for adults. A snare drum sat amongst them. It was slightly smaller than a normal drum, even allowing for the size difference between drow and humans, and so Anya wasn't sure which category it fell into. She doubted if it would matter to Giles. "How much?" she asked, pointing to the drum.

The merchant narrowed his eyes. Anya's eyes narrowed in return; she suspected that she was going to be ripped off.

"Two silver coins," the stall-holder said, "and I'll throw in a couple of drumsticks."

"That's… surprisingly reasonable," Anya said. "I'll take it." She handed over the coins.

"Confidentially," the merchant whispered, as he gave her the drum, "I'm a follower of Vhaeraun. Down with Lolth! And down with Ardulace, who executed my good friend Merinid. Although what your bard hopes to achieve against the Temple, and all of House Despana, with just a drum is beyond me."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

"For the Order!" A knight shouted a war cry in a voice tinged with despair. He lashed out with his sword and drove it into the chest of a mailed orc warrior. Before he could withdraw the blade an ogre struck him from behind with a spiked club. The knight fell, unconscious or dead, and the ogre lumbered toward another knight. A dozen orc spearmen, some bleeding from minor wounds, were being marshaled into a tight phalanx by a chieftain who wore a helm decorated with a human scalp. A knight who tried to disrupt the group before they could form up was wounded by an arrow and then driven back by a minotaur wielding a great two-handed axe.

Bodhi crouched behind a bush and sized up the situation. Eight knights and a female mage fought a mob of fifty or so ogres, orcs, and minotaurs. The bodies of ten knights, a dozen horses, and about forty humanoids lay shattered and broken on the moonlit field. "I love the smell of blood in the evening," she remarked. "Sythillisians, I think, versus paladins. I wonder… are they the Order of the Silver Chalice or the Radiant Heart? What think you, Anomen?"

"The Radiant Heart, my Lady," Anomen replied. "I recognize Sir Darnell, wielding his sword bravely and skillfully, and the lady mage Janthoreen, and, yes, Brendur Tarmyrin who is still to take his Test. I know him well."

"That implies that we've crossed the border into Amn. Good." Bodhi half-closed her eyes, touched her tongue to her top lip, and smiled. "I have an idea. Let's play Good for a change and rescue the knights. Ogres are so, well, smelly."

Anomen nodded. "Of course, my Lady. In truth I still feel the urge to help my former comrades, even now that I am a vampire, and it did not sit well upon me that we would merely watch them die."

"Oh, I wouldn't just watch," Bodhi said. "Take off your veil, Tanova, and then take out that spear schiltron. They'd be a threat even to us in that formation." She pulled the hood of her cloak over her head. "Nobody show fangs until I say so. Zarbalan, don your hood. If they recognize you as Drow before they realize that we're helping them it will ruin everything."

Zarbalan frowned, and the set of his lips showed that he was unhappy with Bodhi's decision, but he obeyed her order.

"The paladins' mage must be out of Fireballs," Tanova assessed, "but I'm not. Or I could Cloudkill them?

"Normally I'd say Cloudkill," Bodhi mused, "but our ignoring the gas might look odd to the paladins and tip them off that something's amiss. Burn them." She saw a knight go down under a hail of blows and she came to her feet. "Do it now!"

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

Giles frowned at Spike. "Are you sure you know this one? I wouldn't have thought they were, ah, quite your style."

"'Course I know it, Watcher," Spike assured him, rolling his eyes. He adjusted the drum on the cord that suspended it from his neck and beat out a brief experimental roll. "Bloody good song it was. They went bloody soft later, with soppy shite like 'Kayleigh' and 'Lavender', but they did decent stuff when they started out. I can do the drum beat, no problem." He grinned. "You going to put on face paints?"

"I don't think that will be necessary, thank you, Urlzaqh." Giles turned to Viconia. "I shall need you to summon some zombies."

Viconia raised her eyebrows. "Of course, mentor. Now?"

"In a minute or two," Giles told her. "I'll tell you when. Summon them around me, but they have to stand still when I start to walk forward. They can advance later."

"I am puzzled, but I take it that it will become clear later," Viconia said. "I have considered the words that you wish me to sing, or rather to chant, and I think that they would be better said by Talabrae."

"Hmm." Giles sucked in his lips. "You have a point, I suppose, but there is a slight element of risk there. Still, it shouldn't affect us…"

"Don't take too long thinking," Buffy said. "Time's passing. She'll be starting the ritual before long."

"Very well. Talabrae it is then." Giles went to the Matron Mother and told her what he wanted her to do.

"'I am your battle priest'… yes, I can do this, if you give me a clear signal to show when I am to begin," Talabrae said. She screwed up her eyes. "You really think that your song can overcome the odds against us?"

"I have helped him to conjure up an army of a thousand men," Viconia told her. "Do not underestimate Gelfein and the mighty power of Rock and Roll."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

Bodhi caught the axe in mid stroke, wrenched it from the minotaur's hands, and whirled it in a deadly arc to cleave an ogre's skull. The minotaur stared in astonishment, growled, and lowered its head to butt. Bodhi released the axe, caught the minotaur by the horns, and wrenched. There was a crunch of breaking bone and she thrust the beast's limp corpse aside.

"For the Order!" Anomen shouted out the Radiant Heart battle-cry from sheer force of habit as he bludgeoned a somewhat charred orc chieftain to the ground.

Tanova unleashed a bolt of Chain Lightning that slew most of those orcs that had survived her Fireball. A one-eyed orc warpriest emerged unscathed, protected by some spell or talisman, and raised a bone wand to retaliate. Zarbalan raced forward and thrust his rapier into the orc priest's chest.

"Anomen Delryn, by all that is holy!" the young Squire Brendur shouted out. "You come in the nick of time." He drove home a shrewd thrust into the flank of a distracted ogre but then was attacked by a minotaur. He took its axe blow on his shield but the massive axe blade pierced the shield and bit deep into his arm. Anomen joined his wounded former comrade and they stood shoulder to shoulder against the axe-wielding beast. A powerful blow from Anomen's mace drove the minotaur back and Anomen took a moment to cast a Cure spell on Brendur's injury. His more powerful spells were lost to him, now that he was Undead, but the lesser ones remained.

Bodhi snatched up a sword that lay beside a fallen knight. "Hmm, nice," she said, testing the balance. She spun on her heel and decapitated a charging ogre. "Keen edge, too. I think I might keep this one."

"That is Sir Krivalek's blade," Sir Darnell said, his tone reproachful, but then he was forced to turn his attention to a pair of ogres that were heading for Janthoreen the mage. He intercepted one, wounding it and forcing it to turn aside to battle the knight, but the other one maintained its course and struck out at Janthoreen.

The woman raised her staff to parry the blow. Her strength was nothing to the ogre. The impact tore the staff from Janthoreen's hands and she could only make a futile attempt to dodge as the ogre brought down its club again.

Bodhi raced to the rescue. She stabbed the ogre in the back and seized its arm as it tried to go through with the blow with its dying strength. "Naughty, naughty," she scolded, ramming her newly acquired sword all the way through the ogre's body and then ripping it across. "I'm afraid the penalty is death."

"Thank you!" Janthoreen gasped out. "I have no more spells. You saved my life."

Bodhi smiled. "Think nothing of it," she said. She hastened to the aid of a wounded knight who was being overcome by one of the last two surviving minotaurs.

The other one was attacking a knight whose face was hidden by a full helm but whose sculpted breastplate revealed her to be a woman. Zarbalan approached the minotaur from behind and slashed his blade across the sinews behind its knee. It toppled and the woman knight drove her longsword into its throat. She raised her head, saw something behind Zarbalan, and cried "Look out!" Zarbalan whirled around and parried a blow from an ogre's club. His slender blade snapped. The lady knight rushed to his assistance.

Tanova used a Disintegrate spell to blast an ogre to nothingness. Another, who had been on the point of charging her, reconsidered and turned to flee. Tanova turned it into a frog. "One day some prince is going to get a really horrible surprise," she commented. The closest knight laughed briefly and then hastened to skewer the frog with his sword.

Only a handful of the Sythillisian monsters now remained alive. Two ogre berserkers were either too stupid or too gripped with battle rage to consider flight and fought on. The others fled. Bodhi hunted them down, her enhanced vampire speed giving them no chance to escape, and slew them. The knights and the vampires surrounded the berserkers and hacked them to pieces.

"Well met, Anomen," Brendur said, sheathing his sword. "Sir Anomen, I mean."

"There is no need to be formal when we meet on the field of battle," Anomen said. "You acquitted yourself well, Brendur. I am sure that you will soon pass your Test and achieve knighthood."

The female knight removed her helm and revealed her face. She was young, no older than her mid-twenties at most, and pretty. A mane of blonde hair fell free as the helmet came off. "You saved all our lives," she said.

"And you saved mine, I think," Zarbalan said.

The girl raised her eyebrows. "A drow? I thought that you were all evil." She smiled at him. "I shall have to modify my opinions."

"I think that Sir Krivalek would be well pleased that his sword is now in the hands of one who wields it so well and so honorably," Sir Darnell said to Bodhi, who had just returned from slaying the last of the ogres. "Keep the sword with my blessing, my Lady."

"I think this must be Buffy the Vampire Slayer," Brendur deduced. Bodhi's hooded cloak hid her dark hair and, in the moonlight, the pallor of her skin was not obvious.

Anomen opened his mouth to contradict the squire. Bodhi pre-empted him.

"Yep, that's me," Bodhi said, mimicking Buffy's accent as closely as she could. "Buffy the totally awesome Vampire Slayer from, like, the world of Caliph Onya."

"It was a good day for…" Sir Darnell began.

Bodhi spun in a blur of speed. She hit Anomen in the back of the head with the pommel of the sword. He crashed to the ground and lay still. Brendur's mouth dropped open and he put his hand on his sword hilt. Before he could either speak or draw steel Bodhi had struck again. She punched Brendur solidly on the jaw and the young man fell.

"What treachery is this?" Sir Darnell demanded, pulling free his sword. "Are you ensorcelled?"

"No, just treacherous," Bodhi replied. "Kill them. No fangs." She parried Sir Darnell's blow, riposted, and drove the point of her sword into his throat. "Don't kill the one I knocked out. I want him left alive to blame Buffy."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

Giles walked up to the city gates. One of the gate guards, House Despana insignia visible on his armor, trained a crossbow on him but did not fire. "We may not open them for you, bard," a less hostile guard called out, "until we are given orders by Matron Mother Ardulace."

"It's all right, thanks, I don't need them opened," Giles replied. He placed his hand upon one of the heavy metal doors, ran his palm over the surface, and then walked away again. He took hold of his guitar, took up a position alongside a trio of zombies summoned by Viconia, and nodded to Spike. Spike raised his drumsticks, Giles positioned his fingers on the guitar's frets, and they began to play.

"_I found smog at the end of my rainbow_

_I found my thoughts shift slowly into phase_

_Declared the constitution of the walkways_

_I realized it's time to plan the day, the day, the day, the day…_

_I'm a market square hero_

_Gathering my storms to troop_

_I'm a market square hero_

_Speeding the beat of the street pulse_

_Are you following me?_

_Are you following me?_

_Suffer my pretty warriors and follow me_

_I got a golden handshake that nearly broke my arm_

_I left the ranks…_"

Giles stepped away from the zombies and began to move across the market place.

"…_of shuffling graveyard people_

_I got rust upon my hands from the padlocked city gates_

_The stalagmites provide our silent steeples_

_I'm a market square hero…_"

Merchants and shoppers began to drift away from the market stalls and to gather around Giles. All but one of the guards on the city gate deserted their posts, leaving their colleague from House Despana isolated and shouting in impotent fury at their backs, and followed Giles. He moved slowly across the plaza, Spike taking up a position at his side, and the others closed up behind him.

"…_Well suffer my little children and follow me_

_Follow me!_"

He quickened his pace as he left the market place and began the instrumental section. Drow began to pour out of the tavern where the party had made its base. They flocked to join the procession. The head of the Female Fighters' Society led a formed body of troops out to meet them. Buffy and Sorkatani tensed and gripped their weapons, fearing something had gone wrong, but the warriors fell into step with everyone else. Their leader Qilué embraced Talabrae and then marched at her side. A similar column from the Male Fighters' Society, and the entire armed forces of House Godendar and the refugees from House Zaughym, emerged onto the walkways and were welcomed. The heavily pregnant figure of Chaldiira led two hundred fighters forth from her House building and joined up.

Giles gave the signal to Talabrae to do her part. The Matron Mother's eyes widened and rolled nervously. For a moment Giles thought that he would have to get Viconia to do that piece after all. Talabrae opened her mouth, however, and began to chant. The music had her in its grip and her voice was not only filled with a confidence and power not shown on her face but was also, unexpectedly, perfectly in tune.

"_I am your battle priest, show me allegiance_,"

Giles came in with the harmony part. "_Are you following me?_"

"_I am your battle priest, pledge to me defiance_,"

"_Are you following me?_"

"_Suffer my pretty warriors_

_Suffer my fallen child_

_The time has come to conquer and I'll provide your end!_"

Talabrae's voice rose almost to a shriek as she shouted out the command that ended the passage. "_We march!_"

Four thousand strong and growing, containing representatives from every House in the city save for Despana and Auvrindar, the column marched inexorably on. Bards amongst the throng took up the drum-beat. Giles, Talabrae, and Spike at the head of the column reached the turn-off that led to the Temple of Lolth. The spiders that roamed the area rushed to bar the path but were blasted out of existence by massed volleys of crossbow bolts and spells. A Phase Spider that teleported into the middle of the crowd was speared and trampled underfoot before it could bite. Giles turned toward the Temple and led his followers on.

"_I give peace signs as I wage war on the Temple_

_I'm the warrior in the ultra-vision haze_

_Armed with antisocial insecurity_

_I plan the path of destiny in this maze_

'_Cos I'm a market square hero gathering the storms to troop  
'Cos I'm a market square hero speeding the beat of the street pulse, the street pulse  
Are you following me? Are you following me?  
Well suffer my fallen angels and follow me…_"

The guards around the Temple broke and fled, racing to get to the exit that led to the platform where Xander and Minsc had fought the beholder for Phaere, and those who didn't make it before the advancing column cut off their retreat either ran for the Temple doors or threw themselves over the edge of the walkway. Those who had Feather Fall spells memorized landed safely among the grazing herds of rothé far below, and then had to take their chances with the startled beasts, but some were acting in blind panic and plummeted to their deaths. The way to the Temple lay clear.

"_I'm the market square hero  
I'm the market square hero  
We're market square heroes  
We're the market square heroes  
Are you following me?_

I'm the market square hero!"

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

Zarbalan held the lady knight immobile, with some difficulty as his strength as a newly-turned vampire was not all that much greater than hers and she outweighed him, and gazed admiringly at her breasts. The sculpted breastplate had not exaggerated and she was indeed well endowed. "I do not wish to rape and kill her," he told Bodhi.

"That's, well, something of a relief, really, after your behavior with the elves," Bodhi said, ignoring the woman's screams and protests. "I was beginning to think you were some kind of pervert." She tossed Janthoreen's head up and kicked it as it came down. The head sailed through the air, landed a hundred yards away, and bounced and rolled another forty yards before coming to rest. "Not that I have any claim to the moral high ground, of course, but you were taking it too far."

Tanova raised her head from the throat of a knight. She had slashed it open with a knife to avoid leaving fang marks. "He was," she agreed. "I almost felt sorry for the girls."

"It was less satisfying than I had expected," Zarbalan admitted. "The other males always claimed that to rape an elf was the ultimate delight for a drow but, really, it's much more fun with a willing partner."

"I shall never be willing, monster!" the woman hissed.

"You wish to turn her?" Bodhi closed one eye and considered. "Well, we need more recruits anyway, and it won't spoil my plan. You don't mind that she must be a good eight inches taller than you?"

"She is beautiful, and spirited, and the height does not matter to me," Zarbalan replied.

"Hmm. Well, your face will certainly be in an interesting place when you're fucking," Bodhi said, a grin coming to her lips. "You'll make an attractive pair and you have my blessing. What's your name, girl?"

"My name is Jeroneth, monster," the girl answered in a snarl. "You will burn for these treacherous deeds."

"Possibly, but I'm rather hoping that it will be Buffy who ends up in hot water," Bodhi said. "Yes, you'll definitely be an asset to the family. We'll have to carry your corpse with us for the rest of the night, and that's a nuisance, but I'll put up with it. Hmm. She's wounded. We'd better make sure that it goes right. Anomen, heal her, and then give her another Cure spell or two while Zarbalan is draining her to make sure that she doesn't just die on us."

"Very well, my Lady," Anomen said. His tone was cold and he did not meet Bodhi's eyes.

"Oh, are you still upset that I thumped you on the head?" Bodhi opened her eyes very wide and fluttered her eyelashes. "It was for your own good. This way your friend the squire will think that we betrayed you as well. If you bump into any of your old associates in Athkatla they won't attack you on sight. It'll make it so much easier for you to get your revenge on your father for casting you out if you're not a hunted traitor."

"It was probably your father who murdered your sister," Zarbalan put in.

"What?" Anomen stared at the drow vampire. "What makes you think that?"

"From what you told me," Zarbalan said, "he had her body cremated before you even found out about it. That implies that he didn't want her Raised. What other motive could he have had?"

"I never thought of that," Anomen said, shaking his head. "You may be right. But why?"

"I do not know enough to speculate," Zarbalan began. Jeroneth took advantage of his distraction to knee him in the groin, pull her wrists free from his grip, and make a dive for her sword.

Bodhi intercepted her and restrained her with ease. Jeroneth spat at Bodhi's face but Bodhi jerked her head out of the way, moving almost too fast for the human eye to follow, and laughed. "A brave and resourceful girl. You'll make a wonderful vampire."

"She will indeed," wheezed Zarbalan, rubbing his injured parts.

"Dress her in her armor once more," Bodhi commanded him, "except for the gorget, of course. That way we won't have to carry her armor separately and it'll be easier than dressing her corpse. Then drain her. Quickly, now, for that squire isn't going to stay unconscious for ever. I want us to be long gone by the time he comes round."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

They were too late to stop the ritual.

Only the first hundred and fifty or so of those summoned by Giles' song entered the Temple. They were enough to crush the demoralized Temple guards and force their way through to the inner sanctum.

Phaere was there, and Ardulace, and the High Priestess and the Handmaidens of Lolth. They were assembled around a mystic circle marked out on the stone flags. In the middle of the circle, bound to an 'X'-shaped frame that lay on the floor, was a sacrificial victim. Akorynrae, Evelintra's niece, whose age in Drow terms was no greater than Dawn's. She was naked.

Above her towered a demon. Fifteen feet tall, dark red of skin, with a horned head and huge bat-like wings. Flames flickered in its mane. Its mighty sword and its whip were on the floor at its feet, set aside for the moment, and it held its loincloth in its hand. The erect penis that jutted forth from its, or rather his, groin was a foot and a half in length.

"Turn away, Dawn," Buffy commanded. She averted her own eyes and immediately wished that she hadn't. Evelintra's naked body was impaled upright on the blade of a huge sword set into stone blocks. Her mouth was open in a silent scream and bloody holes gaped where her eyes should be. Buffy's lips curled back in a snarl and she averted her eyes once again only to see something that affected her even more deeply. Solaufein's severed head, mounted on a plaque, hanging on the wall.

"Wendonai!" Talabrae hissed. "Get away from Akorynrae, you unclean thing!"

The demon Wendonai, one of the six commanders of the Balor, cast aside his loincloth and swung his head to face her. He ran his fingers over his phallus and leered. "You recognize me, then, apostate one? Then you must know that you cannot prevail. I shall ravish this virgin girl and, should she survive, she shall bear a draegloth to serve as Ardulace's right hand for the glory of Lolth."

"So, you have found your courage, Talabrae?" Ardulace sneered. "Too late. All you shall gain is your own death."

Buffy threw the Hammer of Thunderbolts. Ardulace didn't even see it coming. It struck her full in the face, shattered her jaw, and smashed her to the ground. Phaere cried out and began a spell. Viconia snuffed it out with a counter-spell before it was completed. The hand-maidens commanded the Temple golems to attack. Willow, Imoen, and Jaheira all summoned elementals in reply and the massive creatures battled the constructs.

"You cannot stop me," Wendonai taunted Talabrae, dropping to one knee between Akorynrae's legs, and continuing to fondle his penis. "I cannot leave this summoning circle until the ritual is completed by the sacrifice of the dragon eggs – unless the circle is broken by some fool entering. Of course, if you want to unleash me to destroy your associates, go right ahead. I sense two more virgins with you."

"If you even think about touching Dawn…" Buffy growled, the intensity of her rage such that it overrode the spell that urged her to use the Drow alias, and she forgot her intention to follow up on the hammer throw by finishing Ardulace off with her sword. Spike's simultaneous growl was one of bestial fury and his face rippled and changed.

Sorkatani paused in her charge toward Phaere and pointed Celestial Fury at the demon. "Stop!" she shouted. "Leave the girl alone."

"Are you volunteering to take her place, Bhaalspawn?" Wendonai asked.

"Bhaalspawn?" Talabrae glanced briefly at Sorkatani but turned immediately back to the demon. "I failed Evelintra but I will not fail Akorynrae. I must stop this. Who is with me?"

Buffy drew the drow sword that was her current back-up weapon. "Count on me," she said. "Let's waste this sucker."

Ardulace forced herself up to her hands and knees. She coughed and spat out teeth and blood. She raised her head in time to see Phaere hit by a mighty swing from Minsc's sword. Phaere fell, her armor gashed open and blood spurting out, and Nathrae of House De'Vir pounced on her and bashed in her head with a mace.

Ardulace fixed her eyes upon the dragon eggs, standing in a box beyond the altar a mere five yards away, and scrambled forward. If she smashed the eggs, and could manage to utter the right words despite her ruined mouth, the demon would be under her command and free to leave the circle. The rebels would pay in blood, and worse, for their temerity. A few more feet…

Dawn seized Ardulace by the hair and jerked her head back. "You killed my sister's boyfriend, bitch," Dawn hissed, "and staked my friend out for a demon. Payback time." She brought her short sword Cutthroat up to Ardulace's neck, slashed it across, and stepped back to avoid the gush of blood.

Sorkatani and Buffy crossed the line of the summoning circle almost together. Talabrae was only a single step behind, as was Spike, and Qilué of the Female Fighters' Society followed a heartbeat later. Willow, Imoen, and a mage from House Godendar at once began to bombard the demon with Lower Resistance and Pierce Shield spells.

Wendonai rose from his knees. Buffy slashed at the irresistible target presented by the demon's erect penis. Spike winced in male sympathy but it didn't prevent him from doing his best to ram Namarra through the demon's kidneys. Simultaneously Sorkatani struck for the femoral artery with Celestial Fury.

All three blades bounced off. "Fools," Wendonai boomed out, "my invulnerability is no mere spell. Only the greatest of weapons can harm me." He punched Buffy in the face and sent her sprawling. He ignored further blows, and a potentially lethal spell from Talabrae, and sent a deadly spell of his own at the group of mages. Willow's staff absorbed it harmlessly.

Qilué cast aside her flail and drew a dagger. She stabbed Wendonai in the thigh. The demon yelped in pain and shock. His fist lashed out again. Qilué tried to defend herself with her shield but the demon's strength was immense. The shield smashed into Qilué's arm and the bone snapped. Wendonai punched again as the shield arm flopped and hit Qilué on the head. Bone crunched and Qilué dropped dead.

Minsc bellowed with rage. Xander barred his path. "Wait, Tallin, Lilarcor won't cut it," he cautioned the ranger. "Try the Demon Knight's sword."

"My righteous fury knows no patience," Minsc said, "but your words are wise. I shall do as you say." He delayed his charge to swap weapons.

"If only I had Carsomyr," Xander complained, shaking his head, and then something made him turn. He stared at the sword impaling Evelintra. "Oh no, no," he gasped. "I recognize the cross-guard. That's Carsomyr. They used my Holy Sword to kill her."

The demon shrugged off more blows and spells. He seized Sorkatani by one arm and dragged her closer. Spike tried to bite the demon's leg but had to give up when a lick of flame from the glowing skin set his shirt on fire. Wendonai leered at his captive. "Now, shall I rape you, or just kill you?"

"Neither," Sorkatani said. Her clothes vanished. Her hair darkened and lengthened. White streaks appeared on her face. "Death is my gift for you, demon."

Wendonai's glowing eyes widened. "That's very convenient," he began. "Rape it is, the– aaagh!" His speech turned into an agonized howl as Sorkatani kicked him in the groin with all the shattering force of the First Slayer. "Bitch!" He hurled her away across the room, high and hard, but she rotated in mid-air and landed lightly on her feet.

"Taste hamster justice, vile demon!" Minsc roared. He carved a bloody slice across the demon's back with the recently acquired two-handed sword. Wendonai turned, parried with a clawed hand, and lost a couple of fingers in the process. He snatched up his sword from the floor and hammered Minsc to the ground.

Dawn looked at Cutthroat in her hand, swallowed hard, and headed for the demon. The sword that had once been Bodhi's was a match for the Demon Knight's sword in its enchantment. If Minsc had been able to wound Wendonai then logically Dawn would be able to do the same.

"No, Dhaunae!" Buffy yelled. "Stay back!" She paused to wipe blood from her lips, pulped by the demon's punch, but then ran to intercept her sister. "Give me the sword. I'll take him on."

Sorkatani headed for the grisly execution block. "Bayete, udadewethu," she addressed Evelintra's corpse, bowing her head reverently, and then she lifted the body from the sword and laid it down. She turned back to the sword, ignoring Xander's warning that she wouldn't be able to use it, and drew it from the stone. Sorkatani set Celestial Fury down, took a two-handed grip on Carsomyr, and leaped to the attack.

Anya loosed a crossbow bolt, which merely bounced off Wendonai's hide, and then turned to Giles. "Do something, Gelfein!" she urged him.

Giles shook his head and sighed. "I'm afraid that rock music tends to be rather favorable to demons and devils," he told her. "I can only think of songs in which they win. I suppose I could summon a devil to battle him but that wouldn't be much of an improvement."

"I suppose not," Anya agreed. "Anyway, the First Slayer seems to be coping."

"Rather well, actually," Giles observed.

Wendonai reeled under Sorkatani's attack. The great-sword carved huge gashes in his flanks. Minsc picked himself up, almost unharmed thanks to his new and splendid armor, and returned to the fray. Buffy joined in, Cutthroat flashing in her hand, and now she had a weapon capable of harming Wendonai. The rest of the fighting was over. Two of the elementals had survived the combat against the golems and their controllers turned them on the demon. Wendonai staggered and went down on one knee.

Talabrae, almost weeping with frustration at her inability to affect the demon, had been searching the floor for Qilué's dagger. She found it and raced to the attack. Wendonai threw up his sword to parry a blow from Sorkatani. He used his other hand to catch Buffy's arm as she slashed at him with Cutthroat. For a moment he was wide open.

"For Evelintra," Talabrae snarled out. She sliced with the dagger. Her target was Wendonai's penis, now sagging only half erect, and her aim was true. A fountain of demon blood soaked her arm to the shoulder.

Wendonai's cry of agony was almost loud enough to burst eardrums. He made one last despairing attempt to strike back, his sword sweeping around in an arc aimed at Talabrae's neck, but Sorkatani thrust out Carsomyr and stopped the blow dead. Buffy buried Cutthroat to the hilt in Wendonai's back.

"A few more years and I would have been free anyway," Wendonai groaned. He slumped to the floor. "Now I face another two thousand. I should never…"

Carsomyr swept down in a decapitation stroke and whatever the demon had been going to say was forever silenced.

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

Sorkatani's outline blurred. The white clay vanished from her face, her armor returned, and her hair reverted to the white of her drow form. She looked at her hands. "Still the same. Good. I was a little worried about that."

"I guess," said Buffy. "It worked out all right. Nice move. We might have gotten our asses kicked if not for the First Slayer." She bit her lip and looked at the place where the demon's body had melted away on its death. "What was that thing?"

"Wendonai, the Corruptor," Talabrae said. "One of the six Great Balors that command the armies of demonkind. It is said that he worked with… my former goddess… to cause the fall of the Ilythiiri." She unfastened the last of the shackles that held Akorynrae, gathered the weeping girl up, and held her tight. "I am so sorry, my dear," Talabrae said, her voice breaking as she spoke. "So sorry."

Sorkatani reversed her grip on Carsomyr, walked over to Xander, and handed him the sword. "You won't be able to use it for now," she said, "but at least we've got it back, and you're back in business once you're back up to full size."

"Thanks," Xander said. "I still don't get how come you were able to use it. Nobody but a paladin should be able to wield a Holy Sword. Maybe the First Slayer counts as a…" His voice trailed away and he stared at the blade. "It's… dead. The magic's gone away."

"It was still enchanted enough to slay the Balor," Sorkatani said.

"Well, yeah," Xander agreed, "it's still got that magical super-sharpness thing. But Holy… not so much. No cool powers, no magic resistance, no Dispel Magic."

"So that is why they murdered Evelintra in such an obscene manner," Sorkatani said. "To desecrate your sword."

"Desecrate, yeah, that's the word," Xander said. His mouth twisted. "They killed that nice lady with my sword, and that burns me up, but if they did it just to wreck the sword… that's just, well, sick."

"They would have killed her anyway," Viconia put in. She sighed. "Alas, I have tried to Resurrect her, but without success. Ardulace must have taken steps to ensure that Evelintra was slain permanently."

"The same with Solaufein," Buffy said. "Micar'lae just tried. No use." Her eyes glistened with tears. "Damn. I really liked him, you know? Maybe things would never have worked out between us, what with everything, but hey, I would have liked the chance to at least say 'goodbye'. I hope that bitch Ardulace rots in Hell."

Anya and Dawn, who had seized the opportunity to loot the place once the battle had finished, emerged from a side room. Tears were running down Dawn's cheeks and her lips trembled. Anya's hands were shaking. "Count me in on that," Anya said. "Count me double. Don't go in there."

"What did you find?" Talabrae asked.

"I think I know how Ardulace found out about Evelintra," Anya said. "This isn't a good time to tell you the details." She swallowed hard. "I think I'm going to be sick."

Akorynrae raised her head. "They told me," she sobbed. "It's Krendorl, isn't it? They told me they tortured him." Her grip on Talabrae tightened. "Phaere laughed as she told me."

"I'm sorry," Anya said. "Yes. It's your boyfriend. He's dead."

Akorynrae buried her face in Talabrae's breast once more and wept.

Buffy shuddered. "Let's get out of here," she said. "Take the dragon eggs, take the bodies of Phaere and Ardulace so we can just burn them, and then we're out of this city. I want to go home."

**Glossary of Character Aliases**

• Qilafae = Buffy

• Dynefryn = Sorkatani

• Gelfein = Giles

• Zander = Xander

• Auniira = Anya

• Vyll'ae = Willow

• Micar'lae = Tara

• Urlzaqh = Spike

• Veldrin = Viconia

• Dhaunae = Dawn

• Jhaelirae = Jaheira

• Tallin = Minsc

• Iimzyne = Imoen

The song performed by Giles in this chapter is 'Market Square Heroes' by Marillion; a few of the words have been altered to suit the circumstances. The copyright of the song remains with the writers (Derek Dick aka Fish, Mark Kelly, Steve Rothery, Peter Trewavas, Michael Pointer, Brian Jellyman, and Diz Minnett) and lyrics are used without permission.


	61. Chapter 61

**Chapter Sixty-one**

"I have received a commandment from Shar," Viconia announced. "We are to give another performance before we leave this city."

Buffy groaned. "Do we have to? I just want to get out of here."

Giles raised his eyebrows. "Is an audience really necessary? Surely I could simply play the songs at some suitable point along our route."

"And what if the noise attracts another horde of goblins, or worse, seeing us as prospective victims? She does not want any interruptions. Also," Viconia pointed out, "you play better when you have an audience. She wants you to be at your best."

Giles' eyebrows climbed higher. "Indeed? There is, then, some particular purpose rather than it being merely for her entertainment?"

"There is indeed," Viconia confirmed. "The purpose has not been revealed to me but I know that it is important. She specifies that we are to play '_Shadows of the Night_', of course, and '_Because the Night_', but you must also include some additional songs of romance and love."

The eyebrows reached maximum altitude and stalled. "Indeed? I can do that, certainly, although they aren't what I would have thought to choose for an audience of drow." Giles screwed up his forehead. "Hmm. '_Romeo and Juliet_' is out, I think, there are too many references that are alien to this environment, but I should be able to come up with a decent assortment of love songs nonetheless."

"Yeah, well," Spike put in, "if you start playing that bloody dirge '_Lady in Red_' I'll rip your sodding throat out."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

"Love… you! Yes, oh, yes! Love you, oh, what you do to me, oh! Oh! Oh!" Jeroneth's cries of ecstasy dissolved into incoherence.

"Tet ligrr, mzilst ssin'urn, ussta 'che," Zarbalan answered, his words slightly muffled. "I love you, usstan 'che dos, usstan ssinssrig dos. Doer whol uns'aa, usstan 'che Jeroneth, I love you. Usstan tlun doerin! Usstan tlun quanthin dos... uhhh... phor!"

Bodhi sucked from the throat of a feebly struggling peasant, owner of the cottage in which they had found shelter for the day, and then disengaged. She passed the man over to Tanova, cocked her head to listen to the sounds from the bedroom, and sighed. "Ah, young love," she said. "It makes me feel… romantic."

"I am at your disposal, my Lady," Anomen said. He wiped the blood of the farmer's wife from his lips and deposited her body tidily in a corner.

Bodhi shook her head. "Sorry, Anomen, I am fond of you, and you're as handsome as any girl could desire, but we just don't have that certain spark the way those two have. That being said," she began to shed her clothes, "right now I'm turned on enough that I'd fuck a minotaur if he was the only male present. Service me."

"As you wish, my Lady," Anomen assented. His lower lip protruded in an aggrieved pout as he undressed.

"Ah, did I upset you?" Bodhi raised her eyebrows and gave Anomen a wicked little smile. "Don't feel bad. It's not as if you love me either. Let's just enjoy the moment." She dropped to her knees, took him into her mouth, and bobbed back and forth for a few seconds. "There, isn't that nice?" She dipped her head again. Anomen groaned and took hold of her hair.

"Oh, that's just great," Tanova complained. "We're in a two room hovel, the two new lovers are using the bedroom for the hottest sex I've ever heard, and now you two are going at it too. There's nowhere to go to get away from it except outside and the daylight would make that fatal. I'm almost tempted to walk out anyway and let the sun end it all." She drained the last drops of the peasant farmer's blood. "Hmm. I think we turned this one. An idiot minion. Just what we don't need."

Bodhi pulled back from Anomen and changed over to using her hands. "You should have turned a handsome knight for yourself, if you're feeling frustrated. Would you like to join in? I don't mind sharing Anomen."

"In case you've forgotten, _sister-in-law_, I'm in love with your brother," Tanova pointed out, rolling her eyes. "I don't want anybody else."

"_When I think about you I touch myself_," Bodhi sang, suiting the action to the words with her left hand while continuing to work on Anomen with her right. "It's a shame he doesn't feel the same way about you. You're so much nicer than that bitch Ellesime. Prettier, too, and I bet you're better in bed."

"Unfortunately Jon doesn't see it that way," said Tanova, "except perhaps for the bed part. The day we spent together before the assault on the city was… special."

"At least you have the memories," Bodhi said. "Now, get off that chair. I want Anomen inside me and the floor isn't very comfortable."

Tanova sighed, dumped the farmer's corpse onto the floor, and stood up. "Go ahead. I'll just walk out of that door and take my chances with the sun."

Bodhi took her place and sprawled on the battered old armchair with her legs apart. Anomen approached but Bodhi took hold of his cock and stopped him before he could enter her. "It would be lovely to be able to walk in the sun again," Bodhi mused, fondling Anomen's erection absently, "quite apart from the inconvenience. I used to enjoy the sunshine. There must be a way that we can get to Spike's world. Mmm, yes. Sunshine, great music, and I bet they have bras even nicer than the ones made here to Anya's pattern."

"I have a scroll of Limited Wish," Tanova said. "It wouldn't get us there, it's not powerful enough for that, but it might be able to show us the way. Assuming there is a way, of course."

"A good thought," Bodhi said. "Work out a suitable wish. We have to hide the Rhynn Lanthorn so that the elves can't retrieve it; where better than in another world?"

"Not right now," said Tanova. "There are too many distractions." Her hand stole down the front of her harem pants.

"There might be perils in that unknown world," Anomen cautioned. He groaned and thrust against Bodhi's restraining hand.

"Don't worry, we won't go until you've had a chance to kill your father," Bodhi said. "I'm not worried about any danger. They wouldn't call her Buffy the Vampire Slayer if everyone in that world could do it." She eased her grip and guided Anomen into her. "Enough talking. Let's fuck." She put her lips to Anomen's ear and whispered. "When you get close pull out and spurt it all over my tits. Just to get Tanova even more frustrated."

"I heard that," Tanova said. "Bitch."

"_I'm a bitch_," Bodhi agreed. "_I'm a tease, I'm a goddess on my knees, when you hurt, when you suffer, I'm your angel undercover, I've been numbed, I'm revived, can't say I'm not alive…_ Well, okay, technically I'm not, but I feel alive." She nipped at Anomen's earlobe with her teeth. "In fact I feel wonderful."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 –

"I feel awful." Imoen rubbed her stomach with the palm of her hand.

"Time of the month, huh? Jaheira should be able to fix you something up to make it better," Buffy suggested.

Imoen shook her head. "It's not that. I feel empty inside. Like hunger, but eating doesn't help, and it's getting worse. I think it's something to do with losing my soul."

"Uh, you don't have any urge to kill little fishes, do you?" asked Willow.

Imoen tilted her head to one side and stared at Willow. "Of course not. Why would I want to do that?"

"We knew someone who lost his soul and he killed my fishes," Willow said. "Forget it. So, what can we do to help?"

"Killing Bodhi would probably be a good start," Imoen replied. "I can't think of anything else. I don't think even sex will work now, even if I felt well enough, which I don't."

"Uh, right," Willow mumbled.

"There isn't anything physically wrong with you," Tara said. "I wonder if a Restoration spell would help?"

"A good idea," Jaheira agreed, "and it certainly could do no harm. It may well alleviate Iimzyne's symptoms, at least for a time."

"I'm all in favor of that," Imoen said.

"Allow me," Nathrae offered. "I owe you more than I can ever repay. Three sleep periods ago I was a prisoner in a cage, due to be executed shortly, and now I am the senior High Priestess of an entire city." She uttered a brief incantation and touched her fingers to Imoen's forehead.

"Thanks, that's much better," Imoen said. "I still don't feel quite right, but the pain has gone."

"Good," said Nathrae, and then her eyebrows climbed. "That's odd," she remarked. "The spell should have drained my energies, leaving me weak until I rested, but I feel no such effect. A gift from Shar, no doubt."

"No doubt," Talabrae agreed. "She is well pleased with us. A whole city won to her cause! Yet in truth we can claim little credit, for without Gelfein's song we would have had to engage in battle against overwhelming odds, and I do not believe that we could have prevailed."

"We're not in the habit of losing," Buffy said, "but yeah, it would have been tough. Score this one for Gelfein."

"He is in truth a bard of remarkable skill," said Talabrae. "Thanks to him we pulled off a civil war and a regime change with less than three hundred dead." Her lips twisted in a wry smile. "Not counting the dozen or so assassinations that followed, that is."

"Let us hope that it is an end to the deaths," put in Qilué of the Female Fighters' Society, who had been Raised after the battle in the Temple of Lolth, and now sat with the group awaiting the start of Giles' performance. A silver sword pendant, emblem of Eilistraee, was hanging from her neck in open display of her previously secret allegiance. "I fear for our army. They are cut off from the Elven city and must retreat through a hostile country. Three hundred of my sisters in arms are with them and in jeopardy."

"If we can aid their escape we will do so," Sorkatani promised, "although I can make no promises as to our success."

A roar of greeting from the crowd drowned out any reply that Qilué might have made. Giles, Viconia, and Spike had appeared on the platform overlooking the amphitheatre. Only a few hundred of the crowd of thousands had heard Giles playing previously, in the tavern, but those who had fallen under his spell during the revolt were eager to hear him perform when it was only for entertainment.

Giles brandished his guitar, waited for the noise to die down, and then waved his arms to signal for silence. "I am dedicating our first song to Matron Mother Evelintra," he called, "a great woman, and a good friend, tragically slain. Remember her." He paused for a moment with his fingers poised over the guitar strings and then struck a series of chords. Spike joined in with the drum, Viconia shook and beat upon her tan-tan, and Giles began to sing.

"_Woman came in the name of love_

_Woman come and go  
Woman come, she to justify  
Woman to overthrow_

In the name of love  
What more in the name of love?  
In the name of love  
What more in the name of love…"

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 –

She was seven feet tall, beautiful, and naked. Her perfectly shaped breasts were a magnet for male eyes but Yoshimo, with a struggle, managed to keep from staring.

"Strange," Eilistraee said, gazing at Yoshimo with piercing eyes. "You do not seem to be evil, and yet you serve Shar."

"I have done evil things, Lady," Yoshimo admitted, "and I acknowledged the lady Shar as my goddess expecting it to bring me the punishment that I deserve. Instead, however, I have met with nothing but kindness and comfort. I have found solace in her realm and serve her with all my heart."

"She is a mistress of deceit," Eilistraee said, "and I shall not take your words at face value, as you should not take hers. I am prepared to listen to your message, however, and not dismiss it out of hand. Speak, then, petitioner. What does your mistress ask of me?"

"First, and most urgent, I have a message for one of your worshippers who died recently," Yoshimo said. "The priestess Evelintra."

Eilistraee's eyebrows rose. "One who is precious to me, indeed, and for whose untimely death I mourn," she said. "What is this message?"

"I am to tell you that Talabrae," Yoshimo spoke with careful precision, "did not betray Evelintra to her death. She loved her dearly and bitterly regrets that she could not save her."

"And has since avenged her," Eilistraee said. "I observed what befell. Know, petitioner, that Evelintra never believed the lie that she was told."

"That is good to hear, Lady," said Yoshimo, "and I shall pass on the news. No doubt it will bring comfort to the woman Talabrae."

"Your mistress is not known for bringing comfort," Eilistraee observed. "I cannot help but wonder at her motives."

"She tells me that she has won thousands of new worshippers amongst the drow in the past few days," Yoshimo replied. "Is that not motive enough?"

"Perhaps," Eilistraee said. "I have gained many new worshippers myself, in the city of Ust Natha, and some who hid their faith in fear of their lives have been able to emerge in safety and stand up proudly. It seems that I owe a debt to priestesses of your dark mistress."

Yoshimo raised an eyebrow. For Eilistraee, whose skin was an ebony black darker even than that of Viconia, to refer to Shar as a 'dark mistress' seemed odd.

"I assume that Shar wants an assurance of truce between us now that our worshippers jointly control a whole city," Eilistraee went on. "I have no objections. Of course, if her priestesses and worshippers begin persecuting mine, I shall order them to fight back."

"If they do, it will not be at Shar's command," Yoshimo assured her, "and from what I have been told I would say that such oppression would be most unlikely." He found his gaze drifting to Eilistraee's nipples and lowered his eyes. That resulted in him staring at the faint fuzz of fine white hair covering the goddess' pubic mound. Hastily Yoshimo raised his head once more and focused on Eilistraee's face. "She has a further request. Truce between yourself and your brother."

Eilistraee nodded. "Logical also. Vhaeraun is detestable, evil, and thoroughly untrustworthy, it is true, but is probably sensible enough to see the advantages of restraining his followers from hostile action in the circumstances. I am willing to order truce within the boundaries of Ust Natha."

"And elsewhere," Yoshimo said. "Will you agree to a universal truce, if my mistress can prevail upon your brother to accept, throughout the Underdark and beyond into the surface world?"

"Why?" Eilistraee tilted her head to one side and a crease appeared between her eyebrows. "Of what concern could it be to Shar?"

"Together we'll stand, divided we'll fall," Yoshimo quoted. "My mistress desires to break the power of Lolth for all time. It will be far easier with three Powers united toward the same goal than if there is strife between two of the three." He sucked in his lips briefly. "Lady, this I say to you for myself, and not for my mistress; I was a brother, and my love for my sister was what led me to my fall, and I cannot believe, whatever troubles there may have been between you, that your brother does not love you still."

"You do not know him," Eilistraee pointed out.

"What does knowledge have to do with belief?" Yoshimo countered.

Eilistraee laughed, a trill of melodic sound, and her teeth flashed white against her dark face. "That is from the philosophy of Kara-Tur, I take it? The sound of one hand clapping, and so on?"

Yoshimo performed a formal bow, grinned, and shrugged. "The tourists love that stuff." He adopted a more serious expression. "I have known only one drow, the priestess Viconia, and she is my only yardstick by which to judge the race. I know the drow gods only by reputation. Yet I would wager… well, as a dead soul, I have little to wager, save for the goods that were buried with me, but I would wager my katana that there remains some love for you in the heart of your brother Vhaeraun. And, I venture, vice versa."

Eilistraee sighed. "You are not wrong in that guess. I hate what he has done, what he has become, and yet… I remember the smiles of the handsome boy who played with me when we were children, and I feel again the fondness that was once between us. Not all of the Dogmas of Vhaeraun are anathema to me, and in fact half of them would not be out of place in my own teachings, but the rest… I regret that we are enemies… but such we are, and have been for thousands of years, and I cannot see that it will change."

"Have the drow not been cast down into the Underdark for thousands of years, and do you not still strive to change that?" Yoshimo fixed Eilistraee's eyes with his own. "As a brother to a sister I ask you to at least agree to a truce. Perhaps friendship between you will be revived in time, perhaps not, but let there be a chance. Someone must be the first to extend a hand."

"You are eloquent," said Eilistraee, "and I sense that it comes from the heart and not from schooling. Very well. I shall command my clergy that they are to make no hostile moves against the worshippers of Vhaeraun except in self-defense. In Ust Natha and elsewhere. If he can be persuaded to do likewise then the truce will be in effect."

"And if the worshippers of Lolth attack those of your brother, and you have forces in the vicinity, will you order that they give assistance?" Yoshimo asked.

"That goes further than a truce," Eilistraee said, "and becomes an alliance." She frowned. "As far as the city of Ust Natha is concerned I agree. The same must apply in reverse, of course, and presumably the deal also applies to the forces of Shar."

"It does indeed," Yoshimo confirmed. "And outside Ust Natha?"

"You press hard," said Eilistraee. "It is much to ask. And yet… very well. I agree, within certain limits. I will not command that my people throw their lives away against impossible odds. If a thousand of Vhaeraun's men are attacked by ten thousand worshippers of Lolth, for instance, and I have but one hundred in the area, I will not send them to die in futile battle. I will request that they give what aid they can, rescuing the wounded and aiding the fleeing to escape, if they can do so without dooming themselves. If their intervention would tip the balance between victory and defeat, however, my command shall be that their commitment should be unstinting." She sighed. "This is conditional upon his agreeing to the same terms. I hold out no great hope that he will do so."

"I am but the spirit of a mortal, and I have persuaded you, Lady Eilistraee," said Yoshimo. "I am sure that my goddess will prove at least as persuasive."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 –

Vhaeraun, the Masked Lord, entered the inner chamber of the Palace of Loss and saw the figure who awaited him. His muscles tensed and his hand went to the hilt of his longsword Nightshadow. "If this is a trap, woman, know that I am well capable of defending myself," he warned. "Who are you? Where is Shar?" In another universe a computer hard disk whined as data was written as fast as the drive could handle it. The free space shrank by gigabytes.

The woman smiled. Her dark hand went to her white hair and flicked it away from her face. "Don't you recognize me, Vhaeraun?"

"Shar?" Vhaeraun stared in amazement. "What are you doing in the form of a drow?"

Shar did not answer directly. "How many drow worshippers do I have, Vhaeraun?"

The god of male drow, thievery, and drow interests on the surface world took his hand away from his sword hilt. "I don't know. A thousand or two, perhaps?"

"Five nights ago I had three thousand and eight," Shar told him. "Now? Fourteen thousand two hundred and forty three. My priestesses control an entire drow city. I have the right to take this form." She smiled again. "Anyway, I thought you'd like it."

Vhaeraun tilted his head to one side and scrutinized her. "You are fair in any form, my Lady," he said, "but, yes, it is pleasing to me." His mask moved as his eyebrows rose slightly. "You have trimmed your purple robes with white lace. A new look indeed."

"I thought the contrast would look… fetching," Shar said. She clapped her hands and an image formed in the air to one side. Three drow figures on a stone platform, holding musical instruments, hands moving as they played. Sound filled the chamber.

"…_on the Temple floor_

_Free at last, they took your life_

_They could not take your pride_

_In the name of love_

_What more in the name of love…_"

Vhaeraun stared. "What is that?"

"Mortals, performing to an audience of thousands in Ust Natha, at my command," Shar explained. "This song honors a fallen comrade, I believe, but later they will play songs of a more light-hearted nature. They are greatly skilled. I think that you will find it a pleasant background to our conversation."

"Ust Natha? I have gained some two and a half thousand worshippers in that city recently," Vhaeraun said. "I was preoccupied with some urgent matters concerning House Jaelre or I would have looked into it more closely. That is where you have gained your new converts, I take it?"

"It is," Shar confirmed. "Would you care for some wine?"

"This is a social meeting, then? Your invitation was phrased as if it was to discuss important business."

"There is no reason why we can't combine business with pleasure," Shar said. "I shall come to the point in due time. For now take a seat, have some wine, and listen to a bard greater than any of the bae'qeshel."

"I sense that you seek to manipulate me," Vhaeraun said, but he sat down anyway and accepted a glass of wine.

"Of course," Shar admitted. "I am a woman as well as a goddess, after all, but I seek only to persuade you to adopt a course of action that will be to our mutual benefit. I shall explain later. For the moment, just enjoy the music."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 –

Tears trickled down Talabrae's cheeks. Her lips moved as she spoke but her words were inaudible, drowned out by the noise from the crowd, until Sorkatani leaned close.

"Beautiful," Talabrae said. "A fitting tribute. For this alone I shall forever be in Gelfein's debt." She dabbed at her tears. "I owe much to you all."

On stage Giles passed to Viconia a yarting, picked up in Brynnlaw to serve as a spare and never used, which he had restrung as a four-string bass. "You have not had much time to practice," he said. "We don't have to do this if you don't feel ready."

"It is simple enough," she replied, placing her fingers upon the frets. "These notes, and these, and then the same repeated deeper, and then back to the first. I am ready, mentor."

Giles glanced at Spike. "Ready, mate," said the vampire, raising his drumsticks. "Just say the word."

"On four, then," Giles said. "One, two, three, four." He struck the first chord and Spike began the drumbeat. As the fourth bar ended Giles nodded to Viconia and her fingers began to dance on the bass strings. Giles switched to playing the sustained notes and the magic of his enchanted chain mail continued the basic rhythm chords as he reached the start of the vocals.

"_See the stone set in your eyes_

_See the thorn twist in your side_

_I wait… for you_

_Sleight of hand and twist of fate_

_On a bed of nails she makes me wait_

_And I wait without you_

_With or without you_

_With or without you…_"

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 –

"I couldn't have done it without you," Katrina said. She held up the device. "Magic meets technology."

"It doesn't seem natural, somehow," Tara said, "but I guess it's right for this situation."

"We can really get everything that makes Warren, well, Warren on a 512 megabyte Flash drive?" Willow asked. "It doesn't seem enough."

"I analyzed the storage capacity of the original crystal," Katrina said. "It's not much more than a gigabyte and it held the memories of eight people. I don't understand the compression, that's the magic side of things, but it worked. This will too." Her lips twitched into a half smile. "I wouldn't be doing this if I wasn't absolutely certain."

"So, when do we do it?"

"We're almost ready," Jonathan answered. "We haven't made the final decision about the location but, otherwise, everything is good to go. Tomorrow?"

"I think I'll take a look at the disk space," Katrina said. "Running out when we were in the middle of inserting Warren would be bad."

"Good thinking, Kat-woman," said Jonathan. Katrina rolled her eyes. "I'm pretty sure we have at least thirty gigs of free space," Jonathan went on, "but better safe than sorry."

Katrina switched on the monitor of the game machine. "I see they're still in Ust Natha," she commented, as the screen lit up. "I would have thought they'd have left by now. Good. No danger of them bumping into Warren and asking awkward questions."

"Hey, are they doing another concert?" Willow sat up straight and stared at the screen. "It's pretty dark, but it looks like it."

"I'll put the sound on in a minute," Katrina said. She minimized the game window and right-clicked on 'My Computer'. "Properties… Holy shit!"

"What is it?" Jonathan and Andrew raced to join her. Willow stood up and followed.

"Used space – infinity. Free space – infinity." Katrina pointed at the screen where the circle representing the disk, which should have been divided up in a blue and pink pie chart, was a solid black. "What the fuck?"

"That's not possible," Jonathan said.

"No shit, Sherlock," Katrina said. Her brow furrowed. "Now I think about it, I don't hear any sound from the drives. What's going on?"

"The magic must have taken over," Willow suggested.

"Well, yeah, that's the only explanation that makes any sense," Katrina agreed, "but what's this going to mean to our plan? No way am I going to put Warren in there if we can't get him out again."

"We'll have to run some tests," Jonathan said. "I'll insert some things, books maybe, a minor monster or two, and see what happens."

Katrina ran her fingers through her hair. "Yeah, we'll do that." She closed the 'Properties' window and maximized the game once more. "Everything seems to be working okay for them in there, at least. Why does magic have to be so complicated?"

"That's what I feel about technology," said Tara. "Most of what you've been saying just doesn't mean anything to me at all."

"I might be able to make sense of it eventually," Willow said. "It's probably Quantum."

"Our own Roundworld," Katrina responded. "Where is Ponder Stibbons when you need him? Oh, well." She switched on the sound. "I guess we might as well watch the show while we're trying to get our heads straight." Tara coughed gently. "Oh, yeah, sorry," Katrina said. "Present company excepted."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 –

Giles couldn't resist the urge. "Hello, Ust Natha!" he shouted. Spike sniggered. Giles glanced across at Viconia and, somewhat to his surprise, saw that she had not laid down the yarting to pick up her tan-tan. Instead she stood with fingers poised over the bass strings. His forehead creased briefly but then he decided to trust that she knew what she was doing, even though he had taught her the notes for only the one song, and he went ahead as planned. "This is for the woman I love," he called out. "_Live it up_!"

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 –

"_I can't believe that you're alone in here_," the image of Giles sang, "_Let me warm your hands against the cold…_"

Vhaeraun found his foot tapping to the beat. He turned his gaze away from the projection and watched Shar's hips swaying.

She smiled and beckoned to him. "Shall we dance?"

"I know not the steps to go with this strange music," Vhaeraun pointed out.

Shar snapped her fingers and the image changed. "Do as they do," she said, indicating where Jaheira danced with Anya, Tara and Willow danced together, and Sorkatani and Buffy jived. Around them drow were beginning to follow their example.

"They are all females," Vhaeraun observed.

"I think that, in this context it makes no difference," Shar said, "and, look, now males join the dance."

Dawn had pulled Evelintra's nephew Geldiirn to his feet and soon persuaded the initially reluctant boy to dance with her. Talabrae and her consort Angloth rose and copied Jaheira and Anya's moves. Imoen and the drow male who had partnered her at Evelintra's party followed suit. A male drow approached Qilué and she rose to join him.

"_Hey there you with the sad face, come up to my place and live it up…_"

Vhaeraun watched for a few seconds longer and then faced Shar and they danced. When the song ended the Masked Lord touched his fingers to Shar's cheek and guided her head to look directly into his eyes. "I have not seen you smile this much in all the centuries that I have known you," he said. "I would attribute it to your acquisition of new worshippers, perhaps, and yet… they are smiles of joy, not of triumph."

"And joy is not an emotion for which I am known," Shar continued for him. "Indeed. It is the music. It lifts the spirits and burns away the bitterness that has consumed me for uncounted ages."

"Remarkable," said Vhaeraun. He gazed into her eyes once more. "You are beautiful when you smile."

Shar smiled at him. "I shall try to do so more often." Her eyes flicked to the projection, now showing the musicians once more, as notes began to sound out. "They play again."

"Then we shall dance again."

"_I want you to want me_

_I need you to need me_

_I'd love you to love me…_"

Vhaeraun suddenly stopped in mid-step. "Show me the audience, if you would, my Lady?"

Shar frowned but acceded to his request.

"I thought so," Vhaeraun said, focusing his gaze on one particular couple at the fringe of Buffy's group. "That is my senior priest in the city of Ust Natha. He dances with one who displays the insignia of Eilistraee. That is forbidden."

"Your Dogmas actually forbid _dancing_ with her worshippers?" Shar raised an eyebrow. "They must be remarkably comprehensive."

"They forbid friendly intercourse," Vhaeraun said.

"Those two have not reached that stage," Shar said, a mischievous smile playing on her lips, "not yet, anyway."

"He's supposed to backstab her, not dance with her," Vhaeraun grumbled.

"I am sure he intends to pierce her dark and yielding flesh," Shar said, "although not necessarily from behind, and his weapon will have no blade. For now they merely dance in celebration of mutual victory. Ignore them and dance with me." She swung her hips and pouted.

"Oh, very well," Vhaeraun agreed. "I suppose I can overlook it for the once." He turned back to Shar and they began to move in time to the beat.

"_Didn't I, didn't I, didn't I see you crying?_

_Didn't I, didn't I, didn't I see you crying?_

_Feeling all alone without a friend you know you feel like dying_

_Didn't I, didn't I, didn't I see you crying?_

_I want you to want me_

_I need you to need me_

_I'd love you to love me…_"

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 –

"I love him," Jeroneth said.

"I think that's pretty obvious," Bodhi said. "We have ears."

"And I love her," said Zarbalan, as Jeroneth lowered her eyes and the shape of her mouth indicated that she would probably have been blushing if vampire circulation had allowed it. "From the moment when she took off her helmet."

"When our eyes met, and I saw that you were a drow," Jeroneth added. "In that moment I knew. I felt confusion, and even some dread, for how could a relationship between a drow and a Knight of the Radiant Heart be other than doomed? Yet there was joy also. Then despair when you turned against us."

"I am sorry, ussta 'che," Zarbalan said. He squeezed her hand. "I could not disobey."

"It has turned out for the best," Jeroneth said, "for now both of us are immortal, rather than me growing old while you remained almost unchanged. I forgive you, my love."

"If I had been a living drow," Zarbalan said, "then, whatever difficulties we faced, I would have striven to overcome them."

"If I hadn't made you into a vampire you'd never even have met her," Bodhi pointed out. "It's almost as if fate has brought you together."

"Fate, and you," Zarbalan said. "I thank you."

"And I," Jeroneth added.

Bodhi smiled at her. "I am pleased too. You are a delightful addition to my family. Courteous, charming, and truly beautiful. I envy you your breasts. They are… magnificent."

Jeroneth dipped her head. "Thank you, mistress. I sometimes think that they are too big, however, especially when I am exerting myself in battle."

"That shouldn't be a problem now that you're a vampire," Bodhi told her, "and we'll get you a nice supportive bra when we get to Athkatla."

"Bra?" Jeroneth's brow furrowed. "What is that?"

"You surprise me," Bodhi said. "They were all the rage in Athkatla even before we left for Spellhold. Garments worn… no, I'll show you." She pulled the jerkin of her leather armor over her head, slipped off her shirt, and revealed her bra-clad breasts. "See? It supports without flattening and is attractive withal. One of my enemies, Anya Jenkins, brought the pattern from another world and taught the seamstresses of Athkatla how to make them. They have become quite the fashion." She posed for a moment and then donned her shirt once more. "You would look quite spectacular in a well-cut bra."

"I was not current with the fashions of the city," Jeroneth said. "I mixed but little with the ladies of society. Since the Lady Moira, Sir Anomen's sister, died my only close female friend has been my fellow Knight of the Order Lady Irlana. We talked more of swords and armor than of undergarments." A frown crossed her brow. "I was taught that vampires are ravening monsters devoid of feelings for aught but carnage. This is not true, for I love Zarbalan, and when I speak of Irlana I feel still the friendship that I had for her. It would grieve me deeply if we brought harm upon her. There are others, too, in the Order that I would not willingly harm."

Bodhi paused in the act of picking up her leathers. "Yes, we still love. My fondness for my brother is as great as it ever was in life. I turned Tanova out of friendship, not hate or lust for blood, and the same with Valen who was slain by Spike. I understand your feelings. Don't worry about it. I have nothing against the Knights of the Order. I aided them yester eve because it would please Anomen," she lied, as her true motivation had simply been that corpses hacked apart by minotaurs couldn't be drained of their blood and life, "but then turned against them when I saw the opportunity to blacken the name of my enemy. If it would grieve you to slay them then we shall do so no more."

"Thank you," Jeroneth said. Anomen nodded agreement.

"It may be that conflict with the Order cannot be avoided," Bodhi admitted, "but in that case we shall strive to bring your friends into the family." She raised her leather jerkin quickly and pulled it over her head to hide her face from the others. Her eyes narrowed, unseen, as she thought about turning more Knights. It might be fun, and they were well-dressed and clean; good material for lovers. On the other hand they had that annoying loyalty to the Order, which seemed to carry over into their vampire existence, and that raised the possibility of conflict or even revolt if she turned too many. Better to keep her word to Jeroneth and turn them only as a last resort.

"My true enemies," Bodhi continued, her voice muffled by the jerkin, "are the Shadow Thieves." Her head emerged from the leathers. "And, of course, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Sorkatani, and their band."

"Especially," Zarbalan added, "my father's sister Viconia."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 –

Giles raised his eyebrows at Viconia. "Remarkable," he said. "You played those bass lines perfectly. I didn't teach them to you. I'm, ah, rather astonished."

"The music told me what to play, mentor, and I played it," Viconia said. "I know not how. Perhaps it is a gift from Shar."

"Perhaps," Giles said. "Hmm. Do you feel confident enough to try something with a more complicated bass part? Perhaps '_The Chain_'?"

Viconia's eyes narrowed briefly. "It talks of shadows. That would please Shar. Yet also it mentions watching the sun rise. An audience of drow would find that strange. To substitute the moon would displease… no!" Her eyebrows shot up. "She grants me dispensation, as long as I sing '_praise_ the dark' in place of 'damn the dark'. Yes, mentor, we shall perform '_The Chain_'."

Giles turned to their drummer. "Can you manage, Spike?"

"I'm no Mick Fleetwood," Spike said, "not even Korgan, but I'll cope. Watched Formula One enough in the Murray Walker years, and Dru owned 'Rumors' anyway. Let's do it."

"_Listen to the wind blow_

_Watch the moon rise_

_Run in the shadows_

_Damn your love_

_Damn your lies_

_And if you don't love me now_

_You will never love me again_

_I can still hear you saying_

_You would never break the chain…_"

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 –

"The sun sets," Bodhi observed. "Dress, pack, and prepare yourselves. If we keep up a fast pace through the night we will reach Athkatla before morning."

"What of these ones?" asked Tanova. She waved a hand to gesture at the corpse of the farmer, in the corner of the main room, and the feet of the farmer's late wife, just visible through the door of the bedroom.

"You said it yourself," Bodhi said. "We don't need idiot minions. Leave them. Let them rise, and prey upon peasants and sheep until some mob or hero slays them, but we'll be long gone. I don't think we'll have time to make it all the way to the Graveyard District before sunrise but at least we can be in a nice comfortable hotel room." She grinned at Jeroneth and Zarbalan. "With great big comfortable beds."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 –

"_Baby_

_When I think about you,_

_I think about love_

_Darling_

_Don't live without you_

_And your love_

_If I had those golden dreams_

_Of my yesterdays_

_I would wrap you_

_In the heaven_

'_Til I'm dyin' on the way_

_Feel like making_

_Feel like making love_

_Feel like making love_

_To you…_"

Shar swayed in Vhaeraun's arms, her head against his chest, and her arms around his neck. His right hand held her body to him; his left crept down to her buttocks. She was warm in his arms, her fragrance in his nostrils, her usual Deadly Nightshade perfume replaced by a light and delicate floral scent mingled with the aroma of an aroused woman. Shar raised a hand and snapped her fingers. Something materialized in the chamber.

Vhaeraun heard the 'pop' of displaced air and turned his head. The object was a bed. A very large bed, a four-poster, of ebony wood with drapes and sheets of purple. Vhaeraun turned his head back toward Shar and raised an eyebrow.

"I feel like making love," Shar quoted, smiling. "Feel like making love… to you."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

Giles played the final notes of '_Feel Like Making Love_' and then laid down his guitar for a moment to take a drink of water.

"Shall we do '_I touch myself_' now, mentor?" Viconia suggested.

Spike shuddered and shook his head. "Don't think so, love," he said. "Bad memories."

"Bodhi sang it before we fought her while you were, ah, dead," Giles expanded. "It's rather spoiled it for us." He set down the glass and picked up his guitar once more. "I feel the need for some Zeppelin."

Spike groaned. "Don't tell me you're going to do bloody '_Pathway to Paradise_'?"

"Certainly not," Giles told him. "_We_ are going to do '_Whole Lotta Love_'."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

Shar's long legs wrapped around Vhaeraun's waist as they writhed on the bed. Gasps and moans came from their lips.

"_Way, way, down inside_

_I'm gonna give you my love_

_I'm gonna give you every inch of my love_

_Gonna give you my love…_"

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

"…_everything I need to know_

_Just resting in the afterglow_

_Of your love_."

Giles played the final notes of the old Small Faces song and lowered his guitar. "I think it's about time we brought the show to a close," he said to his companions. "I'm getting tired and I'm running out of love songs."

"We should finish with '_Shadows of the Night_'," Viconia said.

"That was always my intention," Giles assured her, "but there's something else I want to play first. I'm going to let the magic out on this one. It might help Talabrae and Nathrae keep the city united after we've gone."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

"No, no, a thousand times no!" Vhaeraun swung his legs from the bed and stood up. "You ask too much."

Shar gazed up at him with her purple eyes open very wide. "Why? It would make so much sense."

"I am sorry I spoke harshly," Vhaeraun said. "It is ungallant of me. My anger is not directed at you. My sister betrayed me. I do not forgive such things."

"Did she? Or did she try to stop you from making a terrible mistake?" Shar raised herself up on one elbow. "The alliance that I propose would benefit you enormously. If you reject it out of pride you will be harming yourself."

The projected image of Giles began a new song. Vhaeraun ignored it. "My stance is not negotiable. I will make no truce with my sister."

"_Together we'll stand_

_Divided we'll fall_

_Come on now people and get on the ball_

_And work together_

_Come on, come on, let's work together…_"

Vhaeraun's brow furrowed. "Except perhaps in so far as the city of Ust Natha goes," he conceded. "You are right that it would make much sense. Conflict would only weaken all of us and give Lolth the opportunity to retake the city. I agree to alliance there."

"Good," said Shar. "Yet surely it would make little sense to be allied in one place and opposed in others? Your followers are already under commandment to aid worshippers of Eilistraee in certain circumstances, are they not?" The creases in Vhaeraun's brow deepened. "If her followers are thieves, or males," Shar prompted him.

"Indeed so," Vhaeraun conceded. "In fact, if I recall correctly, followers of mine died at the side of a follower of hers in Ust Natha recently."

"They did," Shar confirmed, "and it was part of the event that sparked the revolt that led to the city falling into our hands. Extend that part of your commandments to cover all of her followers, and of course those of mine who are drow – or thieves – and we may all profit greatly by working together."

"_Come on, come on, let's work together_

_Because together we will stand_

_Every boy, every woman and man…_"

"I agree to an alliance between your followers and mine, certainly, and without reservations," Vhaeraun said, "but an alliance with Eilistraee is much to ask. You are persuasive, however, and I would agree if it was matched by a similar commitment from her. I doubt that you would be able to obtain such a commitment."

"I have already sent an agent to meet with her and to propose such a deal," Shar revealed. "If he fails, well, I will try again. I have confidence in him, however, and I believe that he will be able to report success when he returns."

"We shall see," Vhaeraun said. He shook his head. "I can't believe what I have just done. An alliance with my sister, when I have hated her for more than fourteen thousand years? Have you used enchantments to sway my mind?"

"_Come on, come on, let's work together_

_Now now people_

_Because together we will stand_

_Every boy, every woman and man…_"

"I swear that I have used no enchantments upon you," Shar stated with absolute sincerity. "We have merely come to a mutually satisfying agreement." She patted the bed at her side. "Speaking of mutual satisfaction," she said, "must you rush away?" She allowed the sheet to slide down to expose her breasts to his gaze.

"Well, perhaps not," Vhaeraun said. He approached the bed. Shar leaned forward to meet him and dipped her head. Vhaeraun's eyes widened. "Aahh. Ohh."

Shar's head moved for a few moments and then pulled back. "I have not done this before," she said. "I am copying my Chosen One, Viconia. Do I do it right?" She dipped her head again.

"Nnnggh. Urgh," Vhaeraun gasped. "Yes. Definitely yes."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

"Oh, yes," Giles sighed blissfully, as he played the soaring Neil Giraldo lead guitar line and Viconia and Spike clapped their hands above their heads. Six thousand drow in the amphitheatre below, plus thousands more on surrounding walkways and leaning out from every window that offered a vantage point overlooking the stage, swayed and sang. The sound filled the entire city.

"_We're running with the shadows of the night_

_So baby take my hand, it'll be all right_

_Surrender all your dreams to me tonight_

_They'll come true in the end…_"

"This couldn't be better," Giles murmured to himself, "if I really had been one of the founder members of Pink Floyd."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

Disclaimer: Songs performed by Giles in this chapter are:

'Pride (In the Name of Love)' by U2 (slight changes in the lyrics made by me), 'With or Without You' by U2, 'Live It Up' by Mental As Anything, 'I Want You to Want Me' by Cheap Trick, 'The Chain' by Fleetwood Mac, 'Feel Like Making Love' by Bad Company, 'Whole Lotta Love' by Led Zeppelin, 'Afterglow (Of Your Love)' by The Small Faces, 'Let's Work Together' by Canned Heat, and 'Shadows of the Night' by Pat Benatar. Bodhi quotes from 'I Touch Myself' by Divinyls and 'Bitch' by Meredith Brooks. Lyrics are quoted and amended without permission and all rights remain with the original writers and performers.


	62. Chapter 62

**Chapter Sixty-two**

Talabrae embraced Buffy and kissed her on the cheek. "Farewell, friend Qilafae," she said.

Buffy put her arms around the drow woman. "Goodbye, Talabrae," she responded, returning Talabrae's kiss. "You take care of yourself, 'kay?" She turned to Nathrae. "Hey, Nathrae," she said. "We have to go to the surface and this chain mail will break apart and turn to dust up there. That seems kind of a shame. Maybe you could use it?"

"It is a fine garment," Nathrae said, "eminently suitable for my new position as High Priestess. I accept it with gratitude, Qilafae, and I wish that I had a gift to give in return."

Talabrae had moved on to embrace Sorkatani. She pulled back slightly after they exchanged kisses and looked into Sorkatani's eyes. "Dynefryn, my friend," she said, "is your real name Sendai?"

Sorkatani raised her eyebrows. "No. Dynefryn is an alias, you are correct in that, but my real name is not Sendai. Why do you ask?"

"The demon Wendonai called you 'Bhaalspawn'," Talabrae explained, "and I have heard rumors that a Bhaalspawn named Sendai is growing in power and influence in a drow enclave relatively close by. On the far side of the Forest of Tethir, and not an easy journey, but much closer to Ust Natha than is Ched Nasad."

"That may be of interest to me at some time in the future," Sorkatani said, "although I have more urgent concerns for the time being. Thanks for telling me, anyway." She bit her lip. "You have been a good friend, Talabrae, and I would very much like one day to return here and see you again. Alas, I doubt that it will be possible."

Talabrae put her lips close to Sorkatani's ear. "I know that you have secrets," she said quietly. "Evelintra detected something… she did not tell me, and I did not ask, but… are you really Drow?"

Sorkatani duplicated Talabrae's move. "I'm a human," she confessed. "All of us are save for Jhaelirae, who is half elven, and Veldrin."

"Viconia De'Vir," Talabrae said, nodding her head. "She schooled you well. I would never have guessed. If ever you do return there will be a welcome for you here regardless of your race. As long as we can recognize you, of course."

"My appearance is not much changed," Sorkatani said. "I am perhaps this much taller as a human," she held up her hand with her finger and thumb a couple of inches apart, "and my hair is black and my skin has been described as a light golden brown. And, of course," she grinned, "my ears are shorter."

"And you bear Celestial Fury and wear dragon scales of black and red," said Talabrae. "I will know you, and you will be made welcome."

"I would like that," Sorkatani said. "My real name is Dy- my name is D-," she stumbled on her words, paused, took a deep breath, and concentrated hard, "Sorkatani."

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"Sorkatani!" Bodhi hissed. She pulled Anomen back into the shadows and gestured to the rest of the group to hide. "How did she get back here to Athkatla so quickly?"

"That's not Sorkatani," Tanova said. "See? Brown leather armor. This girl is a little taller, too, perhaps. I think I've seen her before. She's one of the Shadow Thieves."

Bodhi peered around the corner at the girl, whose features and night-black hair hinted at Kara-Turan ancestry, and nodded. "You're right. One of Aran Linvail's top people. Hmm. If I mistook her for Sorkatani then so could others. A change of armor… Let's take her."

"She's dangerous," Tanova cautioned. "Shouldn't we wait? At least until after we've reached the inn?"

"We might not get another chance," Bodhi said. She glanced at the sky. "It's beginning to get light. I'm doing it now."

"Wait, I'll cast…" Tanova began. It was too late. Bodhi had already left the alley and stepped out into the street.

Bodhi came up behind the girl, moving quickly and silently, and reached for her neck. The Shadow Thief proved that she was as dangerous as Tanova had warned. The girl spun to meet Bodhi, pulling out her short-sword, and struck. Bodhi caught the blade between her palms and, with her phenomenal strength, stopped the blow short. It had only been a feint. A dagger in the girl's left hand shot out and drove home into Bodhi's stomach through one of the gaps in her cut-away armor.

Bodhi recoiled, releasing her grip on the sword, and the girl dropped into a fighting stance with sword and dagger poised. "Oh, you're good, very good," Bodhi said, "and I do believe that dagger was envenomed. Too bad poison doesn't work on me." Her hand went up to the scabbard on her back and she drew the long-sword that she had acquired from a fallen Radiant Heart knight. "What's your name, girl?"

The Shadow Thief didn't reply. She glided forward and slashed at Bodhi's legs. Bodhi blocked with her sword and her free hand lashed out. It fastened on the girl's wrist. Bodhi pulled and inexorably drew her captive toward her. Her fangs came out. "Don't think of this as dying," Bodhi said, as the girl struggled in her grasp, "think of it as a wonderful new opportunity. Tell me, can you use a katana?" She didn't wait for a reply. Her fangs plunged home.

The street was almost deserted at this pre-dawn hour. The two passers-by within sight, drunks staggering homeward, fled screaming. A cry of pain sounded, mingling with the screams, and a short-sword clattered on the cobbles. The cry faded and became nothing more than soft moans. A listener would not have been able to tell if they were of pain or of pleasure.

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Commander Durgloth tried to close his ears to the screams of the wounded and the dying. He had a battle to run and he could not afford to be distracted. He had to keep his mind clear. The tactical situation was grim. The strategic situation was worse.

During the initial invasion the elves had been forced into two set-piece battles in an attempt to protect their capital city. The drow had won both combats easily, and had picked up enough equipment from fallen elves to replace their failing Underdark armor and weaponry, but things were very different now. The elves had nothing to protect; they could pick their time and attack only when everything was in their favor. Their objective now, it seemed, was simply to kill as many drow as they could. The entire drow army, if possible, and they were succeeding.

"Commander!" An aide approached at a run. "A messenger from the city!"

A messenger? What he needed was reinforcements and supplies. More hectoring from Ardulace, threatening him with gruesome death if he didn't conjure up victory over the elves out of nothing, would only make things worse. Perhaps he should simply have the messenger killed? No, there was a slight chance that there might be news of some concrete help. A relief column, an alliance with the Sythillisian Empire, even just a few heroes – Solaufein, Qilué, and Visaj alone would be worth a full company. Alas, he doubted if anything of the sort would be forthcoming.

Durgloth sighed and went to meet the messenger. He could always have him, or her, executed after he had heard the message. Unless the messenger was one of the Handmaidens, of course, in which case she'd probably have him executed for 'failure'.

The messenger was no Handmaiden. Briz'baste, the Graceful Walker, Qilué's lieutenant in the Female Fighters' Society. A male drow unknown to Durgloth accompanied her. Durgloth ignored the male and greeted Briz'baste with a smile. "Well met," he said, "or as well met as is possible in this bloody disaster. What news do you bring?"

"News indeed," Briz'baste replied, "and new orders."

"In case you haven't noticed," Durgloth said, "we're in no shape to carry out any orders. If we even get out of this alive we'll be lucky. If Ardulace thinks we can defeat the elves she's insane."

"Ardulace is dead," Briz'baste told him. "These orders are from Qilué. Everything has changed. Your objective now is to get home alive with as many men as possible. Forget everything else. Forget loot, forget prisoners, and forget trying to beat the elves. Only survival matters."

"Ardulace dead? I would applaud, but Phaere will be little better. If we return without loot I'll be executed." Durgloth noticed something odd about Briz'baste's stance and peered closer. He saw blood staining her tunic. The stain spread as he watched. "You're wounded. I'll summon a healer."

Briz'baste shook her head. "It is only a shallow cut, and the bleeding will soon stop, and there are new rules. Healing is to be reserved for those who can't run. No exceptions. Everything comes second to mobility. We keep moving, even during the day, and we fight only to clear our path. Get our people home." She smiled grimly. "No-one will accuse you of failure. Things have changed greatly. Oh, and Phaere's dead too." She unfastened her back-pack and pulled it from her shoulders.

"They must have done," Durgloth said. "Ardulace and Phaere both dead? Even so, the Handmaidens will drag me to the sacrificial altar for failing Lolth."

"No, they won't. They're all dead," Briz'baste revealed. Her fingers worked on the buckles of her pack but her eyes were fixed on Durgloth's face. "Solaufein is also dead. I'm sorry. I know he was your friend."

Durgloth's eyes widened in shock. "What happened?"

Briz'baste pulled a bundle from her pack. "Here," she said. "Every 'Teleport Without Error' scroll in the city. Send the most seriously wounded back. We have clerics standing by to tend to them. Oh, and anyone unwounded who uses these scrolls to flee will be executed as soon as they arrive."

Durgloth took the bundle. "What happened?" he repeated. "Tell me!"

"Ardulace executed Matron Mother Evelintra," Briz'baste told him. "Solaufein tried to stop her and was slain too." She pulled out another bundle. "Healing scrolls. My companion's pack is full of potions." The male drow removed his own pack and began to hand out bottles to Durgloth's aides.

"They are sorely needed," Durgloth said. "Go on."

"The executions set off a revolt, led by Talabrae," Briz'baste continued. "There were thirteen mercenaries in the city, brought in from Ched Nasad by Ardulace, and their leaders are the best fighters I have ever seen. They took Talabrae's side. One of them is a bard who learned his craft on other planes. He sang a song that brought thousands flocking to her banner. They slew Ardulace, and Phaere, and sacked the Temple of Lolth."

"They sacked the Temple?" Durgloth's jaw dropped. "How can that have happened? The vengeance of the Priestesses will be terrible. Does civil war rage in the city?"

Briz'baste shook her head. "There is no war. There will be no vengeance. The Handmaidens and the Priestesses are dead. The Matron Mothers converted or died."

"Converted?"

"Priestesses of Shar rule Ust Natha now," Briz'baste said, "and Eilistraee and Vhaeraun are worshipped openly and their clerics honored. If the army tries to re-impose the rule of Lolth the populace will fight – and you're outnumbered seven to one. Eight to one, maybe, considering the losses you have taken." She put her hand to her neck and pulled an emblem out from under her tunic. The sword symbol of Eilistraee.

"This is madness," Durgloth breathed. "A trick. You try to lure me into approving of treason as a pretext for my execution."

"No trick," Briz'baste said. "Would Ardulace need a pretext? I shall be fighting at your side, remember, and if things are not as I say you could easily have me slain. I would hardly sacrifice my life for the sake of a lie."

"It is almost impossible to believe," Durgloth said, "but the orders that you bring could never have originated with Ardulace. I shall act as if you are telling the truth until I see evidence to disprove your words."

"That is sensible," Briz'baste said. She donned her pack, empty now except for some rations and a water bottle, and faced Durgloth. "There are still some orders undelivered. Set free all prisoners immediately. They will add to our enemies' strength, true, but without weapons they will not make too great a difference and they tie your men down as guards. We shall move faster without them. Give all loot to the goblin auxiliaries and then send them away. Let the prisoners see you do this before you release them. Tell the goblins they are to make for the Sythillisian Empire and use the loot to hire mercenaries to aid us. No doubt they will steal it for themselves and flee. The elves will pursue them, and certainly kill them all, but that will take time. Time that we can use to run for home."

"A good plan," Durgloth agreed. "I would have done that, or something similar, already if I had not expected that it would lead to my demise on the execution block." His brow creased as he thought. "I had intended to camp for the day. The elves will assault us, of course, but if we march we will blunder into the traps and ambushes they set in our path. We cannot see well enough by day to detect them."

"Take a right-angle turn for a couple of miles, and then resume course for home," Briz'baste suggested. "That should take you clear of most traps. As for the rest, well, that is why I have brought my companion. He is to take command of your scouts."

"Who is he?" Durgloth asked.

"Kellin De'Vir," the male drow introduced himself.

"De'Vir? One of the renegades held prisoner by Ardulace?"

"Call him 'renegade' no more," Briz'baste instructed. "His kinswoman is now High Priestess of the city. He has skills that will be of great assistance."

"We spent many years wandering in exile," Kellin De'Vir explained. "Much of it was on the surface. I have learned the craft of a Ranger. The woods are no mystery to me and I see by daylight much better than most."

"Excellent," said Durgloth. He beckoned to an aide. "Take him to the scouts."

"Once we are within two miles of the entrance to the Underdark Qilué will lead forth a sortie to clear our path for the rest of the way," Briz'baste added. "She is gathering two thousand at arms and holding them ready."

"That is good news indeed," Durgloth said. "Is there anything else?"

"Those of House Despana who still survive are to be used as shock troops to break through elven formations," Briz'baste said. "If they die in the process, well, it will eliminate the possibility of them seeking revenge for the fall of their House."

"The troops from House Despana entered the city of Suldanessellar with the mage Irenicus," Durgloth told her. "They were inside when he sealed the city with his magic. We need not concern ourselves with them."

"Good," said Briz'baste. "There is but one other thing; a message sent to me by magic not long before I reached you." She grimaced and touched her hand to her wound. "That was when I received this. I was distracted and failed to spot an elf." She lowered her hand. "The mercenaries may come this way and, I am told, they may wear the forms of humans. They must not be attacked. They are good friends to the rulers of the city and, anyway, they are matchless fighters. You could easily lose two or three hundred men in a senseless battle. The surest way of avoiding this is to command your men to refrain from attacking any humans at all."

"I shall issue that order," said Durgloth. His eyebrows rose. "They must be truly remarkable people."

"They are," Briz'baste agreed. "They pursue Irenicus and Bodhi."

"The treacherous mage, and his vampire sister, are immensely powerful," Durgloth observed.

"True," said Briz'baste, "but I still would not want to be in their boots when the mercenaries catch up with them."

"First they must pass through the elven army," said Durgloth, "as must we. Let us waste no more time talking. I have orders to countermand, and new orders to give, and then we must march."

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"You return! And victorious, too, for I sense that you carry my beautiful eggs." The silver dragon's nostrils flared. "Give them to me."

"Sure thing," Buffy said. She set the box of eggs down on the cave floor. "Glad we could help."

"I shall restore you to your normal forms," Adalon the dragon continued, "and I have a reward for your efforts."

"Just let me get my real body back," Xander said, "and that's all the – ow!"

"A reward is always good," Anya said, as she pulled back her foot after delivering a sharp kick to Xander's shin. "What is it?"

Adalon pulled something out from her hoard. "Necaradan's Crossbow," she said, holding out the weapon in one mighty clawed hand. "A weapon of surpassing accuracy."

"I want it," Anya announced, advancing to take the weapon. "I use a crossbow more than any of the rest of you and my existing one is nothing special."

"It's better than mine," Dawn grumbled.

"So I'll pass mine on to you," Anya said. "That benefits both of us."

"Could you fight over the crossbow _after_ the nice lady dragon has turned us back into normal-size people?" Xander urged.

The dragon reared up onto her haunches and spoke an arcane phrase. The party members, other than Viconia and Minsc, transformed.

"That is so much better," Xander said. He stretched and flexed his muscles. "Now I can use Carsomyr again. Even if it is only a big sharp sword without that special magic."

"Big sharp swords are good," said Minsc. "Is the warrior tattoo back on my face?"

"It is," Tara confirmed, "and we can call you 'Minsc' again."

"Being in a drow body wasn't that bad," Buffy said. "There is one thing that I got to like. I might keep things that way, in fact, once we get back to civilization."

"Me too," said Anya. "It's much more convenient for oral sex." Buffy groaned. Willow and Tara blushed.

Buffy changed the subject hastily. "We'd better get rid of these Evil necklaces."

"They might come in useful later," Anya said, "if we have to infiltrate some other evil organization."

"Good thought," Buffy said,

"I'd like to keep them anyway," Sorkatani said, "in remembrance of Evelintra. If we put them in a Bag of Holding their radiance of Evil will be screened." They removed the amulets and stashed them away.

"I shall not be returning to my previous duties," the dragon said. "There is no point in my trying to preserve a peace that does not exist. I shall exact retribution on the drow, perhaps a score or so deaths, and then depart."

Celestial Fury came out in a blur of motion. Buffy pulled the Hammer of Thunderbolts from her belt. Giles reached for his guitar. Jaheira's spear swung down and pointed at the dragon's abdomen. Anya cocked her new crossbow and reached into her quiver for a bolt. Willow vanished. More swords and maces were readied.

"No," Sorkatani said. "You will not."

"We can't let you kill anybody," Buffy added.

Adalon's nostrils flared ominously. "You would protect the drow? Why?"

"We made friends there," Buffy said. "The ones who stole your eggs and started the war are dead."

"I cut Matron Mother Ardulace's throat myself," Dawn put in.

"And I so didn't want to be reminded of that," Buffy muttered. "Look, dragon, we made some good friends there. Ardulace killed two of them. We paid her back for that and now another of our friends is pretty much in charge. Viconia's – cousin?" Viconia nodded confirmation. "Her cousin Nathrae," Buffy continued, "is the new High Priestess in the city. They don't want to fight the elves, they don't want to mess with you, they just want to get on with their lives. If you start killing them, well, it's you who'll be starting a war."

"You would die in their defense?" The dragon's eyebrows were raised in an expression of surprise that was remarkably human.

"What makes you think that it's us that would be doing the dying?" Spike asked. "Noticed the armor, sunshine?"

"Spike, you're not helping," Buffy chided. "We don't want to fight you," she said to the dragon, "but we will if we have to."

"I do not understand how anyone could make friends with the drow," Adalon said. Viconia glared at her.

"A drow has been my best friend for a long time, dragon," Jaheira said, "and I would have been proud to call Evelintra friend had she lived. Talabrae, Nathrae, and Qilué have proven themselves true friends also."

"I am puzzled," Adalon said, "but I see that you mean it. Very well, then, I will take no action against the drow. I will transport you, as I promised, to the exit that leads to the surface."

"No need," Buffy said, "and, hey, it maybe wouldn't be a good idea. There are two thousand drow assembling there. If you turn up it would be way too easy for somebody to make a wrong move and start a fight."

"But will they not bar your path?"

"Our trusted friends know our true identities," Sorkatani said, "and the rest will be told that we are disguised so that we can get past the elves." She grinned. "The reverse of the truth."

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"I'm sorry that the rooms are not as I promised," Bodhi said, "and the beds are small and stuffed with straw. We could not have reached the Mithrest Inn before sunrise."

"And they'd have asked awkward questions about our 'unconscious' friend," Tanova added.

"I have slept on the bare ground on campaign often enough," Jeroneth said, "and straw beds will be no hardship."

"You were lucky to have bare ground," Zarbalan said. "In our wanderings I often had to sleep on stalactites. The _points_ of stalactites."

"Well, when I say 'bare ground', I mean battlefields strewn with broken blades and carpeted with caltrops," said Jeroneth. She grinned at Zarbalan.

He grinned back. "I love you," he said.

"I love you too," she answered, and a second later they were wrapped in each other's arms.

Tanova groaned. "Another day of utter hell for me," she said.

"I think they're sweet," Bodhi said.

Jeroneth untangled herself from Zarbalan. "We would not be so ill-mannered as to make love in the same room as others not so blessed," she assured Tanova.

"We wouldn't?" Zarbalan pouted. "Oh, all right, although a night not in your arms will be torment."

"We can still share a bed," Jeroneth said, "but we shall only cuddle."

"That's a relief," Tanova said, "as long as your resolve holds out against the temptation. Frankly, I wouldn't wager on it."

"Keep yourself occupied by planning the wording of the Limited Wish spell," Bodhi suggested. "I grow more and more frustrated by the limitations imposed on us by our vulnerability to daylight. To wander freely under the sun would be a delight."

"I never came to like it," Zarbalan said, "even in years of wandering on the surface. The fields in which we slept were always full of thistles, and thorns, and caltrops." Jeroneth punched him lightly on the arm.

"You can remain in this world, if you wish," Bodhi said. "I enjoy your company but Anomen could no doubt use your assistance." Anomen nodded but his lips were set tight. He approved of Jeroneth but showed no great liking for the drow vampire.

"I would rather that we go with you, my Lady," Jeroneth said. "I miss the sun already and I fear that we will become embroiled in conflict with the Order if we remain here. To be forced to slay the Lady Irlana would grieve me deeply."

"Where Jeroneth goes, there go I," said Zarbalan. Jeroneth took him in her arms once more and they exchanged passionate kisses.

"I thought about the spell as we traveled," Tanova said, "and I have worked out a provisional wording. I shall set it down on paper and then we can scrutinize it for loopholes and imprecision."

"Do that," Bodhi said. "I can hardly wait. _Sunshine on a rainy day…_"

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"Sunshine! Yay!" Dawn grinned widely.

Viconia pursed her lips. "I did not miss it," she said. "I shall don my hat once again."

"Wonder if we could teach one of the gnomes to make dark glasses?" Spike suggested.

"They don't exactly have much sense of style," Buffy said. "You're not going to get cool shades from a gnome."

"Unless we give them detailed instructions and sketches," Anya said. "I sense another commercial opportunity."

"I sense that we are being watched," said Jaheira.

"Elves," Sorkatani said. "Put your weapons away, everybody."

"Halt!" An elf stepped out from behind a tree and aimed a bow at them. "Declare yourselves! You emerge from the realm of the Drow. If you are a collaborator, allied with the devils below, you shall perish swiftly."

"My name is Sorkatani," Sorkatani announced herself.

"And I'm Buffy the Vampire Slayer," Buffy added.

"We are pursuing Irenicus and Bodhi," Sorkatani said.

"If you know of Irenicus then Elhan must speak with you immediately," said the elf. His eyes narrowed. "Wait! There is a drow amongst you."

"And the prize for observation goes to…" Xander muttered.

"She is a trusted member of our group and a deadly enemy to Irenicus," Sorkatani told the elf. "We could not have made it through the Underdark without her."

"Elhan shall decide what we are to do with you," said the elf. "Continue onward. Make no sudden moves or you shall be slain. Bows are trained upon you from all sides."

The group walked on for a further hundred yards and then fifty elf spearmen came out of the trees and surrounded them. An officer in green chain mail strode from the group and confronted the party.

"I am General Sovalidaas," the officer said. "Who are you, who come forth from the Underdark, and who have a drow in your ranks? What is your business here and are you friend or foe?"

"I am Sorkatani, we are chasing a mage called Irenicus, and the drow is one of my closest friends," Sorkatani replied.

"And, hey, how dumb would we have to be to say 'foe' when you're pointing all those spears and arrows at us?" Buffy added. "Are you in charge here? 'Cause, hey, we don't want to have to keep repeating ourselves every few minutes. Let's just tell the story once, to the top guy, and leave it at that, 'kay?"

The general glared at her. "I suppose there is sense in what you say. I trust you not, accompanied as you are by a drow, but I shall take you before our commander Elhan. He shall determine your fate. Hand over your weapons."

"No-one but me shall hold Celestial Fury," Sorkatani said.

"You can have Carsomyr when you pry it from my cold dead hands," Xander declared.

"Nobody takes our weapons," Buffy said flatly. "We've been there, seen it, got the scars. We won't use them unless you make us but we're not handing them over."

Sovalidaas stared at them. "You are surrounded and heavily outnumbered. Compliance would be wise."

"If we're that outnumbered you don't have to be scared of us, then, do you?" said Spike.

"We do not fear you, far from it," the elf replied. "Very well, keep your weapons, but if you draw them you die. Follow me."

He led them to a tented encampment. The spearmen stood guard while the general went inside one of the tents. After a few minutes Sovalidaas emerged. "Duke Elhan will give you audience," he said. "Make no hostile moves or you perish on the instant."

"Yeah, right, we get the idea," Buffy said. She and Sorkatani led the way into the tent.

It was big for a tent, almost a marquee, and was set up as a command centre. The senior officers of the elven army sat around a surprisingly large trestle table. An easel held a map, obviously of the forest, on which colored flag-pins showed the position of military units. A cluster of black pins presumably represented the drow. Green pins surrounded it in a loose scatter and also formed another dense cluster around a red pin.

"You are here," Xander guessed under his breath. Sorkatani nodded agreement.

"Scrutinize the map if you wish," said the officer who sat at the head of the table. "If you are hostile you will not leave here alive to tell of what you have seen." He stood up. "I am Duke Elhan, commander of the armies of Suldanessellar, and you will tell me who you are."

"I am Sorkatani Gorion's Ward," Sorkatani said, "known by some as the Perfect Warrior."

"Buffy Summers, the Vampire Slayer," Buffy said. "You want us to run through the whole list? It'll take time."

"If you are the leaders your names are all that are necessary," Elhan said, "for now. I will ask some questions of you and you will speak what you know. My sages will detect any falsehood. They are very good at that sort of thing. Now, then, something simple and direct to begin with. You emerged from the home of the drow. Were you fleeing or are you in league with them?"

"Neither," Sorkatani replied.

"You're asking the wrong questions," Buffy said.

"Truth, and truth," a robed elf at the table declared.

Elhan frowned. "Surely you either flee the drow or are in league with them. What other answers could there be?"

"Why don't you just let us tell you the sitch, 'kay?" Buffy folded her arms. "Here's the Cliff Notes version, uh, you won't know what that is, the short version with just the main points. Irenicus captured us. He stole Sorkatani's soul, Bodhi stole Imoen's, and we want to get them back. Killing the two of them seems the best way of doing it so that's what we plan on doing. Oh, and Bodhi beat Spike to a pulp, broke Viconia's neck, and turned my boyfriend. Irenicus, uh, caused Tani's boyfriend's death too. We owe them a whole lot of payback."

"All truth," the sage confirmed.

"What were you doing in the Underdark?" Elhan asked.

"That's where they ran to," Buffy said, "so that's where we chased them. We had to get into the drow city. A nice dragon gave us disguises. We went in the city, killed some drow and made friends with others, and then the top Matron Mother killed some friends of ours. We killed her for it."

"Truth," said the sage.

Sorkatani took up the tale. "Matron Mother Ardulace is the one who plotted with Irenicus to invade your city. She's dead. Her replacement as head of the city's government, Talabrae, opposed the war from the start. As far as she is concerned the war is over and there will be no more hostile action. She only wishes to get back what survivors remain of the drow army."

"Truth," the sage said. His eyebrows had climbed almost to the brim of his pointed hat. He turned to a colleague and whispered something.

"I concur," the other sage said. "All that they have said is, without doubt, the truth."

"Impossible," said General Sovalidaas. "There is some deception here. There has to be. See, there is a drow amongst them and she hides her face."

"I shelter only from the sunlight, darthiir," Viconia said. She raised a hand and removed the hat. "I am not ashamed of my race. All in Athkatla know what I am."

"Look, just point us at Irenicus and stand clear," Buffy said. "We owe him a world of hurt."

"If you are truly an enemy of Irenicus then we have that in common," said Elhan. "It is said that the enemy of your enemy is your friend. I would not agree that such is always the case but it is a start. Getting to the Ex – Irenicus may not be simple, however, and I doubt that you can achieve it without our aid."

"Then give us that aid," Sorkatani said. "It is my understanding that he is inside your city and has somehow sealed it with magic."

"Sealed, and hidden it from all eyes," Elhan confirmed.

"How could he do that with a whole city?" Buffy wondered.

"His magics are great," Elhan said. "We cannot penetrate his web of illusion. If we but had the Rhynn Lanthorn – but he has taken it."

"Rhynn Lanthorn? What's that?"

"An ancient lantern, inscribed with the oldest of runes, attuned to the Elven nation," Elhan explained. "No magic can bar its return. If we had it we could simply walk into the city. If it was still within the bounds of Suldanessellar its light would call to us. It has been removed and taken far away. Find it and bring it to us and we will march upon the city and destroy Irenicus."

"Bodhi," Buffy said to Sorkatani. "He wouldn't trust anybody else."

"Indeed so," Sorkatani agreed. "She was not interested in his revenge. No doubt she will be on her way to Athkatla with this lantern."

"And with Anomen," Buffy said. "He's bound to go after his father. We have to get there and stop them."

"First we have to stop this war," Sorkatani said. "Remove your troops from this place, Duke Elhan, and there will be no need for further battle. The drow army has orders to return home and shun combat unless it cannot be avoided. There need be no more deaths."

"The drow must suffer for this brutal invasion!" Sovalidaas snapped. "Their army must be wiped out to the last drow. All must perish!"

"That would be murder," Tara protested. "Genocide."

"To slay those who wish only to go home and fight no more is an act of Evil," Minsc agreed.

"The drow are scum!" Sovalidaas spluttered. "Vile and evil to the core. We should hunt them down and exterminate them."

If looks could kill he would have disintegrated on the spot. Sorkatani's hand went to the hilt of Celestial Fury but she did not draw. Spike whirled and pounced upon the general. He seized the elf by the throat and lifted him into the air.

"That wasn't nice," Spike growled. "You can apologize to my girl or I can rip your head clean off. Which will it be?"

"Put him down!" Elhan commanded.

Spike shook his head. "When he takes it back. Otherwise I'm going to kill him."

The elf guards in the tent leveled spears at Spike. Elhan waved them back. "Sovalidaas, you spoke out of turn," he said. "There are some few drow who are not evil. The followers of Eilistraee are innocent of crimes against elves. Take back your foolish words." Spike slackened his grip slightly.

"Very well," Sovalidaas choked out. "Some drow need not be killed." Spike did not relinquish his hold. "I apologize."

Spike released the general, who staggered back clutching his throat, and turned back to face Elhan. Behind him Sovalidaas dropped his hand to his sword hilt and began to pull the weapon free. A huge hand closed on the general's wrist and stopped him.

"You are a bad man," Minsc boomed out. "I think that you should sleep off this foolish rage." He brought across his other hand and smote Sovalidaas a tremendous blow on the jaw. The general's helmet flew off and he crashed to the ground.

"Take Sovalidaas away," Elhan commanded. "He has disgraced us. When he wakes tell him he is a general no more. He is reduced to the captain of a single company until he learns to control himself." Two guards went to the unconscious elf, took hold of him under the arms, and carried him from the tent.

"My apologies," Elhan said. He focused his gaze on Viconia. "Are you one of the worshippers of Lady Silverhair?"

"No, I am not," Viconia said, "although I now have friends who follow her. My deity is Shar."

One of the elven sages glared at her. "Then you are evil. There can be no good in a follower of the Mistress of the Night."

Buffy rolled her eyes. "Come on, people, get with the times. Hey, meet Sir Xander, Knight Paladin of the Order of the Radiant Heart, totally not allowed to mix with evil people."

"Viconia's not evil, although, hey, she gets kinda embarrassed about that when we bring it up," Xander confirmed.

"I grow used to it, abbil," Viconia said, "and now that my goddess has relaxed her rules it is no longer a matter of shame to me."

"Truth," said another of the sages. "They believe these statements to be fact. Incredible. You say that Shar has relaxed her rules and accepts worshippers who are not evil?"

"Not just worshippers, but priestesses," Viconia replied, "amongst whom I am counted."

"The doings of the gods are of no concern of mine," Elhan said. "I am satisfied that we need not slay these adventurers and that they may be the answer to our problem with Bhurae – Bhodi."

Sorkatani and Buffy exchanged glances. "You're hiding something," Buffy said. "Come on, out with it. What do you know that we don't?"

"Nothing," said Elhan. "Unless you do not know that Bodhi is a vampire."

"Hello, Vampire Slayer here," Buffy said. "Knowing about vampires, and sticking pointy pieces of wood through their hearts, is what I do. You did hear me mention that the bitch turned my boyfriend, right?"

"I am sorry," Elhan said. "You have my sympathies."

"It so isn't fair that you have those guys saying 'truth' after everything we say and we don't get the same edge," Buffy complained. "I still think you're hiding something."

"Let him," Sorkatani advised. "It's not important as long as it doesn't affect us getting to Bodhi and then to Irenicus."

"Yeah, guess you're right," Buffy said. "Okay, I won't push. One thing, though, Duke. Bodhi is pretty damn tough. Any help you could give us would be useful."

"I will not send men after her into Amn," Elhan said. "Tensions are high after the defection of two Amnian cities to Tethyr. Although Suldanessellar is independent I fear the humans would not recognize the distinction and an armed band from here would be treated as invaders. I can provide you with some supplies and that is all. Holy Water from a spring sacred to Rillifane Rallathil, for instance, that should serve you well against the vampire."

"Cool," Buffy said. "Yeah, we could use that."

"We could pour it into Bodhi's pools of blood," Anya suggested. "That might give her a very nasty surprise."

Buffy grinned. "I like it," she said. "We'll do that. Okay, Duke Elhan, give us the Holy Water and we'll be on our way."

"We have not yet settled the matter of the drow army," Sorkatani said. "Will you draw aside your troops and avoid useless massacre?"

"I think not," said Elhan. "They must learn a lesson. Never again shall they dare to invade the realm of the elves."

"They don't plan on doing that anyway," Buffy said. "Talabrae even wants to trade with you. Maybe not right away, 'cause feelings are bound to be pretty strong, but when things have settled down."

"You will make them hate you once more," Sorkatani warned, "and when they have regained their strength they will indeed return. Show them mercy. Many of your men will die in such a battle, and for no good reason."

"They will take mercy as a sign of weakness," Elhan said.

"No, they really won't," Buffy said. "Hey, they have elf prisoners. Talabrae doesn't want them and she'd be willing to make a deal for their release. If you slaughter her army, well, you can forget about getting your boys back."

"Truth," a sage put in. "They believe what they say. Perhaps their counsel is wise after all."

Elhan's brow furrowed. "It goes against everything I have been taught. Yet it is true that we will lose many. A cornered rat will fight to the death. A rat in the open will but flee. Perhaps I shall heed your words."

"Now, that's more like it." Buffy smiled.

"There is one more thing that must be done before you can leave," Elhan continued. "I cannot entirely trust any drow and, if I am to spare the drow army, I require a token of your good faith. The drow woman," he gestured in the direction of Viconia, "must submit to a geas binding her to pursue Bodhi on pain of death."

Sorkatani's lips curled back from her teeth. "No."

"Uh-oh. You really, really, shouldn't have said that," Buffy said, glaring at Elhan. "Big mistake."

"It is not negotiable," Elhan stated. "I will accept nothing less."

"You will not do this thing." Sorkatani's mouth became a tight line and her nostrils flared. "I will not allow it."

"You cannot ask this of her," Jaheira put in. "It is cruel beyond bearing. Viconia is my friend. I pledge my life that she is true."

"She must accept the geas, or you shall not pass," Elhan insisted.

"You have to be out of your mind," Buffy told him. "Forget it. You don't get to touch her."

"I will not allow it," Sorkatani repeated. "If you persist in this insanity then I shall take up arms against you."

"Jabbress, no," Viconia pleaded. "I am not worth one drop of your blood. I am willing to submit to their geas. Am I not already sworn to cut out Bodhi's heart and sacrifice it to Shar? They ask of me nothing more."

"There shall be no geas, abbil," Sorkatani said. "Never again. I could not bear it. I shall fight."

"We all will," said Spike. The others, except for Imoen who was hunched over clutching at her stomach, chorused agreement.

"You are mad," said Elhan. "I have five hundred spearmen surrounding this tent, two score of battle mages, and over two thousand elven archers in the woods all around. You will perish swiftly."

"As will you," said Sorkatani, "and your army will be depleted. There will be no geas."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

Bodhi scrutinized the sheet of paper carefully. "It seems fine to me," she said. "I see no flaws. Excellent work, Tanova." She turned her head. "And excellent work from you, too, Jeroneth. Up close it might be possible to recognize that the leather is painted red and black but at a distance it will certainly pass muster."

"Thank you," Jeroneth said. "I was glad to help."

"Her hairstyle is not the same as Sorkatani's," Tanova pointed out, indicating the Shadow Thief's corpse that lay on the spare bed. "I will fix that, now that I have finished with the spell."

"You still have to cast it," Bodhi said.

"You want me to do that now? I had thought to do it tomorrow," Tanova said. "We should take time to reflect on the wording in case I have overlooked something."

"I'd rather not wait," Bodhi said. "Just imagine how I'd feel if it turned out there's a doorway to their world that opens only once in a hundred years, and that was tonight."

"I doubt that will be the case," Tanova said, "as they appeared some five months or so ago. A once in a century portal would mean that we have a long time to wait regardless of when I cast the wish."

"I feel a sense of urgency," Bodhi said, "perhaps a premonition. There is no time to lose."

"Very well," Tanova said. She took back the paper, on which she had written out the suggested wording for the spell, and then opened a scroll-case and took out the Limited Wish scroll. "Please, I must have quiet for the casting."

"Of course," Bodhi agreed. Jeroneth merely nodded. Anomen and Zarbalan were asleep.

Tanova cast the spell and then read out the question that she had prepared. Nothing happened.

Bodhi waited for a minute, tapping her fingers on her thigh, and then her patience ran out. "You have made some error," she accused. "It hasn't worked."

"I don't understand," Tanova said. "I thought everything was in order. At the worst we should have received some cryptic clues. I'm sure I read it out correct… oh." Her eyes went back to the sheet of paper and her eyebrows shot up.

Bodhi rolled her eyes. "What did you do wrong?" Her tone was sharp but held no real anger. Her affection for Tanova was deep.

"Nothing," Tanova said. She smiled. "It worked. This is not the question any longer. It has transformed into instructions."

"Instructions? Let me see," Bodhi demanded. She snatched the paper from the mage. "Be in the gardens south of the Temple of Talos on the Tenth day of Marpenoth, 1369 Dale Reckoning, before the second bell after highsun sounds." She raised her eyes to Tanova. "The Tenth? By the gods, that is tomorrow!"

"Your premonition was correct, then," Tanova said.

Bodhi shook her head. "There was no premonition. I'm just terrible at waiting and I said the first thing that came into my head that would spur you to hurry up." She looked down at the paper again. "The second bell after highsun? Broad daylight! This is impossible."

"The Talosians do not tend their gardens," Jeroneth said. "They are wild and overgrown. A disgrace to the Temple District. There will be shade a-plenty."

"That's good to know," Bodhi said. "Thanks. I've never been in that part of the Temple District."

"It is almost directly opposite the High Hall of the Radiant Heart," Jeroneth said. "I know the area well."

"Can you get us there without bumping into any paladins?" Bodhi asked. "We could go in via the sewers, before dawn, and lie up in the shade during the day until the specified hour."

"There is a sewer entrance on the path on that side of the Temple of Talos," Jeroneth said. "I do not know the routes through the sewers, however, and could not tell you how to find it from below."

"Roger the Fence will direct us for gold," Tanova said.

"It looks as if we have a plan," Bodhi said. "Tonight shall be busy indeed. Now, let's see what we have to do next."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

"Well, everything still works," Katrina said. "I think it's safe to go ahead. I don't understand why it works, maybe, but it does." She gave a wry smile. "There'd probably be a Nobel Prize for the taking if I did understand it."

"I don't think we should go public with this," Jonathan said. "I don't want anyone other than us messing with Faerûn. They wouldn't understand."

"I'm not even wild about us messing with it," Katrina said, "but I can't bear to think of Warren just lying in that hospital bed forever. We can get him in and out again. As long as he'll do what he's told and not start wandering around the city sightseeing…"

"I've written everything down," Jonathan said, "and I'll put it right in his hand."

"Have a back-up ready," Katrina suggested, "and be ready to zap it in if he throws the instructions away without reading them. I'll take a look and maybe add a little message, okay? Have you picked the place for the insertion?"

"Yeah, I think I know a good spot," Jonathan replied. "We don't want him popping up in the middle of the street, it would attract too much attention and the Cowled Wizards might think he was using unlicensed magic, and we want it to be pretty close to a temple so he doesn't have to go wandering around too far. The Temple District is pretty much all main streets, apart from the sewers and it could be dangerous down there, but there are a couple of, like, gardens, or orchards, or whatever. That's my choice."

"Down by the Temple of Talos? Sounds good to me. Let's do it. Tomorrow."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

"…and she had to kill him," Tara related. "There was nothing else she could do. Now do you see? If you put a geas on Viconia you're as bad as Irenicus."

"Truth," a sage reported.

"I am nothing like Irenicus!" Elhan snapped.

"Then prove it," Tara challenged. "Don't act like him."

"I… I…" Elhan took a deep breath. "I act only to protect the Elven nation. I am loath to begin a battle of three thousand against thirteen…"

"Then don't," Tara said. "It's really not that hard."

"Duke Elhan!" An elf soldier entered the tent. He glanced briefly at the humans but otherwise ignored them. "Forgive the interruption but there is an arrow message from the battle-front."

"What does it say?"

"The drow are moving. They were fortifying a camp for the day but suddenly abandoned it and marched. My Lord… they have set their prisoners free!"

"They released their captives?"

"Indeed," the soldier confirmed. "Read for yourself, my Lord." He held out a scroll to Elhan.

"Qilué's girl must have gotten through," Buffy muttered to Sorkatani.

Elhan's eyebrows climbed high as he read. He went to the map board and scanned the positions. "They will move faster without captives in chains," he mused, "and they have abandoned their wagons of plunder too. Hmm. If they keep moving through the day, and of course through the night, they could reach here well before dawn. If the other drow sally forth to support them we could be caught between two forces. Better to march to meet them far from here…"

"Or just move aside and let them pass," Sorkatani said. "There is no need for a battle at all. No prisoners to rescue. Why sacrifice lives for the sake of revenge when it's against the wrong people? Those who gave the orders are dead."

Elhan raised a hand to his chin. "You make a good case. The release… I have it! I still require an incontrovertible sign of good faith. If it is not to be a geas, well, it must come from the drow. You say they have prisoners within their city? Let them be released also. If that is done then I shall move my army aside. Those closer to the drow army shall no longer attempt to bar their path but shall only shadow them to ensure that they go nowhere but to their home."

"Talabrae will go for that," Buffy said, "no question."

"We shall go at once to pass on your request," Sorkatani said, "and we shall return here with the prisoners." She sighed. "And then we can resume our pursuit of Bodhi. It will take us nearly a tenday to reach Athkatla, I would guess, unless we can obtain horses."

"We can go by way of Trademeet, and buy horses there," Jaheira suggested. "That will gain us a day or so."

"We are still too far behind her," Sorkatani said. "She had several days' head start and, even though she must shelter by day, her pace by night will have been fast indeed. She may even have already reached the city."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

"Yes, I can use a katana," the newest vampire told Bodhi. "They are scarce in this city and I have never managed to obtain an enchanted one."

"Then this is your lucky day," Bodhi said, "well, apart from the bit where you died, I suppose, although I think you'll find being a vampire rather fun. I certainly do." She held out a weapon. "Here. This was Sorkatani's second-best katana."

"Her _second_-best?" The former Shadow Thief pushed aside the corpse of the maidservant who had been her first meal. She took hold of the hilt and pulled the katana free of its scabbard. "This is an exceptional weapon." She plucked a hair from her head and stroked it against the edge of the blade. The hair parted. "I would judge it to be as strongly enchanted as my short-sword."

"It's yours now, Kachiko," Bodhi said. "I want you to use it on a special mission. Impersonate Sorkatani and blacken that shiny reputation of hers."

"Hah!" Kachiko's upper lip curled in a sneer. "Sorkatani, the so-called 'Perfect Warrior'. I have lived in this city for years, and served the Shadow Thieves faithfully, and never have I gained a weapon such as this. She arrives from nowhere and in no time she has the favor of Aran Linvail, she wins a blade of legend such that she could keep this one merely as a spare, and the bards are all singing her praises. She even has her own tame bard to further publicize her. 'Perfect Warrior'? Who could not be a 'Perfect Warrior' with her advantages? I was brought up on the streets, after my mother died on the voyage here from Kara-Tur, and all that I have I earned with my sweat and my blood."

Bodhi narrowed her eyes and opened her mouth to speak sharply. Sorkatani might be her deadly enemy but Bodhi had come to feel a grudging respect, perhaps even admiration, for the Perfect Warrior and hearing Kachiko's bitter and envious tirade made Bodhi feel uncomfortable. She closed her mouth again. The new recruit's attitude, although displeasing, would be useful. She paused for a moment to regain her composure before speaking. "You are certainly highly skilled," she praised. "You fought superbly. I'm sure you would have defeated any normal vampire. You'll be a valuable asset to our team."

"Thank you, honorable Mistress," Kachiko said.

"It's a shame I won't be around to appreciate your work," Bodhi continued. "I might return, but I might not. I intend to travel to another world."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

Warren slept. He wandered through dreams. Vaguely he was aware that something was wrong, and he thought he could hear Katrina calling to him from somewhere in the distance, but he couldn't find his way to her. Everything was dark.

Suddenly there was light. Dim daylight, flickering, green in hue. He looked around. He was out in the open, under leafy trees, standing on bare earth with a scattering of fallen leaves and a few small plants. Above him leaves fluttered in a slight breeze and he could smell damp soil and vegetation. From near at hand he could hear water trickling and splashing in a stream.

"What the hell? I was in the Bronze," he exclaimed. "Where am I?" His gaze fell on his shoes and his mouth dropped open. They weren't his shoes. High soft boots, laced to the tops, with his pants tucked inside them. He checked out the rest of his clothes. A shirt with slashed sleeves, a leather jerkin, and – wow! – a sword belt. An actual sword hung at his hip. Leather pouches dangled from the belt and he could feel the weight of a pack on his back.

There was something in his hand. A sheet of paper. He stared at it.

'DON'T PANIC!' was written across the top in big letters. He read on.

'Warren. You're in Athkatla. You got hit on the head and you're in a coma. We stuck you in the game to get you cured.'

"This has to be one of Andrew's crazy ideas," Warren said. He shook his head and then a grin came to his face. "Hey, I'm in Athkatla! Totally cool. I can go see Giles play live." He moved into brighter light and resumed his reading.

'Don't you go wandering around, Warren,' the note continued. 'I know you'll want to see the place but it's too dangerous. We can't save the game right now and you could get really killed. You came out as a dual class Second Thief/Third Illusionist and we couldn't bump you up any higher. Go straight to the Temple of Lathander and ask them to cast Heal and Restoration on you. There's gold in your pack to pay for it and scrolls in case they don't have the spells. As soon as it's done head back to your start point and we'll pull you out. If you go rubber-necking I'll just zap you straight out. Don't take any dumb chances. I miss you. Katrina.'

Warren raised his head to stare at the sky through the leaf canopy. "Okay, okay," he said. "It would be totally cool to see Athkatla but, hey, I get that you're worried. I won't mess up. So, which way to the Temple?" He turned the paper over and saw a map. "Should have guessed. Right, I'm on it." He noticed a low stone wall nearby. He clambered over it and emerged onto a street paved with stone flags.

A large building stood, or rather loomed forbiddingly, close at hand. Water surrounded it and two globes, crackling with electricity, were mounted on poles beside its gates. "The Temple of Talos," Warren identified it. "Oh, wow!"

"Bloody tourist," a passing pedestrian muttered, thereby answering the question of whether or not Warren would be able to understand the local language even before it had occurred to him. Two halberd-bearing guards at the temple gates glanced incuriously in his direction.

"I turn right, then left, and go straight on," Warren said to himself. "It's not like I even need the map." He walked on until he reached the bend in the road. "Hey, the Radiant Heart place! This is so cool. I wonder if Garrick is there doing that Cyrano de Bergerac thing?" He leaned on the wall that bordered the path and stared across a wide and slow-flowing stream at the High Hall. He heard a splash, looked down, and saw rings spreading from where a fish had jumped.

He went back to gazing at the Radiant Heart building. A knight in shining armor walked up the path and entered the Hall. The doors closed and nothing further happened. There was no sign of the bard from the first Baldur's Gate game, or of the lady knight he was courting, and Warren quickly lost interest. "I guess I'd better move on," he said. "I don't want Kat to get impatient."

He walked along the main street. Crowds of people passed by, talking amongst themselves in a buzz of conversation. Clouds of gnats rose over the river. A bell tolled out, twice, from the Temple of Talos. Another bell answered from the building ahead of him, this one ringing out fourteen times, two deep notes from a bell in the Temple of Helm sounding in the middle of the sequence. "I can't believe this," Warren muttered. "It is just so cool. Andrew is going to just die of envy." He reached the Temple of Lathander, passed between the pair of Dawnbringers at the door, and entered.

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

Warren put his hand on the stone wall and vaulted over it. He landed lightly on his feet and smiled. "Man, I feel great," he said. "It sucks to have to leave so soon but I guess I can see her point." He stepped into the shadow of the trees.

Something caught him by the wrist and yanked him deeper into the shade with irresistible force. His other arm was seized, and his legs, and he was lifted from his feet.

"If you scream, or call out for help, I'll rip off your nose," a female voice threatened. "Warren Mears, I presume? Tell me how to get to the land of Caliph Onya."

Warren struggled. It was futile. His captors were far stronger than him and there were four of them. A pretty girl in plate armor and a small man in a hooded cloak had him by the ankles. His left arm was held by a beautiful dark-haired woman with a veil across her face. A girl in black leather held his right wrist with one hand and her other hand was at his throat. She ran her tongue over full, very red, lips. Fangs showed in her mouth.

"Oh, crap," Warren groaned. "Bodhi. Get me the fuck out of here, guys!"

Bodhi's eyebrows climbed. "You know me? Well, in that case you…"

Her voice cut off in mid sentence. The orchard was suddenly empty.

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

Katrina looked down at Warren lying in the bed. "I hope this works," she said. "No way am I going to risk the same thing again. Not after what nearly happened."

"I don't get how they could have been there," Jonathan said. "It's like they were waiting for him. That doesn't make any kind of sense."

"At least we pulled him out in time, dude," Andrew said.

"It was too damn close," Katrina said. "It scared the crap out of me. Never again." She took out her little flash card device and aimed it at Warren's body. "Let's see if this crazy plan came together." She pressed the activation stud.

Warren stirred in the bed. "Hurry, guys!" he said, and raised his head.

Katrina stared. Her eyes opened wide and she raised her hand to her mouth. Behind her Jonathan and Andrew recoiled.

Four figures had appeared in the room, surrounding the bed, their hands on Warren's limbs. The girl who held his right arm was speaking.

"…nae dagor…" she said. Her eyes widened to match Katrina's. "By all the gods!" she exclaimed, in English. "It has worked." She stared around the room.

"Bodhi," Katrina breathed. "Oh, fuck."

"You know me too," Bodhi said. "Puzzling, but gratifying." A smile spread across her face. "Thank you for bringing us here. I think I will reward you. How would you like to live forever?"


	63. Chapter 63

Warning: this chapter contains references to rape.

**Chapter Sixty-three**

Buffy glared at a tree as if she expected it to apologize and remove itself from her path. Not an impossible expectation, in this world, but no such thing occurred. "Trekking through the woods, so not my favorite thing," she moaned. "Hey, Will, anything you can do to speed us up?"

"I could Haste us, sure," Willow replied, "but we'd be pretty much wasted when it wore off. It's not worth it. Teleporting, well, I could make it to Athkatla on my own, no problem, but not if I took you guys along with me. You think maybe I should do that? Go on my own, I mean. I could warn Lord Delryn, I guess, and tell Aran Linvail about what happened."

"Anomen's father wouldn't listen to you," Buffy said, "but yeah, giving the Shadow Thief Godfather a heads-up would be useful."

"I don't think you should go off by yourself," Tara said. Minsc nodded agreement.

Sorkatani pursed her lips. "I don't think the gain is worth the risk, Willow. If Bodhi learnt of your presence in the city she would immediately seek your death."

"Yeah, and I sure wouldn't want to take her on by myself," Willow agreed, "even if she didn't have Tanova and Anomen backing her up. Although, hey, I could pick up Korgan, and maybe some of Linvail's people…"

"And some of the guys from the Radiant Heart," Xander suggested.

Willow shook her head. "I couldn't get them to work with the Shadow Thieves, Xander, not without you there," she said.

"Bet you Korgan will be too bloody drunk to be any use anyway," Spike put in.

"Without me you could not just walk in to see Linvail," Sorkatani pointed out, "and also there is Bodhi's infiltration of the Thieves' Guild to consider. Speak to the wrong man, one who had been charmed by her, and you might be led to Bodhi rather than to Linvail."

Willow opened her mouth to reply. Buffy pre-empted her.

"We're not going to take that risk," the Slayer said in tones that brooked no argument. "Bodhi is too freaking dangerous. We don't give her the chance to pick us off one by one." She would have gone on to say more but Jaheira interrupted.

"I hear something," the druid announced. "Screams."

At once everyone fell silent. Minsc cocked his head. "That way," he said, after a moment, pointing slightly to the east of their intended course. Jaheira nodded her agreement.

Sorkatani nocked an arrow to the string of her Tuigan bow. "Then that is where we shall go."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

Artemis Entreri's lips curled back from his teeth. "This cannot be borne," he hissed.

Jarlaxle's eyebrows rose. Entreri was the coolest, most composed, man that the drow mercenary had ever met and the killing rage that he could see in the assassin's eyes was unprecedented. "Are you developing a sense of justice? I don't like it either but there is nothing that we can do. They number twenty or more."

"Twenty-three," Entreri corrected him, "but I care not." Another scream of pain reached his ears, seemingly too high in pitch to be coming from any male throat, although the evidence of their eyes contradicted that deduction. It died away into a choked whimper. Entreri's snarl grew even more savage and a guttural growl sounded deep in his throat. He pulled out his saber, and his emerald-studded dagger, and stepped out of the trees.

Jarlaxle was taken completely by surprise. Artemis Entreri putting himself into peril for the sake of strangers? It was almost impossible to believe. He would have been pleased, had the circumstances been different, for he had been trying for months to get Entreri to show emotion and unwind enough to accept his friendship. Unfortunately this particular show of emotion was likely to get them both killed.

Jarlaxle crossed his hands and pulled out a pair of magical daggers from his enchanted wrist bracers. He poised one for a throw and watched to see how Entreri would handle the situation. Would he adopt the guise of an innocent blundering upon the scene by accident, puzzled and shocked by what he saw, and acting weak to lull the brigands into a false sense of security until he struck? Or would he swagger up boldly, concealing his disgust and seething anger, and request or demand to be allowed to take his turn with the victims? Either pose could be an effective tactic to allow him to get in close and deliver a telling blow or two before his true purpose was revealed. Tricky to carry off, of course, but none was better at such acting than Artemis Entreri.

Jarlaxle watched from the trees, keeping out of sight because any sight of him would immediately ruin whatever scheme Entreri had decided upon, and frowned. He could see no evidence of any such plan. Entreri was simply striding towards the men, sword and dagger poised ready for combat, as if he was about to launch a straightforward attack on a mere handful of foes. Suicidal insanity. True, there was an inherent element of surprise in such boldness, and the enemy would be thrown off balance and no doubt immediately suspect that the lone attacker had reinforcements following close behind, but when those 'reinforcements' consisted of but a single man it was a tactic foredoomed to failure.

Jarlaxle winced. It wasn't a tactic at all. Entreri was so blinded by rage that he was attacking without thought, without a plan, his only desire being to kill. He was walking to his death. Not deliberately, this was no intentional suicide mission, but inevitably nonetheless. The brigands, or perhaps mercenary soldiers, were too formidable. Nine drow bodies, stripped and dumped in a grisly pile at the side of the clearing, bore mute witness to that fact; the three living drow captives bore a witness somewhat less mute. There were no human bodies, indicating that the group had defeated the drow without taking losses, and they were well armed and equipped.

And, despite their post-battle activities, they were alert. One man went to meet the approaching figure. He was short but broad of shoulder, clad in banded mail, and held a double-bladed axe across his chest. "Hold, stranger, what do you want here?" he demanded.

Entreri brought up his saber and drove it out in a lightning-quick strike, before the man could even raise his axe, piercing the throat above the armor's gorget. "Your deaths," Entreri answered the dying man. He pulled the sword free and made for the next closest of the brigands.

The killing had been so quick and efficient that there was as yet no general alarm. Entreri's second target, a crossbowman, stared at his falling colleague incredulously and then made a frantic attempt to cock his weapon. He realized that he would be too late, let the crossbow fall, and tugged a short sword from his belt. By that time Entreri was only two paces away. The crossbowman saw what he thought was an opening and hurled himself into an attack. Entreri parried with his saber and brought his left hand across to plunge his jeweled dagger into his opponent's stomach.

Two down, twenty-one to go, but now the alarm was raised. Cries sounded from all parts of the camp. Weapons were snatched up. A battle priest began to chant a blessing. A wizard started to cast a Haste spell and another clad himself in Stoneskin. The rapists withdrew from their victims and grabbed for clothes and armor.

Entreri confronted another man, a thief or scout, in a studded leather brigandine. He swept aside the man's long-sword and plunged his dagger down just above the scout's collarbone, driving it home to the hilt, then pulled it free and let the dying foe fall to the ground.

A dagger hurtled from the trees and struck one of the wizards in the face, impaling his cheek, and cutting his Haste spell off before it could be completed. He tugged the dagger free, sending gouts of blood spurting out over his robes, and groped for a healing potion. A second dagger hit him in the throat and felled him. Jarlaxle was providing covering fire from the sidelines and had removed a deadly threat. Three archers retaliated, sending a volley of arrows in the direction from which the daggers had come, but they hit nothing.

A new danger loomed in front of Entreri; a warrior in full plate armor, tall and broad, his face hidden by a full helm. He swung a huge two-handed sword with ominous ease. Entreri backed away from the knight and then suddenly spun around. He lashed out with his saber and impaled a leather-clad hunter who had been coming up from behind. Entreri disengaged and dodged aside as the armored man rushed at him. His tactical thinking was unimpaired, despite the rage that filled him, and he knew that he had to make as many quick kills as possible to whittle down the opposition's overwhelming advantage of numbers. He couldn't afford to get tied up in a battle of attrition against someone who couldn't be taken out with one quick strike. First he had to eliminate the lighter-armored opponents and, especially, those who could kill him from a distance.

Entreri rushed at the group of archers. Another fighter in plate tried to intercept him. This man's armor didn't provide complete coverage. The full plate went down to the waist but below that he wore only pants and boots. The implication was obvious. Entreri snarled, veered aside, parried a swinging sword and riposted. He pierced his target and ripped sideways as he disengaged. The warrior collapsed to his knees, vainly trying to stem the fountain of blood from his groin, and Entreri permitted himself a grim smile as he resumed course for the bowmen. Poetic justice.

Flashes of light and the sound of explosions came from behind him, in the bushes where Jarlaxle lurked, but Entreri was not perturbed. Almost every item of jewelry worn by the flamboyant drow was a ward against spells and getting through those protections would take multiple attempts. Confirmation of Jarlaxle's safety came almost at once as a lightning bolt crackled from one of his many wands and struck the Stoneskinned wizard. The mage fell to his hands and knees, gasping for breath, and then began to climb back to his feet. Entreri jumped aside to dodge an arrow, losing sight of the injured wizard in the process, and closed with the archers.

One of the bowmen backed off, readying an arrow, as the others met Entreri's rush. A bow-stave was swung at Entreri's face as the third bowman drew sword and dagger. Entreri ducked the blow, spun, and slashed at the throat of the swordsman. His saber clashed against the other man's blade and was parried. He twisted aside to avoid a riposte and brought up his dagger to fend off another strike from the bow-stave. This time he sliced through the bowstring and the bow-stave jerked viciously in its wielder's hands, as the tension was released explosively, and snapped. The bowman cursed, dropped the ruined weapon, and grabbed for a dagger.

Entreri spun around, slashing with both sword and dagger to keep the bowmen back, and looked for the armored knight who could be entering the combat at any second. No, the man was ten paces away, kneeling at the side of the partially-armored man Entreri had stabbed in the groin. Laying on hands, healing him, bringing him back from the brink of death. Enteri gave a snarl of hatred and disbelief. A paladin! The hypocritical bastard was healing a rapist! Further away a priest was raising from the dead the mage who had been Jarlaxle's first victim. Entreri clenched his teeth. If he was going to have to kill them all twice, well, so be it.

He completed his spin and slashed at the legs of the man fighting sword-and-dagger. He raked his dagger across the eyes of the other man, brought up his saber to pin the first man's sword and dagger briefly, and stabbed his dagger down to the hilt behind the foe's collar bone. As he did so he felt an impact and searing pain. A hurled hand-axe had hit him in the back of his left shoulder. His arm went numb and he lost his grip on his dagger. He released his sword, reached over his shoulder to tug the embedded axe free and let it fall, and grabbed for the dagger with his right hand.

The vampiric blade drained the life energy of victims and transferred it to the dagger's wielder, healing him, but the stabbed man was too badly injured and died almost at once. The flow of blood from Entreri's wound slowed only marginally. He jerked the blade free and stabbed for the stomach of the man whose eyes he had raked a moment ago.

Healing energy flooded into him. Sensation and movement returned to his left arm. He saw the bowman who had retreated from his first rush taking aim and he dodged aside, pulled his injured opponent into the path of the arrow as it was loosed, withdrew his dagger as the man jerked under the arrow's impact and died, and charged the bowman.

Heavy footsteps pounded behind him as the paladin followed. Entreri outpaced his pursuer and launched a furious attack. The archer had a buckler strapped to his bow arm; he dropped his bow, blocked Entreri's dagger with the buckler, and drew a short-sword. Entreri stabbed once more and again his strike was blocked. He went in close, grappled, and brought up his knee hard. The bowman gasped and doubled up. Entreri brought down his dagger and this time it wasn't parried. He hung on to the man for a moment, receiving another flood of vampiric energy to complete the healing of his axe wound, and then twisted to put the dying archer between himself and the approaching paladin. A crossbow bolt narrowly missed his head as he moved and his Brooch of Shielding flared as it soaked up a Magic Missile spell.

His saber lay several yards away. Taking on a plate-clad knight when armed only with a dagger, even a strongly enchanted one, would be just a messy form of suicide. He grabbed the short-sword from the dying man's hand, let the body fall, and turned to face the paladin. Further away he could see that Jarlaxle had obviously killed the wizard for a second time and the drow seemed to be keeping the other wizard fully occupied and on the defensive. The partially armored man with the bloodstained groin was heading for Jarlaxle's position, crossbowmen were trying to pin Jarlaxle down, and other fighters seemed to be trying to outflank the drow. There were just too many of the enemy. He'd slain seven, Jarlaxle seemed to have killed four, but that left a dozen against the two of them.

At least for the moment Entreri had but a single foe, if a formidable one, to deal with. He saw the knight raising his sword for a swing, judged the trajectory, and side-stepped to slip past the blade. Once he could get inside the arc it would just be a matter of finding a vulnerable point in the armor…

The paladin's foot caught on a fallen bow. He tripped, stumbled, and his blow went wild. Entreri's dodge took him straight into the new path of the sword-stroke. The weapon's point ripped across his bicep and then smashed into his chest with shattering force.

Entreri hit the ground face first. His dagger was gone, yards away out of reach, and the short-sword was stuck deep into the soil. A bloody froth came from his lips as he tried to breathe. He tried to rise, but only succeeded in rolling onto his back, and fumbled at his belt for a healing potion. The paladin kicked it away, lost his balance again, and staggered back a couple of paces. The knight recovered his balance and raised his sword.

There was a 'pop' of displaced air and a large flightless bird appeared beside Entreri. A diatryma, summoned by Jarlaxle using the magical feather that he wore in his hat, six and a half feet tall and with a massive hooked beak. It hissed, flapped its stumpy wings, and advanced to place itself between the paladin and Entreri. The bird's head shot out and it pecked at the knight. The beak glanced off the gleaming steel plate without effect. The diatryma pulled its head back to strike again. The paladin swung his sword and connected with the long neck. The blade bit deep and the bird staggered. Another swing clove through the neck and the diatryma fell dead.

The knight in shining armor strode past the corpse, taking care not to trip or to step in the pool of blood, and stood over Entreri. He changed his grip on the sword to one more suitable for a downward finishing blow. Entreri tried to spit curses at him but failed to do more than blow bubbles of bloody froth.

"Die, traitor to humanity, in the name of Helm," the paladin declaimed, and raised the sword. Entreri silently commended his soul to Shar, because the Dark Mistress was the deity he despised least, and awaited his inevitable death.

Something blurred through the air and smashed into the knight's helmet. The paladin was knocked from his feet and landed on his backside. A war-hammer fell to the ground beside Entreri's leg. The knight released his sword with one hand, clawed his visor open, and spat out blood and teeth.

A volley of arrows, crossbow bolts, and a thrown hand-axe whistled into the clearing. Two men fell dead and others were wounded. One arrow would have gone through the knight's open visor had he not raised his armored gauntlet to his face at that very second. The arrow failed to penetrate the heavy plate covering the back of the hand and glanced off harmlessly. The paladin recoiled, closed his visor, and began to scramble to his feet using his sword as a prop.

A group of warriors emerged from the forest and ran into the clearing. A cloud of flying insects, wasps and biting flies and bees, came with them. The swarm headed for the nearest priest. The newcomers fell on the closest of the fighters and chopped them down.

The mage, apparently now fully recovered from Jarlaxle's Lightning Bolt, cast a spell as the insect plague spread out from the priest and approached him. A pair of sword spiders, larger than a man and with razor-sharp slicing edges on their front legs, materialized and moved to attack the new arrivals.

Music sounded from the forest, chords on a yarting or something similar, and a voice rang out in song.

"_The spiders are not insects_

_But in a war they will side with the insects._

_Traitors! Traitors! Spider traitors!_"

The sword spiders reversed their course and joined the insect plague in attacking the priest. He flailed blindly with his mace but lasted only seconds before collapsing, slashed and bitten and stung to death, and the swarm moved on to attack the mage and the other cleric.

The paladin had regained his feet and taken fresh hold of his sword in a fighting grip. He half-turned away and then turned back to Entreri. Obviously he had decided to finish off his wounded opponent before entering the fray against the newcomers. Entreri groaned in frustration at the unfairness of everything and tried to roll over enough to reach the short-sword with his working arm. If he could just hold the iron-clad swine off for a few moments…

He didn't need to. A young woman raced across the clearing, moving so fast that Entreri deduced that she was Hasted, and attacked the knight. She was small, no taller than a drow, and slim enough to look almost frail. Even so, when she delivered a stamping kick to the paladin's leg it buckled under him and he went down, letting go of his sword with one hand to clutch at his injured limb. "My leg! Aargh, my leg!" he gasped out, the words muffled by his visor and also by missing teeth.

"Hey, I've heard that somewhere before," the girl said. The knight lashed out at her with his great-sword. She parried the blow with a long-sword, a fancy weapon with an elaborate hilt and gilded pommel, blocking effortlessly and then twisting to disarm him. She kicked his sword away, caught his arm with her free hand, and wrenched it around and up to expose the vulnerable section under his armpit. She drove her blade home, deep into his chest, and withdrew it in a fountain of blood. "Eww, gross," she said, as the paladin jerked and expired. She flipped his body away. "Hey, Tara, there's a guy bad hurt here. Punctured lung, it looks like."

"Coming!" a female voice called in reply.

The girl bent to pick up the war hammer, hefted it and scanned the vicinity as if looking for targets, found none and hooked it onto her belt. "Hang on in there," she said to Entreri, "we'll get you fixed up in just a minute." She flicked blood from her sword blade and then headed for one of the fallen archers. She was moving at normal speed; not hasted, then, just naturally very fast.

Entreri looked around, as best he could, and caught a few glimpses of the last moments of the battle. The man armored to the waist, who had been stabbed in the groin by Entreri early in the fight, faced off against another girl only slightly taller than the one who had saved his life. She used two swords to kill the man, hitting him three times in quick succession without him being able to retaliate, her style reminding Entreri somewhat of his old foe Drizzt Do'Urden. The second of the two enemy clerics ran screaming as he sought to escape the plague of insects. A woman with rather elfin features intercepted him and rammed a spear through his chest. Two armored warriors hacked another knight to death with two-handed swords. Another small woman, no taller than the first, rained down blows with a flail on a crossbowman whose state of undress indicated that he had been one of those actively involved in rape. She continued to smite her foe long after he stopped moving.

"Lie still," a soft female voice addressed Entreri. "I'll have you fixed up in no time."

He looked up, saw a woman with honey-blonde hair smiling at him, and gave up his efforts to observe what was by now nothing more than mopping-up. He lay back and relaxed as she knelt down, placed her hand gently on his chest, and cast a spell of Healing. He had a deep-rooted mistrust of male priests but regarded priestesses – other than drow ones – as more tolerable; this one's smile seemed to radiate kindness and compassion. She was clad in armor of red and black scales, dragon-skin unless he missed his guess, as were several others in her group. The spell that she cast restored him to full health immediately, despite the severity of his injury, implying a level of competence at her craft that matched those of the accomplished warriors he had seen in action.

"Thanks," Entreri said. He sat up and looked around. All members of the enemy party were dead now. The flail-wielding woman was still delivering blows to her victim but he was hardly identifiable even as human by this time.

"I have to go," the priestess said. She stood up. "The, uh, there are other people who need attention." She gestured in the direction of where the drow prisoners had undergone their ordeal.

"Of course," Entreri said. "See to them without delay. I am fully recovered."

The priestess gave him a brief smile and hastened away. "Hey, Vicky," he heard her call out as she went, "You can stop hitting that guy now. He's kinda all the way dead, and more, and we got work to do."

"Very well, abbil," the woman addressed replied. Entreri's eyes widened. A drow? He couldn't see her face, hidden as it was by a broad-brimmed hat with a veil, and her dragon armor concealed her skin. He strained his ears to make out her words. "You are right that this iblith is dead and feels my blows no longer. His death was more merciful than he deserved. We shall tend to the victims, then, as I presume is your wish."

"Hey, you okay now?" The girl who had slain the paladin returned to Entreri's vicinity, wiping the blade of her sword clean with a piece of cloth sliced from the clothing of a fallen archer, and smiled at him.

"I am," Entreri confirmed. He went to where his dagger lay, bent down, and retrieved it. "Thanks to you and your associates, that is. I was almost slain. I over-reached myself, it seems, and perhaps it was a foolish venture."

"Well, maybe it wasn't all that smart," the girl said, "but I guess there are things you just have to do if you want to be able to live with yourself."

Entreri frowned. "I don't do good deeds," he said, as much to himself as to her. "I fight for money. Nothing else."

"Yeah, right," the girl said, the corners of her mouth twitching. "I've heard that one before, too. Well, I bet these guys have some gold, and they sure don't need it any more. We'll share it out later. I'm Buffy the Vampire Slayer."

"Artemis Entreri," he replied. Vampire Slayer? She spoke as if it was a title. Having seen her in action he could well believe that it was one fairly earned.

Jarlaxle emerged from the trees, his arms spread wide to show his empty hands and thus non-hostile intent, although of course his magical bracers meant that weapons were never far from his grasp. He sauntered towards Entreri, and Buffy the Vampire Slayer, with his most ingratiating smile on his face. Several members of the Vampire Slayer's party drifted, just as casually, to meet him.

Entreri studied his rescuers, sizing them up, assessing them both as people and as potential threats. It seemed distinctly unlikely that they would turn on him, as they had gone to the trouble of healing him, but he had learned long ago never to take anything for granted. He had no doubt that Jarlaxle would be carrying out a similar assessment, behind his smile, and of course the scrutiny would be reciprocated by the victorious adventuring party.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer was, he decided now that he had time to study her in detail, fair in both senses of the word. Her hair was blonde, although her eyebrows and a slight hint of a darker shade at the roots indicated to him that it would probably be a light shade of reddish-brown without artificial aids, and her features were fine and clear save for a minor irregularity about the bridge of her nose; perhaps the legacy of a combat injury that had healed naturally instead of through magic. Her eyes were green and her gaze was open and, apparently, honest and friendly. She wore no armor apart from dragon-hide boots. Entreri would have expected, from the power she had shown in her hammer-throw and her defeat of the paladin, to see her wearing a Girdle of Giant Strength. Her sword belt, however, was a mundane affair of plain leather too slender to be an item of such power. The source of her great strength, whatever it was, remained unknown.

The girl who had wielded two swords in the fight arrived and took up position in close proximity to Buffy. Her hair was as black as the wings of a raven, as a bard would say, and her skin was a light shade of bronze. At first Entreri guessed her to be a Calishite, like himself, but when she drew close he saw from the set of her eyes that her origins lay in far-off Kara-Tur. She brushed a strand of hair away from her forehead and fixed her eyes on Jarlaxle.

"Greetings, fair ladies," Jarlaxle said. He swept his feather-plumed hat from his shaven head, held the hat to his chest, and bowed low. "You have my gratitude, and that of my taciturn friend, for your most timely assistance. No doubt Artemis has expressed himself only in curt monosyllables, a grunt of 'thanks' perhaps, but I assure you that he means as much by that as a bard could convey in an entire song cycle."

Entreri noticed eyebrows climbing, and eyes widening, all around the group. Jarlaxle, who managed to cram more flamboyance into his four foot eight inch frame than anyone else would have thought possible, tended to have that effect upon first meeting. The drow wore enough jewelry to stock a small shop; a goodly proportion of it was magical. His clothes were a riot of color. Bright blue pants tucked into high wide boots that would be in style only on a pirate, a red leather vest worn without a shirt so that his tautly muscled stomach was exposed, the wide-brimmed purple hat with its huge feather, a shimmering multi-colored cloak, and, perhaps his most distinctive garment, his eye-patch. A magical aid to vision, rather than concealing a damaged eye as one would expect, it was held in place by a gaudy patterned band of Calishite silk.

One member of the adventuring band, a warrior in black leather whose hair – probably dyed – was so pale as to be almost white, focused his gaze on the eye-patch and grinned. "Bloody hell," he commented, "it's Pudsey Bear!"

Most of his colleagues seemed to find the remark as incomprehensible as did Entreri. Only one, a man of Entreri's age, or older, who held a yarting and so was presumably the party's bard, laughed aloud. The others ignored the comment.

The Kara-Turan girl grinned. "Somehow," she said to Jarlaxle, "I'm guessing you're not from Ust Natha." Her brow furrowed slightly and she tilted her head to one side. "Rilauven, maybe?"

"You are half correct, fair lady," Jarlaxle said. "I hail from the city of Menzoberranzan, far to the north of here." He replaced his hat. "I see that there is one of my race amongst your companions. No doubt you have learned of the Drow from her."

"Usstan inbal, ke, jaluk," she replied, "lu'Usstan inbal screus mzild wun l'szith-tangi nindel udos inbal fridj maunus wun Ust Natha."

"Show-off," Buffy the Vampire Slayer muttered.

Jarlaxle's eyebrows rose. "Impressive," he said. "I don't think I've ever heard a surfacer speak our language so well before. You even have a Menzoberranzan accent."

"Dawn and Tara speak it better than I do," the Kara-Turan girl admitted, gesturing first at a leggy young maiden in red dragon-leather and then in the direction of where three women, one of them the drow, ministered to the rape victims. "I am Sorkatani Gorion's Ward, originally from Candlekeep, later of Baldur's Gate and now living in Athkatla."

"Well met," said Jarlaxle. "I am Jarlaxle of Menxoberranzan, and my companion is Artemis Entreri."

Sorkatani turned her gaze on Entreri. "I have heard that name," she said. "An assassin, cold and ruthless, it is said." She smiled at him. "I prefer to judge from deeds rather than reputations. Well met, Artemis Entreri."

Entreri had tensed, ready for possible action, at her first words. Her friendly smile caught him off balance. "Uh, well met," he said. "Sorkatani? That name is known to me. The Perfect Warrior, they call you, do they not? I would have thought it a vainglorious and boastful title, probably undeserved, except that the reward offered for your death kept rising and rising and was never claimed. Now that I've seen you in action I can understand why."

"My half-brother gave me that name, in mockery," Sorkatani told him. "He was the one who put the reward on my head." She grinned at Entreri again. "Now that I've seen _you_ in action I'm glad that you didn't seek to claim it."

"I don't take contracts without knowing what I'm getting myself into," Entreri said. He saw a grimace flicker across Sorkatani's face briefly but did not know what had triggered it. "I would not have accepted a commission from one who was so obviously an incompetent and a cheapskate. To start with a pittance, then be forced to increase the amount when the pathetic thugs who would work for so little failed, showed that he would have been a most unsatisfactory employer. You get what you pay for."

"You pay peanuts, you get monkeys," a dark-haired young warrior put in. He also was clad in dragon scale armor and bore a two-handed great-sword.

"Exactly," said Entreri. "An apt way of putting it. And I am no monkey."

"True," said Jarlaxle. "That would be my role in this partnership, as I am small, and nimble, and, ah…"

"Cute?" suggested the young maiden in red leather; Dawn, presumably, if Entreri had read Sorkatani's gesture correctly.

"Perhaps not the word for which I was groping," Jarlaxle said, "but I will not object. Yes, I will concede that I have certain similarities to a monkey. I draw the line, however, at perching on the shoulder of a pirate."

"Aye aye, Captain," the dark-haired young man said. This brought chuckles from his comrades; a reference to some past experience, no doubt.

"And the nature of Monkey was… irrepressible," the blond man remarked, a change in his accent hinting that he was quoting. Again the bard laughed but the others failed to react. Entreri deduced that those two originated in a different city from the others.

"Hey, could we leave the introductions and so on until later?" suggested a blonde girl, whose dragon leather armor was black trimmed with red. "It's so much easier stripping armor off of corpses if you do it _before_ rigor mortis sets in."

"Girl's got a point," the blond man backed her.

"And you'd know," Buffy the Vampire Slayer said. Her nose wrinkled. "Hey, Spike, wipe your mouth. You've got blood dribbles. Totally gross."

The man, Spike, ran his tongue around his lips and then wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. "Sorry, Slayer," he said. "Vicky usually tips me off about things like that but she's a bit busy right now."

"It's not a big deal," Buffy said, "just, you know, not pretty." She pursed her lips and then addressed Entreri and Jarlaxle. "I guess we'd better mention this now, just in case you notice later and get all alarmed, and really it's nothing to worry about 'cause he's one of the good guys these days. Spike's a vampire."

"Ah," said Jarlaxle, "that would explain the somewhat… unconventional way in which I saw him slay one of our foes. I had deduced that he was, perhaps, a werewolf."

"Close, but no cigar," Buffy said. "He's definitely a vampire. Trust me on this. It's kinda my job to know the difference."

"Standing right here, Slayer," Spike said. "Can speak for myself."

"Yeah, but you keep putting in all that British stuff, Doctor Who and Weetabix and whatever, so that nobody but Giles can understand you," Buffy retorted.

This confirmed Entreri's deduction. Those two members of the group indeed hailed from somewhere other than the homeland of Buffy and her other colleagues.

"Don't worry about it, anyway," Buffy went on. "Spike's harmless."

"Mostly harmless," Spike corrected her.

Entreri's brow furrowed. "A vampire? How is it, then, that you walk in daylight under the full glare of the sun? Under the trees the leaves might shield you but here in this clearing there is no shade."

"Good question," Spike said. "Short answer is, we dunno."

"Some of us, including Spike, came to Faerûn from another world," Buffy expanded. "Back home he'd burn up just like any other vamp. It doesn't work that way here and we're not sure why."

"Given up wondering about it," Spike said. "These days I just enjoy it." He grinned at Jarlaxle. "As one creature of the dark to another – walking in the sun's bloody great, innit?"

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 –

"Sunlight," Bodhi sighed. "I'm so excited! To walk in the sun again after so long. It'll be such fun." She licked Katrina's neck. "I wonder how it will work out for you. Will you be immune to sunlight, because of me turning you, or will you be like the other vampires of this world?"

Katrina struggled in Bodhi's grasp. It was futile against the vampire girl's overwhelming strength. Bodhi seemed not even to notice.

"We don't even know for sure if we're immune," Tanova reminded Bodhi. She dragged Warren over to the window, tearing the IV out of his arm in the process and ignoring his yelp of pain, and stared out at the sunlit grounds of Sunnydale Hospital.

"There's only one way to find out," Bodhi said. "Dinner first." She opened her mouth wide and revealed her fangs.

"Y-you don't want to do that," Jonathan interrupted hastily. "If you kill her you'll never be able to go home."

Bodhi paused. "What do you mean?"

Katrina picked up on Jonathan's meaning. "We're the only ones who could send you back to Faerûn," she told Bodhi. "If you kill us you'll be stranded here."

"That's assuming we want to go back," Bodhi said, "but you would have a point, I suppose, if it wasn't for one thing. When we've killed you you'll still be able to walk and talk."

"It doesn't always work, though, does it?" Warren stopped trying to fight Tanova and joined in the argument. "Sometimes humans just die. You can't risk it."

"Damn," said Bodhi. "He's right. Maybe we should have brought Anomen. You can't still do your Laying On Hands trick, can you, Jeroneth?"

"Alas, no, my Lady," the former paladin replied. "Torm grants no powers to the Undead."

Bodhi pursed her lips. "Well, it usually works," she said, "and it obviously doesn't need all of them to do it, as they sent Warren Mears to Athkatla and brought him back here. We can risk one or two of them dying on us."

"It does need us all, it totally does," Andrew protested. "Me and Jonathan for the magic, Warren and Katrina for the computer stuff. We're a team."

Bodhi shook her head. "Your words betray you. There is one spare…"

"Hey, guys, did it work?" A voice called from outside the room. It was a voice that Bodhi recognized.

"Willow!" Bodhi hissed. "But how? Tanova, get us out of here! Now!" She tossed Katrina onto the bed.

Tanova released Warren, shoved him away and sent him staggering across the room, and began to cast a spell. Zarbalan back-handed Andrew and knocked him to the floor. Jeroneth, who was holding Jonathan's arms, did not release him.

Willow and Tara came through the door and stopped dead in their tracks. Tara's mouth dropped open. Willow's eyes became huge circles. "What the…?"

Circles of vapor formed in the air around Bodhi, Tanova, Zarbalan and Jeroneth. And Jonathan. They shimmered, faded, and were gone. A micro-thunderclap sounded as air rushed into the vacated spaces.

Warren grabbed at the bed-head for support, caught his balance, and then rushed to Katrina. "Are you alright?"

"I'm okay. Just shaken up. Are you alright?"

"What happened? Who were those people?" Willow asked.

Andrew sat up and rubbed his jaw. "They took Jonathan!"

Katrina scrambled off the bed, with some unnecessary assistance from Warren, and they ran to the window and looked out.

"What happened?" Willow repeated.

"Uh, Warren, your arm's bleeding," Tara said. "Didn't you notice you were on an IV?"

"It came out when Tanova pulled me out of the bed," Warren told her. "There they are! Still in the shadows."

"Tanova?" Willow's brow furrowed and she shook her head. "Who?"

"A Vampyre Mage of great power," Andrew explained, "although with only a fraction of the might of her Dread Mistress."

"Dread Mistress?" Willow echoed.

"Bodhi," Warren said. "She came with me back from Athkatla somehow. They were frigging waiting for me, guys. How the hell did that happen?"

"I don't know," Katrina said. She shook her head. "I don't get it. They're not real. Okay, they were _acting_ real, but they're still just, like, bytes of data."

"Bodhi? The vampire girl out of the Baldur's Gate game? She's here and alive?" Willow's eyes seemed about to pop out.

"Undead," Andrew corrected her.

"Yeah, she's here, and she's brought three of her friends," Warren said. "This is bad."

"I'll find a phone and call Joan and Randy," Tara suggested. "The vampires can't get far in the daytime."

Katrina groaned. "Oh yes they can," she said. "Bodhi's just walked out into the sunshine."

"Total absence of flames," Warren said. "We're screwed, guys. Oh, shit. Sunnydale is screwed."

"Uh, yeah, vampires immune to sunlight are bad, I totally get that," Willow said, "but not, like, world-ending bad."

"You don't know Bodhi," Warren said. "Once she finds out we're on a Hellmouth…" He put his hands on the glass and stared out of the window. "Hey! Yeah! They've let Jonathan go."

Andrew sucked in his breath. "Thank you, God," he said.

"Yeah, right," Warren said. He turned away from the window. "Let's get out of this place."

"Sure thing, Warren," Katrina said, "but first we get your arm patched up. And," she added, her gaze travelling over his pajama-clad body, "you'd better put on some clothes."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 –

"The garb of the locals is somewhat different from what we are used to," Bodhi remarked.

"Indeed so," Jeroneth agreed. "Those dresses are extremely short. Rather… immodest."

"You would look extremely fetching dressed that way," Zarbalan said. "Your legs are a delight to the eye."

Jeroneth smiled at him. "You do say the sweetest things."

"Sickeningly sweet," Tanova groaned. "And, while I'm thinking about it, what was the idea of letting the little man go? He was going to be our lunch. Was it because you've got a thing for short men?"

Jeroneth pouted. "Zarbalan is the only man I have any 'thing' for," she said. "No, I just thought that it would be unfair to kill him, as he had done us a service, even if unwittingly, after all. It would have attracted far too much attention, anyway, if we'd eaten him out there in the open."

"We're attracting rather a lot of attention as it is," Bodhi said. "Our clothes, I presume, as they are so unlike those of the natives." She turned her head as her gaze followed a car passing by in the road. "Hmm," she mused. "What propels those carriages? Is it enchantment, I wonder, or cunning mechanisms? There is an odor of burning oil. Mechanisms, I suspect, and therefore Gond must hold sway here. I'll have to get one of those." She turned her attention back to Tanova and returned to her original topic. "New clothes must be our second priority."

"What's our first?" Tanova asked. "Dinner?"

"No, that's number three," Bodhi replied. "Coffins. We must find a graveyard, preferably one with crypts, and prepare coffins for our use in case we are slain and forced to regenerate. That's why I didn't want to risk taking on Willow back in that building."

Tanova shuddered. "Good point," she said. "We'd have just stayed in gaseous form until we dissipated. Let us, then, seek out their graveyard district."

"I'll ask a local," Jeroneth said. She accosted a passer-by. "Good sir," she said, "could you direct me, pray, to this town's cemetery?"

"Which one?" the man responded. "Sunnydale has twelve."

"Ah, my kind of town," said Bodhi. "The biggest. Preferably one with crypts, mausoleums, catacombs and the like."

"Hmm." The local pursed his lips. "That would be Sunnydale Cemetery. It's out back of where they're rebuilding the High School." He looked the girls up and down and grinned. "Hey, nice costumes. I didn't know there was a Ren Fair on. Or is it a Sci-Fi Convention?"

"Just direct us to the cemetery," Bodhi said, "and we shall pay you with gold."

"Hey, you're really into the spirit of the thing, yeah? I'm going more or less in that direction. I don't mind showing you the way."

Bodhi smiled. "Lead on, then," she said. She turned to Tanova and smiled. "I think that this good man may well also enable us to take care of priority number three."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 –

"Ah, that looks, and smells, delicious." Jarlaxle gazed at the dark red meat and licked his lips. "My diatryma shall serve us as well in death as it did in life."

"I cooked it like it was an ostrich," the cleric, Tara, said. "We didn't have much in the way of spices so I used some Morimatra wine as a marinade."

"Totally the best way of using the stuff," Buffy commented.

Jarlaxle raised his eyebrows. "I take it you do not appreciate the traditional wine of my homeland?"

"I guess it has its uses," Buffy said, "Like, as metal polish for my sword, or to finish off a wounded troll."

Jarlaxle laughed. "Spoken like a true connoisseur." He accepted a plate of diatryma meat from Tara and speared a piece with his dagger.

There were two girl mages in the group. Both of them were red-heads, of about five foot three, with fairly similar facial features, but they had very different vocal mannerisms and were obviously not related. One of them had shadows under her eyes, her lips were pale, and she shivered occasionally. Entreri would have thought her to be ill but that seemed incongruous; the band had enough healing power to cope with a medium-sized plague and surely they would tend to one of their own. Perhaps she was simply tired from over-use of spells.

The other one, who he had heard referred to as 'Willow', was dressed and equipped in the manner of a mage of great power. She hesitated with a piece of meat half-way to her mouth and addressed Jarlaxle. "Uh, how does your big bird getting killed and, uh, eaten affect the summoning? Does it screw things up so that you won't be able to do it again?"

"Oh, no, I will still be able to summon a diatryma," Jarlaxle answered her. "This isn't the first time it has died in combat. It will be a different one next time, I suppose, but they do not have distinctive personalities. Perhaps another diatryma would be able to tell the difference but I certainly can't."

Sorkatani approached the cooking fire, accompanied by two of the female members of her band, and leading the three rescued drow captives. Entreri watched as the drow sat down and were given plates of food. They seemed to be physically over their ordeal, no doubt due to the applications of powerful healing spells, but their faces showed that they were a long way from recovering mentally and emotionally. Their eyes darted about, never still, and they avoided looking at the men in the group.

The female drow member of Sorkatani's and Buffy's band took off her veiled hat. Jarlaxle looked at her and narrowed his eyes. "You look familiar," he said, "and your companions speak our language with a Menzoberranzan accent. Do I know you?"

The female drow fixed her eyes on him. "I do not recall knowing any male with such gaudy taste in clothes," she said.

"I do know you! You were the heir to House De'Vir," Jarlaxle said. "Viconia, am I right? I thought you long dead."

"I am indeed _Matron Mother_ Viconia De'Vir, male," the woman said, with a haughty tilt of her chin, and then her mouth twitched into an unexpected smile. "Although it is perhaps the smallest House of any, with only twenty-eight members including myself, but it will grow again." She stared hard at Jarlaxle. "Your voice is familiar. You are of House Baenre, I think."

"I was," Jarlaxle admitted, "but I decided that I could do better outside the constraints of a matriarchal hierarchy. I founded my own band of mercenaries, the famed Bregan D'aerthe. I am Jarlaxle."

"Oh, yes, I remember," Viconia said. "I take it, then, that your mercenary venture has fallen on hard times, if you are now wandering in the forest with but a single companion?"

"Quite the contrary," Jarlaxle said. "We prosper mightily. I felt in the mood to adventure on the surface for a while, however, and the members of my band did not share my inclination. I have therefore taken a leave of absence, leaving my lieutenant in temporary charge, and…"

Enteri tuned out Jarlaxle's account, as he was familiar with the story, and concentrated his attention on the members of the adventuring party. The two girl leaders were… impressive. Both were devastatingly effective in combat, both extremely pretty, and both treated him with an easy friendliness that was unfamiliar and slightly disconcerting. Buffy had a sparkling wit, although he was slightly thrown by her use of cultural references from an alien world, and her smile was dazzling. Sorkatani had shown a gentle and compassionate nature in her dealings with the freed drow captives that was… endearing. If only, Entreri found himself thinking, he was ten years younger; no, he had to be honest with himself, make that fifteen years younger. He let his attention drift back to Jarlaxle.

"I had thought to pay a visit to the city of Ust Natha," the drow mercenary was saying, "where there is a small outpost of Bregan D'aerthe. Unfortunately we found an army of elves camped around the entrance to the Underdark and so we had to change our plans. Perhaps we'll get another chance later. My intention had been to combine business with pleasure. There is a Matron Mother, of a minor House, there who has certain, shall we say, outstanding assets and skills." He shot a sly glance at Entreri. "I was hoping that she could persuade my excessively restrained friend to relax and enjoy life for a while."

The buzz of other conversation around the fire stopped dead. There was a complete hush. Enteri saw the smiles on the faces of Buffy, Sorkatani, and their colleagues vanish.

"You speak of Evelintra Zaughym. I know this," Viconia said. Her lips were tight and the expression in her eyes was as hard as flint. "She is dead."

"We knew her for a few days only," Sorkatani said, "but she had become our good friend."

"They used my freaking sword to kill her," the dark-haired young knight chimed in. "It was…" He set down his plate. "You know, suddenly I'm not hungry."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 –

"A tasty snack," Bodhi said. She released the corpse and it fell to the crypt floor. "That should keep us going for a while."

"One between four isn't much," Tanova said, "but it will do, at least for the moment. An hour from now I'll probably want another one." She gazed down at the body. "He's not much of a physical specimen. I don't think he'll be much fun as a minion."

"Looks aren't everything," Bodhi said, "but I'll admit they're a start. I can't be bothered with him either." Her sword blurred through the air and the corpse's head rolled. "He won't rise now. Jeroneth, Zarbalan, pick the bits up. We'll dump them somewhere at the edge of the cemetery. Better not leave any obvious signs at this crypt now that we have it fixed up as our refuge."

"Of course, my Lady," Jeroneth said.

"Usstan rothrl – I shall obey, Lady," Zarbalan said. He grinned delightedly from under the sunglasses, acquired from their late guide, which he now wore.

"Well, that's priorities one and three dealt with," Bodhi said, "so now we can get on with priority two. Shopping for clothes."

"He had almost no coin," Tanova said. "I wonder. These pieces of paper are numbered, decorated with intricate patterns, and bear the head of a ruler. Fifty dollars, twenty dollars – that word reminds me of danter, or gulder. Yes, look, it says 'quarter dollar' on this coin. The paper is money. I've heard they use paper money in parts of Kara-Tur and the Hordelands. They must do the same here."

"An interesting idea," Bodhi said, "except that I didn't have any intention of actually paying for anything." She showed her teeth. "Let's go and paint the town red."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 –

**Glossary of Drow Phrases**

• 'Usstan inbal, ke, jaluk' = 'I have indeed, male'

• 'lu'Usstan inbal screus mzild wun l'szith-tangi nindel udos inbal fridj maunus wun Ust Natha.' = 'and I have learned more in the ten-day we have just spent in Ust Natha.'

Disclaimer: the characters in this story do not belong to me, but are being used for amusement only and all rights remain with Joss Whedon, Mutant Enemy, the writers of the original episodes, the TV and production companies responsible for the original television shows, the author of the books, and the game designers and copyright holders. BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER (c) 2002 Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation. All Rights Reserved. The Buffy the Vampire Slayer trademark is used without express permission from Fox. 'Baldur's Gate 2: Shadows of Amn' belongs to Bioware and Wizards of the Coast, Inc. Artemis Entreri and Jarlaxle belong to R. A. Salvatore. The snippet of song lyrics sung by Giles comes from 'Human Slaves (In an Insect Nation)' by Bill Bailey.


	64. Chapter 64

**Chapter Sixty-four**

"The whole city converted? Really?" Jarlaxle's eyes widened and he shook his head. "It is almost impossible to believe."

"Believe it, jaluk," Viconia said. "We left them no choice. Once the temple was despoiled, and the spiders of the city had been slaughtered, there was no way for them to turn back."

"They slaughtered the spiders?" Jarlaxle's eyebrows climbed so high that it seemed they were seeking to replace the hair on his shaven head. "Great indeed would be the wrath of Lolth. Yet what of those who took no part in those acts?"

"What were they to do? Start a civil war against a full third, or more, of the fighting forces of the city? There wouldn't have been much left of Ust Natha when the dust settled," Sorkatani said, "and they still wouldn't have regained the favor of Lolth. Talabrae pointed that out most eloquently." She grinned. "Forcefully, too, and those who might have rallied the Lolth loyalists died in a series of sudden and tragic accidents in a remarkably convenient way."

"Accidents including tripping and falling on a katana, I take it?"

"In one or two cases," Sorkatani admitted, "but mostly Talabrae arranged them herself."

"She was totally committed," Buffy added. "She'd pretty much burned her bridges and scattered the ashes once she signed up with Shar. I hear Lolth is real tough on apostrophes."

Jarlaxle tilted his head and narrowed his visible eye. "Apostrophes?"

Willow gave an eyeroll that, although unpracticed, would still probably have gained her a Yellow Belt. "I didn't know Lolth was a Grammar Nazi, Buffy."

"She means 'apostates', or perhaps 'apostasy'," Giles translated. "Really, Buffy, that's bad even for you."

"Whatever," Buffy said. "Anyway, that's how things are in Ust Natha. Shar totally rules, Eilistraee and the god of drow guys are in too, Lolth is out. If you're still planning on heading there, now the elves are out of the way, you'd better get with the program."

"I cannot abandon Lolth altogether," Jarlaxle said, "or my life would be instantly forfeit if – I mean when – I return to Menzoberranzan. I must confess, however, that Vhaeraun's doctrines are more to my taste. I will keep my religious affiliations, such as they are, to myself and do nothing to upset the new rulers of the city."

"I have little love for the gods and their priests," Entreri said. "Hypocrites, most of them, like that swine of a paladin who fought to protect rapists. The only deity for whom I have any regard is Shar."

"Hey, cool. You should fit right in," Buffy said, giving him a beaming smile.

"What the hell was a paladin doing with those guys anyway?" Xander wondered. "Like, it should have blown a hole right through the rule about not associating with anyone evil. Instant loss of powers, hello vanilla fighter, right? Except that's not what happened, and he still did the Laying On Hands thing, yeah? I don't get it." He wrinkled his nose. "I'm really not big with the shouting of 'Yay, go Team Paladin' right now, that's for sure."

"Presumably, because the victims of the utterly despicable act were drow, he did not regard the perpetrators as evil," Giles said.

"To most rivvin we are mere monsters, not people," Viconia said, "and they can do anything they like to us with a clear conscience." Spike took hold of her hand and squeezed it gently. Willow laid a hand upon Viconia's shoulder.

Entreri took note of the byplay. He remembered the berserk fury she had shown when smiting one of the rapists and guessed that she, too, had been a victim of sexual assault. He refrained from comment; he did not think that any such would be well received unless he accompanied it with a disclosure of events in his own distant past that he was not ready to share. He decided to change the subject.

"We shall go to Ust Natha, as Jarlaxle desires, if the way is now open," he said, "and we will escort these rescued ones to their home."

"Hey, that's great," Buffy said. "It would save us one whole lot of time."

"It sure would," Willow agreed. "I could jump there with them, no problem, I know that place pretty well by now, but getting back here? Not so simple. One tree is pretty much like another. I'd have to walk."

"Time we cannot spare," Sorkatani said, "with Bodhi probably already in Athkatla. Your offer is greatly appreciated, Artemis Entreri."

"Yeah, thanks," Buffy added, giving him a beaming smile.

"You saved my life," Entreri said. "It is the least that I can do."

"Dusk draws near," Jarlaxle said, "and we will travel best by night. We shall depart soon."

"I guess," Buffy said. "Maybe we'll see you around some time."

"It is possible," Jarlaxle said. "We are traveling north and east, heading for the Bloodstone Lands, but Athkatla is not all that far out of our way."

"Perhaps we could assist you against your vampire enemy," Entreri offered.

"She's tough, real major league tough," Buffy said, "and we could use any help we could get, but there might be one teeny little problem with that." She glanced at Xander.

Xander shrugged his shoulders. "If you're thinking about the rule about me not mixing with Evil people," he said, "well, after today, see me not caring. You two guys put your lives on the line to do a good deed. You're okay by me."

"That was the only obstacle," Sorkatani said, "and so we would be delighted to accept your aid, if we have not ourselves slain her before you arrive."

"It would be my pleasure to assist you, Lady Sorkatani," Entreri said.

"Now, my friend," Jarlaxle said, wagging a finger at Entreri, "remember that we are mercenaries. To work without being paid, even for those who have been our allies, is against the mercenary code." Entreri glowered at him, as did Xander and Minsc, but Jarlaxle merely smiled back at them.

Sorkatani produced a single gold danter and held it up. Her smile matched Jarlaxle's. "Will this suffice?"

"That will do nicely," Jarlaxle said. Sorkatani tossed the coin to him and he caught it. "As a retainer, at least," Jarlaxle added, "with the balance being in the form of a fair share of the spoils."

Sorkatani glanced at Buffy and then nodded. "Agreed."

The scowls on the faces of Xander and Minsc vanished. Spike grinned at Jarlaxle. "Just winding your pal up there, were you, mate?"

"Winding him up?" Jarlaxle's forehead creased up.

"Pulling his leg, jerking his chain…"

"Your idioms are unfamiliar," Jarlaxle said. "My command of the Common Tongue is perhaps not as comprehensive as I had thought. However, I think I understand the gist. I was indeed jesting with my comrade, although there was a serious point to be made as well. We are not Knight Errants and should think before we act. His precipitous action, noble as it was, could have resulted in both our deaths. If we had Kimmuriel, and a half-dozen swordsmen of Bregan D'aerthe, with us then open assault may have been the correct course but, as it was, we should have picked them off one at a time."

"The captives were suffering," Entreri said. "I could not bear to delay." He looked at the ground to avoid meeting any questioning gazes. If it had been only the drow girls who had been victims he would have been able to contain his rage; it was the rape of the young male that had pushed him over the edge.

"A noble cause, as I said, but rash," said Jarlaxle. "It worked out well in the end, thanks to our new friends, and I will say no more about it."

Entreri suppressed the urge to heave a sigh of relief. His last attempt to change the subject, away from uncomfortable matters, had proved only temporarily successful. He tried again. "Master Giles," he said, "it is evident that you are an accomplished bard, and the song by which you turned our foes' summoned spiders against them was masterly. I was somewhat incapacitated at the time, of course, and in no fit state to appreciate the music. That you inspired a revolution by your songs is a feat the like of which I have never heard. Play for us before we part, if you would, for our entertainment rather than to work magic."

"I don't see why not," Giles said. He opened a Bag of Holding and took out a yarting of slightly unconventional appearance. Viconia mirrored his actions. "I have a song that I think particularly appropriate for the present company," Giles said. He glanced at Viconia. "I haven't finished teaching you 'Feels So Good' yet. Do you think that you can manage?"

Viconia nodded. "Shar guides my hand," she replied, poising her fingers over the strings of her yarting.

Giles nodded. "Excellent," he said, and turned to face Entreri and Jarlaxle. "This is a song about a man who gets out of prison – and what a time he has!"

"_I feel so good I'm gonna break somebody's heart tonight,_

_I feel so good I'm gonna take someone apart tonight_

_They put me in jail for my deviant ways_

_Two years seven months and sixteen days_

_Now I'm back on the streets in a purple haze_

_And I feel so good_

_And I feel so good_

_I feel so good I'm gonna break somebody's heart tonight_

_I feel so good I'm gonna make somebody's day tonight_

_I feel so good I'm gonna make somebody pay tonight_

_I'm old enough to sin but I'm too young to vote_

_Society's been dragging on the tail of my coat_

_Now I've got a suitcase full of promissory notes_

_And a half-naked woman with her tongue down my throat_

_And I feel so good_

_And I feel so good_

_I feel so good I'm gonna break somebody's heart tonight…_

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 –

Bodhi twirled on the dance floor, a wide smile on her face, a handsome young man partnering her. Beside her Tanova danced with slightly less abandon and a partner who was the handsome man's less attractive friend.

_Hey  
Don't write yourself off yet  
It's only in your head you feel left out  
Or looked down on  
Just do your best  
Do everything you can  
And don't you worry what their bitter hearts  
Are gonna say_

"I love this song," Bodhi remarked as she danced. She licked her lips.

"Yeah, Jimmy Eat World are pretty cool," her partner agreed. He grinned widely. This chick was hot; maybe a little older than most of the crowd at The Bronze, and maybe not quite as pretty as her friend, but she just had so much style and class. Also, from the way she kept looking at him, he was pretty sure that he was going to get laid. It didn't occur to him that her hungry looks were mostly directed at his neck.

_It just takes some time_

_Little girl_

_In the middle of the ride_

_Everything everything will be just fine_

_Everything everything will be alright_

_It just takes some time_

_Little girl_

_In the middle of the ride_

_Everything everything will be just fine_

_Everything everything will be alright_

"Like another drink?" the young man asked Bodhi, as the song finished.

Bodhi fluttered her eyelashes. "Oh, yes," she said, "I'd like that. And then maybe we could go somewhere a little… quieter." She led the beaming man from the dance floor.

"Bodhi!" Tanova hissed. "Look!"

Bodhi followed her gaze and stopped dead in her tracks. "What the fuck? What are they doing here?" Her smile vanished and her forehead creased up in a frown. Buffy and Spike were moving through the crowd around the bar. They wore no armor, only the clothes appropriate to this world, and carried no visible weapons. Spike's long coat could easily be concealing almost anything, however, and Bodhi took it for granted that they would have swords. "I was looking forward to some violence," she said, "but perhaps not with those two. Any sign of the others?"

Tanova cocked her head to one side. "No. Only Buffy and Spike." She muttered an incantation and focused her gaze on the newcomers. Her eyes narrowed. "That's strange. I'm not detecting any magic at all."

"What's up?" the man who had danced with Bodhi asked. The vampires ignored him.

"And that's stranger," Bodhi said. "They've just looked straight at us without reacting. How could they not recognize us? These clothes aren't much of a disguise."

"Huh? What are you talking about?" Bodhi's dancing partner directed a questioning gaze at her and at the subjects of Bodhi's attention. "You know Randy and Joan?"

"It's nothing you need to worry about," Bodhi told him. She turned briefly to smile at him. "Why don't you go and get the drinks? We'll meet you back at the table."

"Sure," the young man agreed, and moved off. Tanova's partner accompanied him.

"Clones," Tanova said. "I think they're clones." She watched as 'Buffy' and 'Spike' halted, stared at the table where Jeroneth and Zarbalan sat holding hands, and headed in that direction. "They've never met us. They're going by descriptions from the people who brought us to this world."

"That would explain a lot," Bodhi agreed. A wide smile spread over her face. "Randy and Joan, he said? Not Buffy and Spike, but clones. No dragon armor, no Hammer of Thunderbolts, and no Staff of the Archmagi for Willow. I like those odds. This could be fun."

"It's only a guess," Tanova cautioned her. "Your dinner could have been mistaken."

"I think it's a good guess," said Bodhi. "Worth the gamble. Anyway, they've seen the others. We couldn't get out without them seeing. Come on." She led the way toward the table and Tanova followed at her heels.

The two presumed clones reached Zarbalan and Jeroneth slightly ahead of Bodhi. The girl, who could have been either Randy or Joan as Bodhi had no idea which of the two names was the feminine one, stared at Zarbalan.

"So, you're a drow, right? How did you get into this world?" she asked.

The blond vampire turned around as Bodhi and Tanova approached. "Watch out, Slayer," he warned. "Here come the other two."

The girl half turned, keeping Jeroneth and Zarbalan in her field of vision, and watched Bodhi out of the corner of her eye. She raised an eyebrow. "Nice clothes," she said. "I was expecting you to be in leather."

"When in Waterdeep, do as the Waterdavians do," Bodhi said. "Although I can't understand how you can walk in such high heels."

"Practice," the Slayer said. "Not that you're gonna get the chance to try, seeing as how I'll be dusting you any minute now."

"Oh?" Bodhi grinned widely. "I think not. Should we go outside? It would be a pity to destroy this place, would it not, Randy? Or are you Joan?"

The girl's mouth twisted. "Joan the Vampire Slayer," she confirmed. "You're Bodhi, right?"

"Bhuraedea Firvannauath, Bodhi for short," Bodhi said. "Let us not delay. My next bed-partner will be back with drinks soon. I'd like you to be dead before that."

"In your dreams," Joan said. She backed away, keeping her eyes on the vampires, and headed for the doors. Randy went with her.

Jeroneth lifted a long bag up from under the table. "I presume you will want your sword, Mistress?"

Bodhi shook her head. "There is no need. It's incredible. They have no magic weapons at all. If Juk, or whatever his name is, gets back before we finish just tell him that we are at the privy. This should only take a moment."

"Unless Willow and Tara are waiting for us outside," Tanova suggested. "I'm buffing up just in case."

"Pessimist," Bodhi said. She caught sight of her erstwhile dancing partner and his friend arriving with a tray of drinks and waved to him. "We have to go out for just a minute," she called. "We won't be long." She shot him a beaming smile as he nodded acknowledgment. "Don't use anything like Abi Dazim's Horrid Wilting," she said quietly to Tanova. "You know how sexy killing makes me feel. I don't want any smelly fumes clinging to me when I'm going to be fucking soon."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 –

Joan kicked high, catching Bodhi across the side of the head, but Bodhi hardly even flinched. Randy hit Tanova twice, dodged a return strike, and grabbed for Tanova's arm. She managed to avoid his clutching hand and stepped back, shaking her head as if to clear it, and spoke an arcane phrase. A circle of fire sprang up around her. Randy hesitated.

"Switch!" Joan called. Randy bent down and Joan vaulted over his back; she passed through the flames and kicked Tanova in the face. Randy went the other way, staying low, and kicked to Bodhi's knee. He brought his leg up and kicked again, to the stomach, and then a third time to the head.

Bodhi's arm blurred. She moved faster than Randy would have believed possible and caught his ankle with one hand. She held his leg straight and brought her elbow down on his knee joint. Randy cried out in agony as his kneecap fractured and his knee joint was dislocated.

Joan's hand went inside her jacket and emerged holding a stake. She thrust it through Tanova's chest and the vampire popped out of existence. Joan whirled around and hurled herself at Bodhi. She gasped with horror and threw herself flat as Bodhi struck out at her by wielding Randy as a living flail. Joan came up inside the arc of the swing and stabbed with her stake. Bodhi released Randy, sending him flying to crash head first into the outer wall of The Bronze, and grabbed Joan's wrist. Joan opened her fingers, releasing the stake, and caught it with her other hand as it fell. She thrust at Bodhi's chest but Bodhi pulled and twisted on the trapped arm; Joan was thrown from her feet and her strike missed its target. She went with the throw, freeing her arm in the process, and rolled away. As she came to her feet she was hit by a barrage of glowing bolts of energy. She cried out in pain and then again in surprise; Tanova, completely unaffected by her staking, was standing thirty feet away.

Bodhi closed with her and punched. Joan's block was brushed aside and a fist smashed into her cheek. She rocked under the impact. She managed to parry Bodhi's next punch but a third struck home. This time Joan was knocked from her feet and fell on her backside. Bodhi kicked her in the head, knocking her flat, and then stamped down. The breath was driven from Joan's lungs. Another stamping kick cracked ribs. Bodhi kicked once more and then reached down, seized Joan by the hair, and picked her up. Bodhi's mouth opened wide and her fangs gleamed under the street lights as she aimed a bite at Joan's throat.

Randy hit her from behind. He hopped to the attack and drove both fists down on the back of Bodhi's neck. She staggered, her knees bent briefly, and she released Joan. Randy struck again. This time Bodhi was not taken by surprise, Randy was off balance and unable to bring much power to bear, and Bodhi shrugged off the blow. She whirled round and lashed the back of a fist into Randy's jaw. There was a crunch of breaking bone, Randy was lifted into the air by the force of the blow, and he hurtled backward to once more crash into the wall of The Bronze. He bounced off, fell forward, and tried to regain his footing. Tanova sent three fiery bolts streaking across the street to impale Randy. His shirt caught fire and he rolled away, beating at the flames to try to extinguish them, and leaving smears of blood behind him on the sidewalk.

Bodhi backed off for a moment. The flames were actually providing Randy with some protection from her. Joan seized the opportunity to tackle Bodhi and shove her head first into the Bronze wall. She didn't follow up her momentary advantage but instead dived for Randy, smothered what remained of the flames, and helped him to rise. Tanova hit them both with a Lightning Bolt and Randy, whose face was a mass of blood, jerked convulsively and went limp in Joan's arms.

Bodhi ran her fingers through her hair, making sure that it covered her ears, and glanced over at Tanova. "No more spells," she commanded. "I'll finish them off."

Even as she was speaking Joan lifted Randy, swung him over her shoulder, and took off at a dead run. Bodhi started to pursue but Joan took a sharp turn and disappeared into an alley.

Bodhi stopped and shook her head. "She knows the area and I don't," she said to Tanova. "I'll let them go for now. I can always kill them later. They must be clones. That was ridiculously easy."

"I'd rather we had killed them," Tanova said.

"And me," Bodhi agreed, "but it can't be helped. Let's get back to the men. Some fucking, and then a feed, will be the perfect end to the day."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

_In the Year of the Turret_

_A great Horde shall come from the East_

_Like a plague of locusts_

_So sayeth the wise Alaundo…_

The woman's robes were jet black with streaks of violet in a seemingly random scattering across the cloth. Little Sorkatani peered from behind her mother's cloak and wondered if they were truly random or if the designs meant something in the writing of the Westerners.

"So, Wei Guiying, you come to us at last." The Western woman turned her head and fixed her round eyes, a strange blue in color, on Sorkatani. "And you bring the Child of Prophecy. The young Mistress of Thrones and Crowns."

"She will never bear that title, Alianna," Wei Guiying said. Sorkatani could not follow the Western tongue well enough to be sure of the meaning behind inflexions but she thought she detected a hint of bitterness in her mother's voice. "You must know that. I had no choice but to bring you my daughter. Her life is in danger. Now that the Great Khan is dead the heirs contend for the succession. Her claim may be slight but it is enough to place her in peril."

"And if it was revealed that she is not truly the child of Yamun Khahan…?" The tall Western woman continued to stare at Sorkatani. Her retinue of foreign devils, tall and with hair like straw, also gazed at the girl.

"She would still be slain," Wei Guiying said, "and I would be wrapped in felt blankets and trampled beneath the hooves of horses." Sorkatani bit her lip and squeezed her mother's hand tightly.

"And so you fled to us." The Westerner's thin lips twitched up at the corners.

"There was nothing else that I could do," Wei Guying said. "Now give us shelter, as you promised, until I can find a way of returning to Shou Lung."

Alianna's smile grew broader and she showed her teeth. There was a clasp on her cloak in the shape of a skull and her grin matched that of the emblem's grisly symbol. Sorkatani's grip on her mother's hand grew tighter. "Out of the frying pan, or the wok as you would call it…" Alianna said. She raised a hand. "Kill the woman. Do not harm the girl. Take her alive. For now."

"Hé? What is this?" Wei's mouth fell open.

"Our Lord is also dead," Alianna said, "but with the right sacrifices He shall return. You were merely one of the vessels to carry His seed. Our promises were simply to persuade you to fill that role. You no longer matter."

"You shall not harm Sorkatani, barbarian witch," Wei spat. She pulled her hand free of her daughter's grasp. "Run, child, quickly," she ordered in Tuigan. "Ride to Rashemen and I will join you there."

As Sorkatani obeyed her mother and scuttled towards the horses the Western woman's guards advanced to the attack. The first to reach Wei Guiying thrust out with a long straight sword.

Wei swayed aside. The sword passed under her arm. She clamped down with her arm, pinning the sword-arm, and struck the man under the nose with the heel of her other hand. Sorkatani did not see the moves that followed but when next she glanced back the man sat on the ground, his face bloody, and her mother held his sword.

Two of the Western barbarians rushed at Wei Guiying. Her kalat billowed as she spun, kicking high to connect with the head of one barbarian, and slashing with the sword at the other. Both men fell.

Sorkatani reached the horses. She was too small to vault into the saddle, in the way of a seasoned warrior of the Horde, and so she grabbed the horn of the saddle and clambered onto the back of her horse. Once mounted she was not going to flee; her bow was in its case at the saddle bow and she knew how to use it. She was not yet nine years old, and a girl, but she was Tuigan and the daughter of the Great Khan. She would fight.

Unseen hands clamped on her heel and dragged her from the horse. A barbarian in a steel chain hauberk and fur jerkin, his lips curled in a sneer behind his pale yellow beard, became visible from nowhere. "Gotcha!" he cried.

"Sorkatani!" Wei Guiying raised the sword and ran towards her daughter. Sorkatani heard the twang of a bowstring and then a muffled thud. She saw her mother stumble and arch her back. The sword sagged in her hand.

Sorkatani cried out. She kicked, clawed, and bit but she could not free herself from the grasp of the foreigner.

"Sorkatani!" her mother called again. "Run!" She took a fresh grip on the sword and resumed her course. Another of the foreign devils caught up with her and hacked at her with an axe. Wei Guiying went under the blow and came up striking with knee and elbow. The barbarian stumbled back and his arms went out. Wei Guiying slashed with the sword and severed his axe hand at the wrist. Once more she turned towards her daughter.

The bowstring twanged again. Sorkatani saw the arrow strike. It took Wei low in the back, left of center, and penetrated for half its length. Wei Guiying fell on her face on the ground.

Sorkatani screamed. She renewed her struggles to escape her captor. It was to no avail. He was a man full grown, tall and strong, and she was a child of eight. He tucked her under his arm and carried her, wriggling and kicking, towards the woman in the black and violet robes.

Wei Guiying raised her head. She tried to get to her feet. Using the sword as a support she managed to rise to her knees. The barbarian with the bleeding nose aimed a kick at her face. She swept up her arm under his leg as he kicked and sent him sprawling once more. In the process she lost her own balance and fell. She struggled to her knees again. Blood was running from her mouth.

A foreign devil carrying a short recurve bow, like those used by the Horde, stepped out from the shadows behind the robed woman. "Feisty piece, ain't she?" he commented. "Not half bad looking for a woman with a kid that age. Must have been not much more than a child bride. Pity she's dying. Could have had some fun first before we killed her." He slung his bow over his shoulder and walked towards Wei Guiying.

Sorkatani went berserk in the arms of her captor. The bowman had shot her mother in the back. He had to pay. She managed to get a finger into the eye of the man who held her. He yelped and released her body with one arm to snatch at her clawing hand. She pulled her arm away, wriggled and twisted, and was free.

Only for a second. The man caught her hair and halted her in her tracks. She knew the counter; she reached up with both hands, grabbed his hand and pulled it down onto the top of her head, then turned so that the whole force of her body was thrown against his wrist. If he had been another child, probably even had her captor been an adult woman, it would have worked. The man was just too strong. All she achieved was to bring a brief grunt of pain from his lips and to trigger a slap to her face.

Pain shot through her. Her head sang with the impact. She was already crying but her tears now ran more freely.

"Sorkatani, xin ái…" Wei Guiying bared her teeth and made it to her feet. She whirled the sword again, taking the bowman by surprise, and slashed the blade across his legs. He went down, blood pouring from the wounds, and she took a step towards the man who held her daughter. She staggered and swayed, halted for a moment, and then forced herself on. The foreign devil cursed, swung Sorkatani up and held her under one arm, and fumbled at his belt for a dagger.

"Do I have to do everything myself?" Alianna complained. She took a bone wand from her sleeve and aimed it at Wei Guiying. A beam of pale green light shot forth. Wei Guiying froze in her tracks and stood rigidly motionless.

"A clumsy substitute for true divine spells," the Western woman remarked, as she put away the wand and drew a mace, "but it is only for a time. When the sacrifice is complete our Lord shall return and his dominion over murder shall be restored." She walked up to the helpless Wei Guiying. "For Bhaal!" she cried. She took a two-handed grip on her mace and swung hard.

Sorkatani screamed as her mother toppled to the ground and lay still.

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

"Bad dream, Jabbress?" Spike materialized out of the dawn's dim light and stood beside Sorkatani's bedroll.

Sorkatani sat bolt upright. For once she did not immediately reach for Celestial Fury. "Mǔ? Hé?"

Spike cocked his head to one side. "What's that you said?"

Sorkatani rubbed a hand over her eyes. "Mother," she said slowly. "I… remember my mother."

"Oh?" Spike's brow furrowed slightly. "Thought you were too young to remember her."

"I was eight – nearly nine," Sorkatani said. "I remember – but why only now?"

Jaheira disentangled herself from Giles' arms, without waking him, and slowly emerged from their bedroll. Her hands moved beneath the coverings as she adjusted her garments before revealing herself. "Lye n'denginar tarienelle," she said, her voice soft, and she stared at Sorkatani. "How could I have forgotten?"

The furrow in Spike's brows grew deeper. "Tani's an engineer?"

"Our little Slayer princess," Jaheira translated. "It was the name Khalid and I had for her. Such a fierce child, she was, but…" Her voice trailed away. Creases formed on her forehead and between her eyebrows. "I do not understand," she said. "When we met in the Friendly Arm Inn it was as if for the first time… and yet we were with Gorion when he rescued you from the Temple of Bhaal. We travelled with you to Candlekeep, more than a ten-day on the road, and it was I who…"

"Who held me when I cried," Sorkatani finished for her.

"How could I have forgotten?" Jaheira shook her head.

Willow's head popped up out of her bedroll like a marmot peeking out of its burrow. "Sounds like someone tampered with your memories."

"Indeed so," Jaheira agreed. "It must have been Gorion. No doubt he felt it… safer for Sorkatani." She shook her head again. "I suppose I can understand his reasons, although I am not sure if I approve – but why have the memories suddenly come back?"

"What's that, my dear?" Giles stirred, groped for his glasses, and then remembered that he no longer needed them. All around the camp people were waking up and asking what was going on. Hasty explanations were made to those who had missed the earlier conversation. Sorkatani gave a brief account of her dream and of the memories it had awakened.

"Bloody hell!" Spike exclaimed, grinning. "Remember when I guessed that you were the rightful Empress of Kara-Tur? Wasn't that far off, was I?"

"Perhaps not," Sorkatani agreed, "although Yamun Kahan was not really my father, and my mother was only a very minor Princess of the Imperial House of Shou Lung."

"Yah Moon Callahan? Who's he?" Buffy asked.

"This world's equivalent of Genghis Khan, I gather," Giles explained, "save that he died in battle with his conquests incomplete."

"Gorion lied to me," Sorkatani said quietly, her expression pensive. "He never knew my mother."

"I'm sure that any such deception will have been for the best of motives," Giles assured her. Sorkatani frowned and chewed on her lower lip as she pondered her realization.

"Something is wrong," Viconia announced. No-one, not even Spike, paid any particular attention. Her statement was assumed to be part of the general discussion. She repeated herself, to no greater result, and then stood up. She was stark naked save for Bracers of Defense on her arms. "Listen to me!" she called. "Something is very wrong."

"Well, that's one way of getting everyone's attention," Buffy muttered.

"I have no spells," Viconia announced. "The Heal spells that I cast upon the drow, the Restoration for Imoen – they have not come back."

"What?" Tara stared at her. "I… yes, I have my spells back."

"And I have mine," Jaheira added. "It is only you, abbil."

"Maybe you just didn't get enough rest," Buffy suggested. "And, hey, maybe you could put on some clothes instead of, like, flashing yourself in front of Dawn?"

Viconia curled her upper lip in a sneer. "Dawn has breasts of her own, Jabbress Buffy," she pointed out.

"I even have a pussy," Dawn muttered under her breath, too quietly for even Buffy to hear. "We've done the communal bath thing, Buffy," she added aloud, with an accompanying eye-roll. "It's not like my delicate mind is gonna be scarred by catching a glimpse of Vicky's…"

"Dawn!" Buffy chopped her sister off short in case she had been going to say a Naughty Word.

Viconia picked up her bra and panties. "I had rest aplenty," she said, as she donned the garments, "for Spike spent much of the night on guard, as you know. No, there must be some other reason." She reached behind her back to fasten the bra hooks. "I still have the spells that I did not cast," she said, "and the Bless spell from the fight has returned. It is only the major spells that I have not regained." She stood for a moment in silent concentration. "Gaer zhah naubol!" she exclaimed, her lips turning down in a grimace. "I cannot reach Shar."

"I do not believe you can have offended her," Jaheira said, "for you have surely pleased her greatly of late."

"And hey, she was giving you song requests for Giles like a listener calling up a late-night radio station," Buffy said.

Viconia frowned. "I shall ignore those incomprehensible words," she said. "What can be wrong? What Power could interfere between me and my goddess?" She began to gather up her clothes and armor.

"Hmm. Memory is within Shar's sphere, if I recall correctly," Giles observed.

"You are right, a'mael," Jaheira confirmed, "and particularly loss of memory. You suspect a connection?"

"It's certainly a possibility," Giles said. "Could Gorion have, ah, invoked Shar in the course of casting the spell?"

"But if the spell has now broken," Jaheira said, slowly, "then what does this mean?"

"Nau! This cannot be!" Viconia dropped her dragon-scale hauberk. It landed on her bare foot but she didn't even flinch. Her eyes were wide with horror and her lips had gone pale. "I can think of only one explanation," she said, "although it is almost impossible to believe. Something has happened to Shar."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

"We didn't stand a chance," Joan said. Her face was a mass of purple bruises. "She's faster than me and much stronger. We didn't hurt her at all and she smashed us up like we were in a car crash."

"Buffy went into the game with a Strength score of 22," Warren said, "which, in Second Edition, is about eight times as strong as a regular human. After Bodhi gets Imoen's soul her Strength goes up to 24. It's an exponential scale. She's maybe three or four times as strong as you are. You can pick up a car, right?"

"If I can get a good grip on it, and find some way of balancing it, yeah, no problem," Joan confirmed.

"Well, Bodhi could pick one up and throw it fifty feet," Warren said. "Only a few of the gods are stronger. She's super fast, too."

"Yeah, I had noticed." Joan touched a finger to her cheek and winced. "She came within a whisker of killing both of us. Randy will be out of action for quite a while. Days at least, weeks maybe, I don't know. He's never been hurt this bad before."

"I've splinted up his leg as best I can," Tara said, "but I'm worried about his jaw. It's a shame we can't take him to the hospital."

"They'd just declare him dead," Alex said. "Not having a heartbeat pretty much disqualifies him from most medical treatment."

"All we can do is keep him in bed and feed him lots of blood, I guess," Joan said. "Until he gets better our fighting strength is way down. If they come after us we're in big trouble."

"They are subject to the same invite rules as our native vampires, I take it?" Rupert asked.

"Yeah," Warren confirmed, "but Tanova being a high-level mage gives them a few ways to get round that. Bodhi has the standard vampire charm but Tanova can Dire Charm on top of that. Domination, too. She could just command you to invite them in and the odds are you'd do it. That's if she didn't just use a Fireball to set the house on fire."

"She surrounded herself with fire to stop Randy getting to her," Joan remembered, "and she threw fire and lightning at us. I staked her, and she just vanished, and then she just popped up again."

"Mislead," Jonathan said, "or Project Image. You weren't fighting her, you were fighting an illusion."

"I can't beat them," Joan admitted. "Both of us together didn't do more than muss Bodhi's hair. Without Randy they'd kill me for sure – and there are the other two as well."

"Our usual tactics are effective against normal vampires," Rupert said, "but these are not normal. We need to completely rethink our methods. If you can make any suggestions," he continued, looking at the members of the Trio and Katrina, "then I would be very grateful."

"Flamethrowers would be good," Warren said, "but I don't think the cops would be too happy about that."

"Super-soakers full of Holy Water," Andrew suggested.

"Not a bad idea," Joan said.

Warren shook his head. "Against Tanova? Not good, guys. Lightning Bolt would travel up the stream. She's got you outranged with most things. Arrows might work, maybe, except that I think she knows Protection From Arrows."

"She does," Jonathan said. "I checked." He scratched his head. "Even if you stuck her through the heart it wouldn't be enough," he pointed out. "If she's prepared a coffin here she'd just go back there and regenerate. Those vampires don't dust the way Sunnydale ones do. We need to find their lair."

"We need to get them back into the computer," Katrina said.

Joan stared at her. "As long as we get rid of them I don't much care how we do it," she said, "but killing them works for me."

"Hey, that's right," Warren said. "If we don't get Bodhi back in there Imoen will die. They won't be able to get to Suldanessellar and Irenicus won't get stopped. I don't know if Sorkatani will die, losing her soul doesn't seem to have affected her much except for her turning into that prehistoric Slayer girl, but the population of the city will be totally screwed."

Joan grimaced. "It's still hard for me to think of them as real," she said, "but getting my cheekbone, and three of my ribs, broken by somebody who came out of the computer is a pretty convincing demonstration. Sunnydale has to be my priority but I'll do what I can. Except that I have absolutely no clue about any way to do it."

"I tried to use the device as soon as I realized who they were," Katrina said. "Nothing happened. Totally zilch. I don't know why. It worked on Warren."

"Yeah, but I was in a coma," Warren said. "Maybe they'd have to be unconscious, or regenerating in their coffins, for it to work."

"So I have to knock them out or stake them anyway," Joan said. "It doesn't change much. Right now I'm too beat up to do much of anything. I'm gonna get some more rest, heal up some more, and hope Bodhi doesn't come after us until I'm back to full strength."

"This isn't her world," Jonathan said. "She doesn't know her way around. I think we're safe."

Warren groaned. "You had to say that, dude. You've jinxed us."

"She was wearing a Lauren Moshi top and Joe's Jeans," Joan said. "I think she's finding her feet pretty quickly. We might not have much time at all."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

"Randy and Joan," Bodhi said. "You know them, do you not?"

"Not exactly know them, Mistress," the newly risen vampire replied. "I've seen them around. Joan used to call herself Buffy. She was in my brother's class at High School."

"Where does she live?"

"Somewhere near the mall, I think. Hampton or Revello, maybe Hamilton," came the reply.

"I'm pretty sure it's Revello," the other new vampire, who had partnered Tanova at The Bronze, stated. "I could check in the phone book, Mistress. Her last name is Summers."

"I don't know what book you speak of," Bodhi said, "and neither do I care. Just find her."

"At once, Mistress." The minion scurried to obey. "Summers, J. 1630 Revello Drive. I knew I was right about it being Revello."

"You can find this house?"

"No problemo," he assured her. "I'll drive you over as soon as it gets dark, if you like, Mistress."

"Can't you go out in the sun?" Bodhi asked. "I can, and I made you, so surely you should be able to do so too."

The new vampire shuddered. "I don't know. It scares me."

"I could always find out by throwing you out the door," Bodhi mused, "but that would be poor reward for your service. Okay, take me there tonight."

"What is your plan?" Tanova asked.

"Simple," Bodhi said. "You cast Cloudkill into the building and we kill anyone who makes it out alive."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

Author's Note: the explanation of what has happened to the goddess Shar can be found in a short story called 'The Whole of the Moon', 3 chapters, 10,500 words. I am posting it here simultaneously with the corresponding chapters of 'Tabula Avatar'.

Disclaimer: the characters in this story do not belong to me, but are being used for amusement only and all rights remain with Joss Whedon, Mutant Enemy, the writers of the original episodes, the TV and production companies responsible for the original television shows, the author of the books, and the game designers and copyright holders. BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER (c) 2002 Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation. All Rights Reserved. The Buffy the Vampire Slayer trademark is used without express permission from Fox. 'Baldur's Gate 2: Shadows of Amn' belongs to Bioware and Wizards of the Coast, Inc. Artemis Entreri and Jarlaxle belong to R. A. Salvatore. The song lyrics sung by Giles are from 'I Feel So Good' by Richard Thompson, from the album 'Rumor and Sigh', with a slight amendment made to make one line understandable to Faerûn natives. Song lyrics used during the scene at The Bronze are from 'In the Middle' by Jimmy Eat World. Lyrics used without permission and for non-commercial purposes only.


	65. Chapter 65

**Chapter Sixty-five**

Joan walked across the sand. Her bed had vanished, her boots were back on her feet, and the walls of her bedroom had melted away. She could see a campfire ahead and she walked to where the flames flickered in the desert night.

A dark shape appeared beyond the fire. Naked but for a scrap of fur, ebony skin smeared with streaks of something white, hair matted and unkempt. Hands waved in front of jutting breasts, fingers outspread, paler palms visible. The strange figure swayed in the firelight to a rhythm pounded out by unseen drums. Not a tribal beat, strangely, but something that Joan vaguely recollected having heard before on Rupert's stereo.

"Slayer," the figure hissed. "Death was your gift, your prize; claimed by you, rejected by the other."

"Can I say, huh?" Joan narrowed her eyes. "Do I know you?"

"You know me in your heart," came the answer. White teeth gleamed behind dark lips. "The other knows me better. Now the other you knows another me."

"Could you be any more with the cryptic?" Joan moved toward the fire. "Hey, wait a minute. Warren said something. Prehistoric… Slayer? You're her, right? The Ghost of Slayers Past."

"I am death. Absolute, alone. You are death, paired, partnered. Split apart but remade whole." The teeth flashed white again. "Precious to me as she is precious to her. Stay alive."

"Well, yeah, I pretty much had that planned," Joan said. "The rest of what you're saying is making the kind of sense that isn't, as Alex would say."

The flames leapt high and then subsided. Heavy black smoke began to pour from the fire, not rising into the air but spreading out sideways, wrapping Joan's feet in an insubstantial shroud. "Dreams stay with you. Stay alive," the First Slayer repeated. "She comes."

Joan glanced down at her boots, wrinkled her nose, and looked up again. "She comes? Who?"

"Hunger made flesh, murder given form, sister to the Shattered One, temptress, destroyer." The First Slayer swayed in the dim light. "They follow her. The cunning serpent, the bitter dark child, and the despoiled pure one wielding bright steel. Death is _their_ gift."

Joan rolled her eyes. "Yeah, right, I get the picture. A bad danger is coming, blah de blah. Why you have to dress it up in all this 'hungry serpent, hidden dragon' stuff is beyond me. Why couldn't you just say it in plain American? 'Bodhi and her little friends are coming to kill you all, run for your lives'. See? Not so diffic… oh, crap." Joan grabbed her left arm with her right hand and pinched hard. "Come on, Joan, wake up!"

"They come," the First Slayer said, "now. Make haste. Awaken!" She stepped backward, out of the circle of firelight, and vanished.

Joan opened her eyes and sat up. She lay on the bed, fully dressed apart from her boots, and Randy lay under the covers beside her. Joan blinked, shook her head, and then scrambled from the bed. She glanced at her watch, hastened over to the window, and pulled the heavy drapes slightly aside so that she could peer out. There was still some light in the sky to the west, and red streaks on clouds, but the sun had set. She returned to the bed, grabbed her boots, and pulled them on.

"Randy, wake up!" she ordered. She prodded him. He grunted and stirred. Joan rushed to the door of the room, opened it, and shouted. "Everybody get ready to leave! Willow, Tara, grab anything you can't leave behind and get out. Umad! Give me a hand with Randy."

The bathroom door opened and Umad emerged. She was wrapped in a towel, another towel was wrapped around her hair, and steam was rising from her skin. "What's that, Joan?"

"Slayer dream," Joan replied. "Bodhi's coming. Get dressed, fast. Tara!"

"Oh, crap!" Umad fled to her bedroom.

"Wha' izzit, pet?" Randy mumbled, his voice distorted by his broken jaw and the bandages that Tara had used to try to keep it immobilized.

"Bodhi," Joan said. "Slayer dream. She's on her way."

"Bu'er," Randy grunted. He struggled free of the covers. He was dressed, or mostly so, although the left leg of his jeans had been cut off at mid-thigh level. Below that his leg was held rigid by a cotton wool wrapping surrounded by bandage and reinforced with wooden splints. He scooped up his shoes from the floor, made a futile attempt to reach his feet, and looked at Joan. "Li'l help here, pet?"

"Sure." Joan knelt and helped Randy with his shoes. Twenty-one hours of rest and recuperation had obviously had some effect on the injuries; when they had put him to bed he hadn't been able to utter any comprehensible words at all. His leg was still totally out of action, however, a fact confirmed by occasional pained grunts as the movement jarred the injured limb.

Joan bit her lip. She hated the thought of running away but there seemed to be no other choice. Bodhi was insanely strong, something that was even more shocking because the elf girl was no bigger than Joan, and she had no idea how to cope with her. With Randy out of action a return match was likely to be short, brutal, and fatal.

This must be how her counterpart Buffy had felt when faced with the Hell-goddess Glory. Probably even worse; Glory had, according to what sketchy records the original Scoobies had left, been somewhat short in the brains department and with minions described as 'hobbits with leprosy'. Bodhi was disconcertingly clever and backed up by a powerful mage as well as two other warriors significant enough to have been mentioned in the warning from the First Slayer.

Willow and Tara came into the room. "We're ready to go," Willow said.

"We'll help Randy," Tara suggested. "You can, uh, cover our backs."

"Thanks," Joan said, as the two girls took over the task of helping Randy to stand and hobble toward the door, "although I have no idea what I can do. Is Umad dressed yet?"

"Yep, ready to go," Umad's voice came from just outside the bedroom door. "This sucks." Her hair was dripping onto her hastily-donned clothes.

"Tell me about it," Joan said. "Let's go." She heard something from outside and paused for a second to listen. A car engine, approaching along the street, and music. Guns N' Roses, 'Welcome to the Jungle'. To be clearly audible from a passing car the stereo must be turned up to a deafening volume. Joan put it out of her mind and led the way down the stairs, her mind working furiously as she went.

Buffy had fought Bodhi to a standstill. Of course she'd had magic weapons and rings, a vampire in full health thanks to those rings, and another Slayer, or near equivalent, in the form of Sorkatani. Pulling Sorkatani out of the video game might be possible – if Bodhi could come out then so could others – but she'd be confused at first, she might think Joan and friends were those impersonate-y Doppel-things, and a disorientated and angry Sorkatani could be just as dangerous as Bodhi. There was another Slayer, though; pity she was in a maximum security prison but maybe…

Outside, at the front, the car stopped. The music volume suddenly increased as the vehicle doors opened. '_Sha na na na na na na knees, knees, I wanna watch you bleed…_'

"It's Bodhi!" Joan whirled around and caught hold of Randy, plucked him from Tara's grip, and set him down at the bottom of the stairs. "Head for the back door. Get out fast!"

Even as she spoke she heard glass shattering as something hit one of the windows. A stone bounced across the carpet. She cringed, expecting the next moment to bring the explosive blast of a Fireball, but instead there was a soft 'woomph' and green vapor began to fill the room. She hustled the others out, catching a breath of the vapor as she did so and coughing, and heard more glass shattering upstairs.

Over the back porch, into the garden, and away. Randy hopping and hobbling along between Willow and Tara, Umad running ahead, Joan covering the rear. Poison fog billowed out of the back door behind them.

Figures loomed ahead. One fairly tall but female, long blonde hair streaming as she ran, a sword in her hand glinting in the twilight; the other short, jet black of skin, with pure white hair. Something hissed from the short one's hand and hit Willow in the chest. She cried out and fell to her knees. Tara shrieked.

Randy howled and took off in a flying leap. He landed awkwardly but caught hold of the other vampire and managed to stay upright. He grappled, applied a lock, and began industriously trying to twist the drow's head off. The drow lost his footing and they both fell to the ground.

The female vampire ran towards them. Joan moved to intercept her and found herself facing a swordswoman of great skill. She suffered a slash across the thigh, and another cut that laid open her face above her healing cheek-bone, before she got past the sword and slammed a stake into the vampire's chest.

It stopped dead as if she'd hit a brick wall. The skin on her palm tore. The vampire whipped her left hand across and punched Joan on the chin. Joan staggered back a couple of paces and then threw herself aside to avoid a sword thrust. A rent in the vampire's shirt revealed steel plate underneath.

The swordswoman didn't follow up her advantage. Instead she whirled around and headed for where Randy was grappling with the drow vampire. Joan swapped the stake, its point blunted but still usable, over to her other hand and followed.

Tara and Umad had Willow between them, her arms over their shoulders, and were hurrying her along as quickly as they could. Willow seemed unable to provide much in the way of propulsion; she was obviously badly hurt, although conscious.

The vampire girl reached the pair struggling on the ground. She didn't strike with her sword, presumably for fear of hitting her comrade in the confusion, but instead reached down with her left hand and caught hold of Randy. She dragged him up, kicked his arm and broke his grip on the drow, and lifted him into the air. The drow rolled away and laboriously raised himself on his hands and knees. Randy tried to break free but in his injured state he couldn't manage it. The girl raised her sword and took aim at his neck.

Joan dived past her, reached the drow, and seized him in an iron grip. She poised her stake over his heart. He wasn't wearing any armor. "Let him go!" she ordered.

The vampire girl paused. "You love him?"

"Yeah." Joan coped with the drow's attempts to free himself without any difficulty at all. He was smaller than her, had only normal vampire strength, and Randy had throttled him almost into insensibility.

"I love Zarbalan. Release him and I release yours."

Joan didn't comply. "After you."

To her surprise the girl immediately set Randy down on his feet and stepped back. She sheathed her sword. "Now you."

Joan hesitated. The drow vampire had shot Willow. On the other hand the girl had acted honorably – and the sword could no doubt come out again quickly, and Randy was crippled and would be a sitting target for retaliation. She lowered the stake and released her grip. The drow, Zarbalan, fell on his face on the ground.

"Thank you," said the girl vampire. "Take yours and go before Bodhi gets here."

Joan felt her eyes widening. A chivalrous vampire? 'The despoiled pure one wielding bright steel', no doubt. She must have been a virtuous 'knight in shining armor' before she'd been vamped and some of her moral code had carried over into her new state. Unfortunately so had her combat skills, making her a deadly enemy, but at least Joan had managed to win a respite from the fight. She moved away from the drow and went to where Randy was standing unsteadily on his one working leg.

Joan shot a glance over her shoulder and saw that the vampire knight was helping her drow lover to his feet. She turned back to Randy, decided that helping him to hop after the others would be too slow, and took his arm. "Hang on, I'll carry you," she said. "I hope this isn't going to hurt your leg too much."

"'ll cope," Randy grunted.

Joan lifted him and swung him over her shoulders in a Fireman's Carry. Even as she did so something hurtled through the air and struck Randy in the middle of the back. Joan felt the impact even through Randy's body. She turned to look for the source of the missile. At first she saw nothing and then realized that Bodhi was standing on the roof of the house.

Bodhi's arm blurred. Joan leapt aside and a dagger whistled through the space she had been occupying. It buried itself to the hilt in the ground. Joan took off at a dead run, weaving and dodging, and the ground erupted beside her as a Lightning Bolt missed her by a couple of feet. Joan shot another glance backward and saw Tanova, twenty feet above the ground, flying through the air like Harry Potter minus the broomstick. Or, probably more aptly, like a witch.

'There should be cackling,' Joan thought, as she summoned up every bit of speed she could muster. She saw Tanova extending a hand, finger pointing like a pistol, and frantically reversed course. A streak of orange light shot from Tanova's hand and burst on Joan's original track, exploding into a ball of flame, incinerating grass and hedges. Joan felt a wave of heat on her back but the flames didn't touch her or Randy. She found herself facing the vampire girl and her drow lover. A small crossbow in the drow's hand came up and pointed at her chest.

The girl swatted it aside. The bolt went wide. Joan saw the drow turn his head to face his partner, no doubt to ask why, but she had no time to find out the outcome of the discussion. Bodhi leapt from the roof, three feet of sharp steel gleaming in her hand, and Joan didn't intend to be around when she landed. She spun around again and ran for her life.

She crossed scorched grass. Fear for her sister and her friends swept through her. The Fireball had covered a wide area; had Umad, Willow, and Tara escaped unscathed? It seemed so. There they were, emerging onto the road that led to the mall, Willow still clinging on to the other two. Umad and Tara were waving their arms, flagging down a car, and Joan ran to join them.

It was a police car. The right-side door opened and a tall cop got out. "What's…? Jesus Christ!" He drew his gun.

Joan guessed that he'd seen Tanova. "Don't try to fight," she urged him. "Get out of here. Just get us to the hospital."

"Okay, ladies, get in the car," the cop said, but he ignored the rest of Joan's suggestion. He leveled his gun. "Put that sword down, lady. Back off."

"A gun, I take it?" Bodhi said. She advanced slowly toward the car. She was wearing black leather, Faerûn-style armor rather than Earth biker gear, and held a sword that seemed too long for someone of her height. "I've seen them on that scrying TV thing. Rather more efficient than a Lantanese arquebus, I think, but it still won't hurt me."

"Oh, fuck," the policeman groaned. "Jack! Call for back-up!" He pulled a crucifix out of his shirt pocket with his left hand, keeping the gun trained on Bodhi, and held it up defensively.

Tara and Umad had managed to get Willow into the car. Joan could see that Willow's dress was soaked in blood. She swung Randy down from her shoulders and he flopped limply. He was unconscious and the hilt of a dagger stood out from the centre of his back. Joan felt a cold chill as she realized that if she hadn't been carrying him the dagger would have struck her in more or less the same place. She'd probably be dead.

There was no way for all of them to sit in the back of the car. She pushed Randy in on top of the others, laying him across the three girls, ignoring the driver when he tried to tell her that the man was dead. She pulled the knife out of Randy's back. She was about to toss it away when a thought struck her. Only magic weapons could hurt the vampires from the game, according to Warren and his friends, apart from wooden stakes. That was why she hadn't bothered with any bladed weapons when she'd gone to the Bronze, as none of hers were enchanted as far as she knew; however this knife came from that world and maybe it might be magic.

"I take it that's some sort of holy symbol?" Bodhi raised her eyebrows, smiled, and then suddenly moved with dazzling speed. She snatched the crucifix from the policeman's hand, held it in front of her face, and studied it. She showed no sign of any pain or repulsion whatsoever. "Interesting. Your world's equivalent of Imater, I presume? Unfortunately for you you're not a cleric, and apparently not a paladin, and so this was useless to you."

"Okay, so you're not a vampire," the cop said, "but that doesn't mean I won't shoot you if you don't put down the friggin' sword. Right now!"

Joan went to the front passenger side of the car. She'd lost sight of Tanova and that worried her. Also she could see the knight and her boyfriend approaching now. The girl had her sword out again; presumably she felt that the temporary truce for hostage exchange had now ended.

"Wrong," Bodhi said. "I am a vampire." She bared her fangs. The cop pulled the trigger of his automatic pistol and it bucked in his hand. Before the gun had settled from its recoil Bodhi had snatched it away. "That stung, slightly," Bodhi said. "You've made a hole in my armor. Just as well I didn't wear my new clothes." She examined the gun briefly, tucked it into her waistband, and then seized the cop by his head and one arm. He punched her on the point of the jaw; she didn't even seem to notice.

Tanova suddenly appeared out of nowhere. She seized the driver and began to drag him out of the car. Joan grabbed him and pulled him back. "Get the fuck out of here!" she urged, climbing into the passenger seat. She stabbed at Tanova's arm with Bodhi's dagger. Tanova yelped, released her hold, and snatched her arm away.

"I can't leave Matt!" the driver protested. He drew his own pistol and pointed it at Tanova.

"You have no will of your own," Tanova said. "Kill Joan. The girl beside you."

Bodhi dragged her captive to her mouth and bit deep into his neck. The driver turned in his seat and brought his gun around to point at Joan.

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 –

Thirteen figures materialized in the middle of a field. One of them sat down abruptly.

"I'm exhausted," Imoen said. "That took everything I have. I need to sleep. Badly. No, let me rephrase that. I need to sleep well."

"I'm pretty bushed too," Willow said. "I've still got something in the tank, I could do another jump no problem, but I couldn't take all of us, and I couldn't do two trips, unless somebody hits me with something to recharge the Spell Trap."

"The sun sets soon," Sorkatani said, "and you will not be able to see your destination. It is time for all of us to rest."

"There is a farmstead over there," Minsc said, pointing. "Perhaps they might have beds for us, or comfortable straw in a barn, and some grain for Boo."

"That sounds like bliss," Imoen said. "Lead on, Minsc."

"We've saved a great deal of time," Giles said. "This really was an excellent idea of yours, Willow."

"Indeed so," Sorkatani added her own praise. "You have gained us at least three days, Willow, and if we can do the same tomorrow we shall reach Athkatla by the day after."

"Do you need another Restoration spell?" Tara asked Imoen, as they walked.

"I don't think so," Imoen replied. "I'm just tired."

"Best that you get one before we rest anyway," Viconia said, "as casting it in the morning would exhaust Tara or Jaheira for the rest of the day." She stuck out her lower jaw and scraped her teeth over her top lip. "I can be of no help, unless I regain spells this night. I worry still about my goddess."

"I don't see how anything can have happened to her," Buffy said. "I mean, isn't she, like, one of the absolute major league goddesses?"

"True," Viconia agreed. "Her enemy Selûne has but a fraction of her power, as does that certain other goddess I will not name. She has other foes, however, more capable of challenging her. The vile and contemptible Sûne, for instance, and there is her old quarrel with Mystra."

"Why do you call Sûne contemptible?" Jaheira asked. "I have never heard you speak thusly of any other deity, save your former goddess, and of course Cyric. What has the goddess of beauty done to incur your wrath?"

"She betrays her own worshippers," Viconia said, "by deserting them if they lose their beauty. There can be no worse crime. Shar despises her, as do I. Still, I doubt if she would have attacked my goddess, and had she done so Shar could have repelled her with ease. I suspect that it is Lord Ao who is behind whatever has befallen Shar."

"I could, maybe, try to find something out," Tara said. "Mielikki might, uh, know the score, and she might tell me, if I asked her."

"Or not," said Viconia, "as Mielikki is on friendly terms with some of those that Shar terms foe. Still, they are not directly enemies, and I suppose that it would be worth a try, abbil. It would help if my mind could be set at rest; or, if there is bad news, that I could know it and mayhap help if that was in my power."

"Maybe someone's kidnapping goddesses," Anya speculated. "First Waukeen, now Shar. There could be two goddesses to rescue."

"I think rescuing goddesses might be a little out of our league," Xander said, "and, hey, Bodhi first."

"Well, yes," Anya said. "I was thinking of the future. The reward for rescuing two goddesses would be enough to set us up for life."

"I don't even want to think about it," Imoen said. "Just sleep."

They entered the farmyard. "Strange," Minsc said. "No dogs bark."

"Maybe they just don't have dogs," Buffy said.

"That would be most unusual," Jaheira said, "for a farmstead outside of a village. Dogs give warning of attackers. Something is wrong, I feel, but I see no sign that orcs or the like have raided here."

"Can smell something dead," Spike announced. "That way."

"The pigs live still," Sorkatani observed. She followed Spike with her hand resting on the hilt of Celestial Fury. He led the way to a midden heap. The corpses of two dogs lay there.

"I see no arrows or sword strokes," Sorkatani said. She lifted one of the bodies and examined it. She stiffened, beckoned to Buffy, and showed the dog's neck to Buffy and Spike.

"Vampire," Buffy said. "Does this mean the dogs are gonna rise? I don't have all the rules for this world figured out yet."

"No, animals cannot be infected by vampirism," Sorkatani assured her. "Wolves can contract something not dissimilar, and I have fought vampiric wolves, but they live still and die like any other foe. Only intelligent beings can become true vampires."

"Told you I wasn't stupid, Slayer," Spike said.

Buffy rolled her eyes. "Right. Okay, my guess is Bodhi came this way."

"That is my thought too," Sorkatani agreed, "but I cannot believe that she fed on dogs."

"Like when _Red Dwarf_ ran out of proper milk," Spike muttered, "but they still had loads of dog's milk left because no bugger would drink it."

Buffy ignored him. "Yeah. Not dogs. Farmers, though…"

"Exactly," Sorkatani said. "I suspect that we will have to fight to win beds for the night."

"Yeah. Okay, let's get it over with."

Buffy, Sorkatani, and Spike took the lead as the group went to the farmhouse door. Anya, Xander, and Dawn circled round the house to cover the rear exit. Buffy knocked on the door.

The door swung open. A burly man in a dirt-stained smock, and a woman in a shabby dress, stood within. "Welcome, travelers," the man greeted them. "Come in and stay awhile."

"My, grandmamma, what big teeth you have," Buffy said. The woman's hand shot to her mouth.

"So you know," the man said. He snarled, revealing fangs, and reached out with his hands.

Sorkatani's hand blurred and Celestial Fury hissed through the air. The man's head seemed to leap from his shoulders. It dissolved into white mist before it hit the ground and his body followed suit.

The woman whirled around and fled. Seconds later a shriek sounded from the back door. Buffy, Sorkatani, and Spike entered the house and followed the white mist as it drifted through the dwelling's main room and into a second room which contained two crudely-constructed wooden beds. A second cloud of vapor drifted from the rear of the house and headed in the same direction. Dawn, Anya, and Xander tracked it.

"Eww," Dawn said, as the vapors coalesced into corpses on the beds. "I am so not sleeping in one of those."

Buffy slammed a stake into one of the bodies. Spike did the same with the other. The vampire corpses crumpled up and disintegrated into dust. "Me neither," Buffy said. "Although, a bed-roll on top of a bed would be better than on the hard floor."

The rest of the party trooped into the house. "There's a stove," Tara said. "I can cook a proper meal."

"That would be cool," Sorkatani said, "although between you and Jaheira we were eating well even in the forest."

"A real cooked meal, walls and a roof, even a couple of beds for those who don't mind vamp dust," Xander said, "and the fight only took a couple of seconds. Not a bad end to the day."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 –

The driver was right-handed and his position, in the seat to Joan's left, made aiming the gun at her awkward. She dropped the dagger, grabbed his arm before the gun came to bear, and wrenched it upward. The gun went off, making a hole in the roof of the car, and then Joan twisted the pistol out of his hand. She pushed him out of the car, sending him crashing into Tanova, and wriggled across into his seat. She pointed the gun at Tanova and fired twice.

Tanova's skin changed color, becoming a mottled gray, and roughened in texture. The bullets bounced off harmlessly. She recoiled, however, and clapped her hands over her ears. Joan's own ears were singing with the noise but she ignored it and pulled the door shut. Tanova took her hands away, snarled, and reached in through the open window. Joan put the muzzle of the gun against Tanova's arm and pulled the trigger again.

The muzzle-blast scorched a hole in the sleeve of Tanova's top – Ralph Lauren, very nice, Joan identified it automatically – and the vampire yelped and pulled back. Joan fumbled the gear into Drive, stamped on the accelerator, and released the handbrake. The car shot forward.

A crossbow bolt glanced off the rear window. "Hang on to your hats," Joan said. "Driving so is not one of my skills." She heaved at the wheel. The car slewed around, overshot the turn, and the wheels went up on the curb before Joan managed to correct her steering. "It's just as well I'm heading for the hospital." The tail of the car was suddenly enveloped in flame and Umad screamed. They emerged from the fire an instant later, before any damage was done, and Joan gritted her teeth and concentrated on driving.

She realized that she was still holding the pistol, hampering her grip on the wheel, and she tossed it onto the passenger seat. "How's Willow?" she called.

"Not good," Tara reported. "She's passed out."

Joan winced as she remembered pushing Randy's unconscious body into the car on top of the others, forgetting that Willow had a crossbow bolt sticking out of her breast, and she hoped that she hadn't knocked it and done any more damage. There was nothing that she could do about it now, however; she just had to keep going, get them to the hospital as quickly as possible without crashing, and hope that nobody asked any questions about why she had been driving without a license in a stolen police car.

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 –

"I spoke to Mielikki," Tara revealed.

"You did? And she answered?" Viconia raised her eyebrows. "I had to die before I was granted such privilege. You are favored indeed."

"I guess so," Tara said. "It's pretty, well, awesome."

"That's my girl, awesome," Willow said.

Tara blushed. "I mean, it's awesome for me. Actually having a real conversation with a goddess. And, uh, she's really nice."

"I will concede that I have heard no ill spoken of Mielikki," Viconia said. "Did she say aught of Shar? I suspect not."

"She doesn't know anything," Tara confirmed, "except that, uh, there seem to be some of Shar's servants running around asking questions. She'll ask around and if she finds out anything she'll let me know." Tara nibbled briefly on her bottom lip. "Uh, Vicky, she said, well, that you can pray to her, if you like, and she'll grant you spells. Just while Shar isn't answering, that is, it doesn't mean that you'd be actually worshipping her or anything."

Viconia frowned. "It is well meant, I know, abbil, and it would be very useful, but I feel I must decline," she said. "It could be taken to be a rejection of Shar." She turned to Sorkatani. "I will do it if you so command, Jabbress," she said, "but reluctantly."

Sorkatani shook her head. "I will not order you to do something that might offend your goddess," she said. "We acquired plentiful scrolls in Ust Natha and can purchase more in Athkatla. That will see us through."

"I hope they will not be needed," Viconia said. "I shall retire to bed, then, and perhaps my spells shall have returned when I wake in the morning. First, though, as Spike took guard duty last night, and I therefore slept alone, I shall catch up on what I missed and get him to shag me senseless."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 –

Randy raised his head as Joan came into the room. "'lo, love," he mumbled.

"Hi," Joan said. She bent over his bed and kissed him gently on the forehead. "You're not looking as good as usual, lover. I don't think we're gonna be 'shagging' any time soon. How're you feeling?"

"Been better," Randy said. "God, that sodding knife hurt like hell."

"It's magic," Joan said, "which is of the good, now we have it, as it's about the only thing we have that will work on them."

"Yeah, useful," Randy agreed. "Pity they've all got great big swords, though."

Joan shrugged. "If I can take the sword off that knight in shining armor girl I can use it against them. She's tough, yeah, but I can take her."

"If you can catch her without that bitch Bodhi around," Randy said.

"Yeah, and that vamp witch," Joan agreed. "She's like a freaking one-woman helicopter gunship. Stealth fighter, even, seeing as how she can do Invisibility. If our Willow had gone into big-time magic, like the other one, maybe we could match her. As it is I just don't know how to deal with her at all."

"How is Willow?" Randy asked.

"Out of danger," Joan told him. "They're not allowing her to have visitors yet but I think they'll let Tara in pretty soon."

"Good," Randy said. "Was shit scared when I saw her get shot."

"Me too," Joan said, "but it's okay. She's gonna be fine."

"How about you, love? You okay?" Randy raised a hand to her cheek, just below the Steri-Strips that covered the slice she had suffered from the vampire's sword, and gently touched the bruised area with a finger.

"I'll mend," she said. "I don't think it's gonna leave a scar. It looks like you're on the mend, too. You're talking pretty clearly, now, so your jaw must be pretty much healed up."

"More or less," Randy agreed, "but it still hurts a bit when I talk." He gestured at the weights and pulleys that held his leg in traction. "Don't need all this crap, though."

"It's not gonna do any harm, and hey, it might even help," Joan said, "and it keeps the docs happy. Think yourself lucky Rupert persuaded them that you didn't need metal pins putting in your bones."

"Yeah, dunno what that would have done to me once the vamp healing got going," Randy said. "Never thought I'd ever get treated in a human hospital. Bit weird, innit?"

"It surprised me," Joan said. "I guess people in this town haven't been as big with the whole 'not noticing the supernatural' thing as I thought. Which is of the good, at least this time." She dropped another kiss on his forehead. "It could still have been kinda awkward if Rupert hadn't fixed you up with medical insurance. I'd thought for sure that was just a total waste of money."

"Yeah, so did he," Randy said. "Came as part of the fake identity package." His voice changed. "It will never be used, of course, but I suppose that it will add a certain verisimilitude if anyone should investigate you," he said, in an accent identical to Rupert's cultured tones. "Score one for Dad," he added, in his normal voice. "Dunno how much help the treatment is, mind, but at least they're filling me up with the good stuff. Not a bad place to rest up. Even got a telly."

"You want me to bring you anything else? Books, records, anything like that?"

"Maybe not a good idea to go back to the house, pet," Randy said. "Could run into Bodhi. Best not to take the chance. Tell you what, love, get some of those Dungeons and Dragons books off our nerd pals. Could take a look through them, see if I can get a handle on how to deal with that kind of vampire."

"Hey, that's not a bad idea," Joan said. "I was gonna be picking their brains anyway, but yeah, you doing some reading might help. You might spot something they're, like, too familiar with to realize that we don't know it."

"Maybe," Randy said, "and it'll keep me occupied anyway. Stop me from going stir crazy."

"Yeah." Joan ran her fingers along the edge of the bed. "I'm getting the guys together for a Council of War. I don't think the hospital would be too happy about us having it in here so you'll have to miss out."

"Yeah, not that I've got any ideas yet," Randy said. "Probably worse not having Willow in on it. She's the clever one."

"I've come up with two ideas," Joan said. "The first one might have too much of a down side but I'll see what Warren and his friends think. Pulling somebody out of the computer to help us. Sorkatani, maybe."

"Not a bad thought," Randy said, "but it could cause some ructions when she gets put back in there and the other versions of us find out what the score is."

"I hadn't even thought of that," Joan said. "I think it's probably a no-no, except as a last resort."

"What's your other idea? Asking the cops for help? If the docs here were willing to treat me, in spite of me being dead, maybe we don't have to keep things as secret as we thought."

Joan shuddered. "A huge no to that. You were passed out when Tanova put her moves on the driver of the cop car. One word from her and he tried to shoot me. Getting the cops involved would be the fastest way to get us all killed."

"Bloody hell! Didn't know that, pet. You alright? Well, stupid question, obviously you didn't get shot, but you gave me a shock."

"Yeah, I stopped him, but it was a nasty moment. No way do I want it to happen again. No, we need help, but from somebody who's already up to speed with the supernatural stuff. The other Slayer is in jail so that means either the Council of Watchers, and I really don't want to bring them into this, or else Angel."

"Angel? That could be a bit bloody awkward. He's going to think he knows you, and you've never even met him, and from what I've heard he wasn't too keen on Spike. Could be nasty if he doesn't twig that I'm not the same bloke."

"I'll have to make him understand," Joan said, "and if he can't deal, he can stay out of it. Yeah, saying it's gonna be awkward is pretty much a major understatement, but I don't think we have any other choice. We have to stop Bodhi before she takes over the whole town."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 –

Clem laid down his cards. "Full house," he said. "The pot's mine. I'll take…" He broke off as the door of the poker room flew open and two girls walked in. The kittens hissed and backed away to the side of their basket farthest from the newcomers.

"Hey, this is a private room," one of the players protested. He stared at the women with several eyes. "No humans allowed."

"I'm not human," the leading girl said. She was tiny, no taller than the Slayer, and was probably very attractive if you liked your women with tight skin. She swept off her cowboy hat to reveal long pointed ears. "I'm an elf."

"What, you make toys for Santa Claus?" The speaker was green-skinned and had horns on his head. He laughed at his own wit and two of the other players laughed with him. Clem stayed silent.

"I didn't understand that," the elf said, "but I sense that you are being disrespectful." She walked around the table, moving like a stalking panther, and confronted the green demon. Her arm lashed out.

The demon flew from his chair, crashed against the wall, and bounced off. The elf caught him by the throat on the rebound and lifted him into the air. She opened her mouth and revealed gleaming white fangs. "You don't look very appetizing, and I'm not hungry," she said, "but any more disrespect from you and I'll eat you anyway."

"Okay, okay," the demon wheezed. "You got my respect. Put me down."

She slammed him to the ground so hard that his knees buckled. "My name is Bodhi. This town is now mine."

"Oh, joy," said the multi-eyed demon. "Another would-be big-shot coming in and getting the Slayer all stirred up. Just what we don't need."

Bodhi pulled a long sword from a scabbard on her back. She jumped up onto the card table, swung the sword, and jumped down again. The demon toppled from his chair. When he hit the floor his head rolled away under the table. "I said I wouldn't tolerate disrespect," Bodhi said. "Anyone else need a lesson?"

Clem raised his hands. "No, I'm good, I'm good. What do you want?"

"She'll want us to kill the Slayer," the green demon said. "Newcomers always do." He gulped. "Uh, that's because it's a good plan, lady, I don't mean no disrespect by saying it."

"Oh, I don't want you to kill the Slayer," Bodhi said. "I rather admire her. She's brave, and resourceful, and she spared Zarbalan's life. I wouldn't let any mere minions kill her. She deserves the best. I just want you to find out where she is. I'm going to kill her myself."

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Disclaimer: lyrics from 'Welcome to the Jungle', by Guns N' Roses, used without permission and for non-commercial purposes only.


	66. Chapter 66

**Chapter Sixty-six**

"What is wrong, my love?" Zarbalan put his arm across Jeroneth's shoulders and pulled her to him. "There is sadness in your eyes."

"I miss my home," Jeroneth revealed. "I do not like this world. The clothes are immodest, and the language is vulgar, and the music is too loud."

"Sorry about that," Bodhi said. "It won't happen again. I've found out that if you turn the knob to the left it gets quieter."

"Not just in the horseless chariot," Jeroneth said. "The music in the tavern was too loud also, and the lights that flashed hurt my eyes, and the smells were strange. Even when we are outside the smell that the golems in the chariots make is unpleasant. There seem to be no horses in this place. I thought…" Her lower lip began to quiver. "I thought… I thought it would be like going to Baldur's Gate or Waterdeep. I could come here, and not have to fight my friends, and live as before except that I would drink the blood of thieves and peasants whom no-one would care about. But everything is strange, and we are fighting a girl who would make a fine member of the Order, and I… I…" She burst into tears. "I… I want to… to go home."

Zarbalan met Bodhi's eyes. "It pains me to see Jeroneth unhappy," he told her, "and also, while I am here, I am not getting my revenge upon my aunt. Return to Faerûn, jabbress, I implore you, or else permit us to depart from your service."

Bodhi sighed. "I like this world. I love being able to walk in the sun. You have… well, you are a drow and have no love for the sun in any event, and Jeroneth has not been a vampire long enough to miss it. Yet I have a great fondness for the pair of you. I cannot spare you as yet, I fear, but as soon as we have slain Joan the Vampire Slayer I shall demand that Warren Mears and his colleagues send you back to Faerûn. In return for that service I will spare their lives. Is that satisfactory?"

Zarbalan and Jeroneth exchanged glances. "It is indeed, jabbress," Zarbalan agreed. "We shall remain with you until Joan the Vampire Slayer is dead."

"Oh, goody," Bodhi said. She smiled and clapped her hands together. "I'm glad to hear it. We'll get you back to Faerûn as soon as we find Joan and kill her. That's a task for the future, however. This evening we shall devote ourselves to entertainment. Perhaps that will cheer you up."

"There are things about this world which I find displeasing," Tanova commented, "for instance those ill-mannered natives who dubbed me 'Raghead', a clearly derogatory term, until I set aside my veil. I will get used to not wearing it, I suppose, but I dislike having to change my customs to conform to the prejudices of the peasantry."

"I know," said Bodhi, "but there were too many offenders to rip out all of their throats. It would have attracted far too much attention."

"And I ran out of Polymorph spells," Tanova lamented, "after turning only a tithe of the ill-mannered ones into frogs. Still, it is enjoyable to face opponents who seem to completely lack wards against magic. Back home at least a couple of them would have resisted the spells and remained unchanged."

"I wonder how resistant Joan is," Bodhi mused. "She avoided your Fireball and Lightning Bolt but that might have been purely through her speed and agility. She might be vulnerable to Disintegrate, unlike Buffy, or to Polymorph or even Dire Charm. That would make things much simpler for us."

"I'll give them a try when we next fight," Tanova agreed. She turned to Jeroneth. "You know, you didn't need to agree to that hostage trade with Joan," she remarked. "If she had staked Zarbalan it wouldn't have killed him permanently. He'd have just returned to the coffin we prepared for him and regenerated."

"I didn't think of that," Jeroneth said. "I am not yet accustomed to being a vampire. I shall know better if such a situation occurs again." She lowered her eyes. "Although I would still wish to spare Zarbalan such pain."

"Actually I think it was a good tactical decision, even if it was accidental," Bodhi said. "The vampires of this world simply turn to dust if they are staked. Your action will make Joan think that the same applies to us. We'll act as if it does. I can't imagine that Joan or the Spike clone could ever immobilize me with a stake at my heart but, if it should happen, treat it as if it's a deadly threat. I'll do the same if it's one of you. Then, if one of us does get staked or decapitated, it will be a horrible shock for them when we turn up as good as new."

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"Staking them isn't enough," Joan said to the assembled throng. Alex's apartment, the chosen venue because of its size and because Joan's house was still regarded as unsafe, was full to capacity. "They don't dust. They turn into mist and drift back to their coffins. Once they're there they regenerate. A few hours at most and they're back at full strength." The visitors from Los Angeles frowned in unison.

"We might be able to zap the mist with this," Warren said, holding up Katrina's memory stick device, "but I'm not sure. If it doesn't work we'll have to track the mist back to the coffin and zap the corpse."

"I'm making more of these," Katrina added. "We've got two now but I should have another four or five ready by tomorrow night."

"It would work if they were unconscious, too, I think," Warren went on, "but knocking Bhodi out? Probably pretty much impossible."

The teenage boy who, impossibly, was supposed to be Angel's son, shrugged. "So? They're just vampires. We dust them, we go back to Los Angeles. What's the big deal?"

"Just vampires? Yeah, and a hurricane is just a wind." Joan's eyes rolled briefly. "Bodhi is way stronger than any other vampire. Stronger than me, faster than me, maybe not quite as skillful at the bare hands stuff but that's about the only bright spot. Everything else about her is bad news. And then there's Tanova. The one-woman helicopter gunship."

Angel had been sitting with his gaze fixed on Randy and suspicion written all over his face. He turned his head to face Joan. "Okay, they're tough, and we'll help you out," he said, "but I would have thought the big problem was your loss of memory."

"No, it really isn't," Joan said. "Bodhi, and Tanova, and their two sidekicks are the problem. They want me dead. Bodhi's way tougher than I am, Tanova is a witch who makes Harry Potter look like a muggle, and the other two are no pushovers. And, just to really screw us up good, they can walk in the sun. Bloodsucking twenty-four seven, no waiting."

"Of course we shall aid you, fair maiden," said the big warrior who bore a distinct resemblance to Arnold Schwarzenegger in 'Terminator' guise but whose speech patterns were more those of Conan. Joan had heard him referred to as 'Groo'. "These vampires shall fall before our combined might, have no fear, for we are Champions."

"That's what I'm hoping," Joan said. "Buffy beat her once, although that was a set-up and Bodhi threw the fight, but she fought Bodhi to a standstill later and made her run away twice. The thing is, Buffy has thirteen in her group, all pretty tough, with a whole load of magical swords and things. We only have me and Randy in that league and this," she held up the dagger she had retrieved from Randy's back, "is the only magic weapon we have."

"I want to know more about the video game," the Texan girl who was one of Angel's crew said. She, and the African-American man who seemed to be her boyfriend, were soon involved in a discussion with Warren and Katrina.

Angel's attention stayed on Joan. He shook his head. "I don't get it. Why are you talking about Buffy like she's somebody else? You're Buffy. You might have lost your memory but you're still the same person. And that's Spike. And there has to be something really wrong with you to be associating with him."

"I'm not Spike," Randy said. The bandages were gone from his jaw, and his speech was clear, but his leg was still splinted. "From what I've seen of him, though, I'd be pretty damn proud if I was."

"Look, I know this is difficult for you," Joan said, "but I'm really, really, not Buffy. In fact I'm not even allowed to use that name now that I've changed it. I'm legally Joan Anne Summers and he's legally Randolph William Giles. We've never met you before. I only know you from what I've read in Buffy's diary and Rupert's journal."

"You don't speak like Buffy," Cordelia conceded, "and Xander doesn't speak like Xander. Although that can only be an improvement."

"That's 'Alex'," Alex corrected her.

Cordelia rolled her eyes. "Whatever. So, what about the rest of you? Is Willow calling herself 'Pillow' or 'Tree' or something? Has Giles changed his name to 'Tweedy Book Guy'? Inquiring minds want to know."

"Willow's still Willow, Tara's still Tara, Dawn calls herself 'Umad' but it's just a nickname and it's no big deal if you call her Dawn," Joan said. "Anya's still Anya – did you actually know Anya? Giles goes by Rupert these days. Oh, and he's engaged to Anya."

"Engaged to _Anya_?" Cordelia's eyes widened. "That's… a surprise."

"Where are the rest of your group, anyway?" Angel asked.

"Umad's staying with her friend Janice, Willow's still in the hospital, and the others are at the Espresso Pump," Joan said. "Rupert's playing a gig there tonight. We'd have all been there if it hadn't been for this thing with the super-vamps. Tara would rather have been with Willow but, now Will's out of danger, they won't let Tara stay there outside of visiting hours. Randy should have stayed in the hospital, he's still not fit to be walking around," she digressed, "but hey, Mister Low Boredom Threshold couldn't take it. Tara went along to the gig," Joan continued, returning to the main topic. "We thought it might cheer her up a bit. It should be safe enough. I can't see the Espresso Pump being the kind of place that would interest Bodhi."

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Rupert struck the final chord of Dire Straits' 'Romeo and Juliet', lowered his guitar, and raised his eyes to the crowd. His gaze passed across some people who had just come in and were taking seats at a table. Two policemen in uniform. A woman no taller than Joan, slim and elegantly dressed, dark haired and with extremely pale skin. A curvaceous brunette with an olive complexion and very full lips. A tall blonde with positively spectacular breasts; he resisted the natural male instinct to stare at them, whilst drooling and making inarticulate noises, and averted his eyes hastily before Anya could notice and become annoyed. A very short man whose skin was pitch black and whose hair was snow white. The hairs on the back of Rupert's neck stood up and he felt a chill run through him.

It was the drow vampire who had shot Willow. The others, then, were Bodhi, Tanova, the paladin girl, and the two policemen who had fallen victim to the vampires. Bodhi's full force, other than whatever minions had been driving for her assault on Joan's house, here in the Espresso Pump when it was packed with innocent people.

Rupert gulped and looked around. Anya hadn't noticed the vampires yet but her eyes followed his gaze and her jaw dropped open. Tara was biting her lip. Jonathan had moved in front of his girlfriend Lisa and his hand was inside his jacket, no doubt clutching a stake, but against these vampires any offensive action would be nothing but suicide. Andrew had a strange expression on his face; half smiling, half cringing, as if he wasn't sure whether to flee in panic or to ask the vampires for their autographs.

Anya's hand went into her purse and came out holding a cell-phone. Bodhi took three fast strides and reached her before she could react. Bodhi snatched the phone from Anya's hand.

"A portable tel-e-phone," Bodhi said, holding the phone in front of her face and examining it. "I've seen them on TV. An ingenious substitute for communication spells." She crushed it in her hand and dropped the splintered fragments onto the table in front of Anya. "I'd rather you didn't call anyone right now. Don't look so worried. We're only here to enjoy the music. We'll behave ourselves." She ruffled Anya's hair, ignoring the glare that was directed at her, and returned to her seat.

Some of the crowd, unaware that anything out of the ordinary was happening, were growing restless at Rupert's delay in starting his next song. Rupert began to swing his guitar back into position but then hesitated. Should he continue to play, relying on the 'music hath charms to sooth a savage breast' effect to keep Bodhi and her pals from wreaking havoc in the Espresso Pump, or should he try to get all the innocents to evacuate? Not that evacuation had much chance of success as, judging by what Tanova had done during the attack on Joan's house, she could probably fill the whole place with poison gas before he could even get the clientele to realize that he was serious about the danger.

Before Rupert could come to a definite decision the well-endowed vampire girl rose from her seat and approached him. "Please, good sir, play for us," she said. "I have been told of your great skill but have never heard you for myself. We will cause no trouble here, I promise." She gave him a warm and apparently genuine smile.

Rupert studied the vampire. She had an odd air of innocence, despite her status as one of the evil undead, and something about her reminded him of Tara. She had probably been a good and noble example of a 'knight in shining armor' before being turned and, according to Joan, seemed to have retained some of her chivalry even as a vampire; Rupert mentally dubbed her 'the Fallen Madonna with the Big Boobies'. He suppressed the chuckle that rose to his lips at that thought.

"Of course," he said. "Tara, if you would join me for this one?"

The vampire dipped her head. "Thank you," she said, and she returned to her seat as Tara made her way to join Rupert.

"This is a Pink Floyd number," Rupert announced, as Tara took her place on a stool beside him, "now a regular feature of Roger Waters' solo shows. With vocal accompaniment from Tara MacLay, here is 'Mother'." He ran through the opening chords and began to sing.

"_Mother do you think they'll drop the bomb?_

_Mother do you think they'll like this song?_

_Mother do you think they'll try to break my balls?_

_Mother should I build a wall?_

_Mother should I run for President?_

_Mother should I trust the Government?_

_Momma will they put me in the firing line?_

_Is it just a waste of time?_"

He looked out at the crowd as Tara came in with her lines, sung by David Gilmour on the original album, performed by Katie Kissoon in most of Roger Waters' stage shows. Tara might not be quite in Katie Kissoon's league, not many singers were, but she was the best of the girls in their circle by a considerable margin.

"_Hush now baby, baby, don't you cry_

_Momma's gonna make all your nightmares come true_

_Momma's gonna put all her fears into you_

_Momma's gonna keep you right here under her wing_

_She won't let you fly but she might let you sing_

_Momma's gonna keep Baby cosy and warm  
Ooooh, Babe  
Ooooh, Babe  
Oooh Babe, of course Momma's gonna help build the wall._"

Rupert noticed that the vampires were all smiling, swaying slightly in their seats, obviously well pleased with the performance. He relaxed and concentrated on playing the guitar solo. It seemed as if they might get through the evening without carnage and destruction. What might happen after the show was another matter; the fans waiting outside after the gig would be many times more dangerous than anything Roger Waters ever had to cope with.

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Tanova stared at Rupert as he finished the song. "I want him," she said.

Bodhi raised an eyebrow. "You've decided to move on from my brother?"

"We're in another world, he's occupied with trying to become a god, and I'll probably never see him again," Tanova said. "Yes, I think it's time to move on. Rupert Giles is the best prospect I've seen."

"He's certainly cute," Bodhi agreed. "I approve." She ran her tongue over her lips. "I should have turned Giles instead of Anomen in the first place." She fell silent, as Rupert began another song, and she and Tanova watched him intently. None of the vampires took any notice when Andrew slipped away to the bathroom.

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"You say that if they get staked they regenerate back in their coffins," Fred mused. "How's that gonna work for them here? Their coffins are back where they came from. Kinda inaccessible."

"I don't think they'd have come here if they didn't have a way to get round that," Joan said. "Warren, you're the expert. What do you think?"

"It's not something D&D goes into in detail," Warren said, "but it can't mean just the coffins they were buried in. Bodhi wanders around Faerûn without ever worrying about it and I can't see her having been buried in Athkatla in the first place. I'd take it that they can use any coffin but they probably have to do something to make it really theirs. Like, staking a claim. And I didn't mean to make a pun there."

"They'll use blood," Angel stated. "That's how I'd do it. Take a coffin and mark it with my blood."

"Good thinking, Angel. 'S always about the blood," Randy said. "Should have thought of that myself."

Angel's eyebrows climbed towards the impossibly remote reaches of his hairline. Halfway up they abandoned their attempt and returned to base camp to brood. "Uh, thanks," he said. He hadn't expected Spike to acknowledge his contribution, with all the bad blood that lay between them, and for a moment he was thrown off balance. Perhaps there really was something to the claims that these were different people from the ones he knew. He recovered his composure and completed his thought. "So, maybe we could sniff the coffins out."

"Yeah, and leave them a little present," Gunn suggested. "A couple of crosses in the coffins to keep them out. That would screw them good."

Joan shook her head. "They ignore crosses," she pointed out. "I guess they're not holy symbols where they come from."

"It's not that," Warren said. "In D&D only a priest or a paladin can make a vampire back off. It's not the symbol that counts, it's the guy wielding it. A normal guy can't do jack with a cross, or Kelemvor's scales, or Lathander's rose sunrise. If we…" He broke off as his cell-phone chirped in his jacket pocket. "Sorry," he said, and pulled out the phone. "Hi, Warren here," he said.

"There are still things we could…" Fred began. She broke off as she saw Warren waving his hand in a frantic gesture and then holding his finger up to his lips. His face had visibly paled.

"Oh, crap," Warren said into the phone. "Yeah. I'll tell Joan and I guess we'll be right over. Angel's crew are here so maybe we'll be able to kick ass instead of getting our asses kicked." He raised his gaze to the others. "It's Andrew," he said. "Bodhi's at the Espresso Pump."

Joan clenched her teeth and rolled her eyes. "I guess I jinxed us, saying she wouldn't go there," she said. "Just Bodhi, or the whole bunch?"

Warren spoke into the phone, listened to the reply, and raised his head again. "All of them, except maybe for a minion or two," he said. "They're playing nice right now, just listening to Rupert playing, but Andrew's worried what will happen when he finishes."

"Feeding time, probably," Joan groaned. "Okay, tell him we'll be there as soon as we can. Saddle up, people. Not you, Randy." Joan wagged a finger at her boyfriend. "You're in no shape for a fight yet."

Randy grimaced. "S'ppose not," he conceded. "Doesn't feel right, letting you go into a fight without me, but I wouldn't be pulling my weight. Careful, though, pet. Won't have me watching your back."

"She doesn't need you, Spike," Angel said, deliberately choosing to use Randy's old name and ignoring what he had been told about them being different personalities. "I'm here now."

Joan opened her mouth to deliver a scathing retort, decided that it wouldn't be advisable to antagonize her allies, and occupied herself with a series of full twisting Tsukahara eye-rolls while she came up with a watered-down version. "Look, I appreciate you coming here to help out," she said, "but if you go up against Bodhi with that attitude she'll break you apart. I just hope it gives me the chance to stake her while she's doing it."

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"_Soon we'll be sailors, sailing on the salty sea_

_Where the waves of the world would be the one and only company_

_Come up and see the world it's like a ship going down_

_It's running aground, it's all over,_

_But those flying fishes are going to jump up and smile_

_Every league, every mile, to tell a nova…_"

Rupert sang the last of the lyrics to the late Duncan Browne's 'Journey', a song that he'd always loved but which he'd never understood, and then concentrated on playing the long instrumental passage that made up the rest of the song. He raised his eyes to look at the crowd, as his fingers danced on the guitar strings, and checked out the vampires.

Bodhi and Tanova were smiling broadly. The paladin girl had her eyes closed, the smile on her face could only be described as beatific, and she was swaying and clapping her hands. The two vampire cops were grinning and one raised a glass of beer in salute as he saw Rupert looking in his direction. Only the drow vampire didn't look happy. He met Rupert's gaze with a cold glare. Whether he didn't like the music, or he was annoyed by his girlfriend's obvious approval, he looked as if he'd kill Rupert the moment he got a chance. At the moment it didn't look as if Bodhi, who was obviously enjoying the songs, would allow it but the performance was going to have to end eventually. What would happen then was something Rupert didn't want to think about.

He saw some newcomers wandering into the bar to join the audience and groaned inwardly. Even more innocents at risk. He concentrated on his playing for a moment, picked out the final notes, and then looked up again. A couple of the new arrivals looked vaguely familiar.

Ah, yes. He remembered having seen photos of one; Angel, the vampire with a soul. The rest of the group would, no doubt, be his crew from Los Angeles; that would make the other semi-familiar face Cordelia Chase, former school-mate of Buffy and her friends, someone else Rupert had seen in photographs. She had changed her hair-style since that time, and very much not for the better, which is why he had not recognized her earlier; she looked as if she had aged ten years since the photos were taken rather than the three years or so that it had really been.

Rupert bit on his lip. This was good, because if there was going to be trouble they now had far more fighting power than before Angel's arrival, but it was also bad because it increased the probability of such trouble occurring. Probably more good than bad, he decided, as the whims of an insanely powerful vampire were hardly to be depended upon.

There was no sign of Joan. Presumably she was waiting outside, as her presence would almost certainly trigger an immediate attack from Bodhi, and delaying the fighting until they'd had a chance to get the innocent bystanders away would be highly desirable. Now, if only he could come up with a song that would drive away the usual Espresso Pump crowd but would fascinate the vampires… Rupert shook his head. Impossible, of course, and trying to do the reverse would just get Bodhi angry. He'd just have to stick with his original set list.

"_Now the flames they followed Joan of Arc_

_As she came riding through the dark_

_No moon to keep her armor bright_

_No man to get her through this dark and smoky night…_"

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"Home at last," Buffy sighed, as they trudged up the path to the gates of Athkatla. It was after dark, and the gates were closed, but as residents the party would be admitted without question. "Hey, that's a thought, when did I start thinking of this place as home? It is, though."

"Yeah, I don't think any of us would want to go back to Earth now," Willow agreed.

"Damn right," said Spike.

"I too think of this rivvin city as home," Viconia admitted, "even though when first I came here they sought to burn me at the stake."

Sorkatani smiled. "They will not seek to do that again," she said. She knocked on the door beside the main gates and called out to the guards. "Open, please. We are the party of Sorkatani and Buffy the Vampire Slayer, returning to the city after long absence."

The delay before the gate was opened was longer than they expected. Willow was beginning to consider zapping them all directly to the Five Flagons when, at last, the gates swung open.

A platoon of Amnish guards stood in the street. Their spears were leveled and facing the party. Three Cowled Wizards and a War Priest of Helm backed them up and a knight in full armor, his shield emblazoned with the emblem of the Radiant Heart, stood at the front.

"Sorkatani Gorion's Ward," the knight called, "Buffy Summers the Vampire Slayer, and Viconia De'Vir, you are under arrest for the crime of murder. Lay down your arms and surrender."

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Disclaimer: the characters in this story do not belong to me, but are being used for amusement only and all rights remain with Joss Whedon, Mutant Enemy, the writers of the original episodes, the TV and production companies responsible for the original television shows, the author of the books, and the game designers and copyright holders. BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER (c) 2002 Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation. The Buffy the Vampire Slayer trademark is used without express permission from Fox. ANGEL ©2001 Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation. All Rights Reserved. The ANGEL trademark is used without express permission from Fox. All Rights Reserved. 'Baldur's Gate 2: Shadows of Amn' belongs to Bioware and Wizards of the Coast, Inc. Lyrics from 'Mother', by Pink Floyd, written by Roger Waters, 'Journey', by Duncan Browne, and 'Joan of Arc', by Leonard Cohen, are used without permission and for non-commercial purposes only.


	67. Chapter 67

**Chapter Sixty-seven**

Rupert didn't see who started the fight. One moment the two sides were exchanging nothing more lethal than wary looks; the next fists were flying, fangs were out, and swords and stakes were appearing out of nowhere and being used in deadly combat.

Bodhi seemed to have been taken completely by surprise, the same applied to Joan, and Angel had been caught flat-footed too. Had someone acted without orders? If that was the case then Rupert would bet that the one responsible had been either the Drow, on Bodhi's side, or else the teenage boy, sulky rebellion written all over his features, who was tagging along with Angel.

Or it was like the Battle of Camlann. Someone had made an innocent move, someone on the other side had read it wrong, and all Hell had broken loose. The ring-tone of a mobile phone had sounded out an instant before the fight started; maybe that innocuous occurrence had been the trigger.

There was no time for analysis now. Only survival mattered. Rupert used his guitar case to block a punch from one of Bodhi's minions, fumbled in his jacket for a stake, and drove it home. As the vampire disintegrated Rupert cast a quick glance around.

Rupert hadn't been at the meeting where Joan had delivered her warning to Angel and didn't realize how accurately she had foreseen the likely course of events. Bodhi had seized hold of Angel and was, as Joan had predicted, breaking him apart. Bodhi wrenched savagely at Angel's right arm and snapped his forearm like a twig. She then moved on to his left arm and twisted it around until it was about to pop out of its socket.

The teenage boy growled deep in his throat and launched himself at Bodhi. He moved with uncanny speed, faster than any human Rupert had ever seen other than Joan, but he wasn't fast enough. Bodhi let go of Angel with her left hand and lashed it around in a back-fist blow that connected solidly with the youth's face. He was lifted from his feet and flew twenty feet through the air. He landed rolling, and came up to his feet almost at once, but he was wobbling on his feet and his face was a mask of blood.

Joan had gone straight for Tanova. The spell-caster was the most deadly threat, next to Bodhi, and a good deal easier to neutralize than the insanely strong vampire elf. Tanova had turned grey in the first second of the fight, protecting herself with a Stoneskin, but Joan rained blow after blow on her and then, as Tanova began to speak the words of a spell, Joan rammed her magical dagger into Tanova's open mouth. The Stoneskin didn't protect her there and, instead of an invocation, it was a gush of blood that came forth. Tanova howled and, with a mighty effort, threw Joan off her and away. Tanova backed away quickly, opening her Louis Vuitton purse and pulling out a potion bottle, but one of Angel's crew, a massively-muscled character who resembled a Terminator, seized her from behind and dashed the bottle from her hand. He pinned her arms and held her, helpless to defend herself, as Joan came in again.

The African-American member of Angel's company, Gunn, battled the Drow vampire, holding his own and preventing the vampire from getting off a shot with the deadly little hand crossbow, and Cordelia dueled with the paladin girl.

Nothing in Giles' old diaries had given Rupert the impression that Cordelia was in any way skilled at combat. Either they were wrong or else Cordelia had learned a lot during her time in Los Angeles. She wielded a saber with speed and skill that would have done credit to an Olympic fencer but against Jeroneth she might as well have been a novice.

Jeroneth parried two of Cordelia's strikes, spun and lashed out with a cut that sliced into Gunn's arm and forced him to release Zarbalan, and then went on the offensive and disarmed Cordelia with casual ease. Jeroneth dropped the long sports bag she held, seized hold of Cordelia with her left hand, and slammed the pommel of her sword into Cordelia's shoulder to paralyze her free arm. The vampire girl opened her mouth wide to reveal gleaming fangs, lunged at Cordelia's throat, and bit deep.

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

"If this is a jest it is in poor taste," Sorkatani said.

"It is no jest," the Radiant Heart knight replied. "Lay down your arms and surrender."

Sorkatani shook her head. "We have vowed to lay down our arms only when we are dead," she said. "I am loath to begin a battle against the law enforcers of the city I have come to regard as home but, if you press me too far, I will fight."

"That goes for me too," Buffy said.

"For all of us," Jaheira said. "What nonsense is this? We have murdered no-one."

"Hey, you're Sir Mardus, right?" Xander put in. "How about you explain what's going on? We've been away from the city for more than a month. Just who are we supposed to have killed?"

"Sir Xander?" There was surprise evident in Sir Mardus' voice. "You still travel with them after what they did?"

"What they did? Huh?" Xander's eyebrows rose out of sight under the rim of his helmet. "So killing vampires and psycho High Priestesses of Lolth are crimes now?"

"I know not of what you speak," said Sir Mardus. "Slaying paladins is most definitely a foul crime and it is that of which Buffy the Vampire Slayer stands accused."

"If I see someone protecting rapists, and about to kill someone who's trying to stop the rapes," Buffy spat out, "I kill him, paladin or not."

Sir Mardus raised his sword higher. "You slander the good Sir Darnell and his comrades most vilely," he growled. "Take back those words."

"If Sir Darnell was the man she slew," Jaheira put in, "then your definition of 'good' must be very different to any I have encountered before. The man was a false knight and his comrades naught but bandits."

"He was protecting evil-doers, and so doing evil, and I would have kicked his butt most mightily had Buffy not beaten me to it," Minsc added.

"The paladins of the Order of the Radiant Heart do not do evil," Sir Mardus said, his voice almost a growl.

"Sir Keldorn attacked me without reason," Viconia pointed out.

Sir Mardus glared at her with an intensity that would have made a lesser woman quail. "And is that why you attacked other knights of the Order? Revenge?"

"Wait a minute," Willow said. "Something's wrong here. I don't think he's talking about what we're talking about. What would knights of the Radiant Heart have been doing in Tethyr?"

"They were patrolling the borders," Sir Mardus answered, transferring his glower to Willow.

"Border patrol? Huh?" Xander frowned and shook his head. "That sure was one heck of an incursion into the Neutral Zone. It makes Captain Kirk look like a guy who stuck strictly to orders by comparison."

"I do not understand you, Sir Xander," Sir Mardus said. "Who is Captain – a-hah! A light, I think, shines in the darkness. You maintain that you travelled with the party of Sorkatani the whole time?"

"Well, yeah," Xander said. "Except for when the girls were in the bath, and that time they went to a party without me, but, yeah. We sailed to Brynnlaw together, we went through the dungeon together, sailed back, got shipwrecked, made our way through the Underdark… if you have a ten-day to spare I'll tell you all about it."

"He knows," Spike said, adopting an odd accent, "'cos he was there." Giles chuckled. Everyone else looked blank.

"Some British thing," Buffy said to Willow, making a correct deduction.

Sir Mardus ignored the by-play. "Then you can testify in their defense," he said to Xander, "and that should set all to rights. The powers of the Holy Sword, Carsomyr, will serve as testimony that you speak the truth."

"Ah," said Xander, pulling a face, "funny you should say that. It's kind of a long story…"

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

The phone rang and Katrina hastily set aside her laptop. Randy beat her to the phone, despite his injured leg, and Katrina could only listen to his side of the ensuing conversation. She'd expected the call to be from Joan, or one of the others, reporting on the success or otherwise of their rescue mission. Instead it turned out to be from Randy's friend Clem, the demon who'd been pretending to be a movie extra when she'd met him at Joan's birthday party, with some news that brought a smile to Randy's lips.

"Thanks, Clem, that's bloody brilliant," Randy said, as the call drew to an end. "It might save our lives. I owe you one." He was silent for a few seconds, listening, and then continued. "Yeah, sure, no problem. I'll get it for you. Thanks again. I'd better get on to Joan and let her know what you found. Thanks again. See you around." He thumbed the button to disconnect the call and turned to Katrina. "Clem's found Bodhi's lair."

Katrina narrowed her eyes. "Good," she said. "We can take the fight to them instead of just reacting. I wouldn't quite call it a life-saver but it could be very useful."

"I don't mean whatever posh pad Bodhi's taken over," Randy corrected her. "Clem's found the coffins. Marked inside with vampire blood, just like Angel guessed, and the original corpses dumped out. The clincher is that he found a couple of things stashed there. A sword and a thing like an antique lantern. And it's glowing."

"The Rhynn Lanthorn," Katrina identified the artifact. A smile spread across her face. "You're right, that clinches it. If Joan can stake them, and force them to go back there to regenerate, we can zap them into the memory sticks and send them back where they belong."

Randy was already dialing. He waited for the call to be answered and then grimaced. "Voicemail," he muttered. "She's probably in the middle of a bloody fight." He raised his voice to a normal speaking tone. "Clem's found Bodhi's coffin stash," he reported. "In Sunnydale Cemetery, the Broderick crypt, that's the one with the tacky cherubs over the door, next to the one with the statue of the angel reading a book. As soon as you dust the bitch get over there and finish the job. Uh, love you."

Katrina twitched an eyebrow upwards and gave Randy a half smile. "I still find it hard to believe you're a vampire," she remarked.

Randy lowered the phone and gazed at her with his scarred eyebrow rising in a mirror image of hers. "What? Don't quite get the non sequitur, luv," he said.

"Don't worry about it," Katrina said. She retrieved her laptop and started shutting it down. "Which one's Sunnydale Cemetery?"

"It's the closest one to the High School," Randy told her. "Not far from the Bronze."

Katrina pulled a memory stick out of the laptop's USB port and stared at it speculatively. "Hmm. How close are you to being back at fighting strength?"

"Apart from the leg I'm pretty much recovered," Randy said. "Overall I'm up to, maybe, seventy-five per cent of normal. Against Bodhi and her pals that's nowhere near good enough. Would just have been a liability, if I'd gone with the others, 'specially as I can't run for it if I start getting clobbered."

"But could you cope with a normal vampire?"

"'Course I could," Randy assured her. "Why?"

"Because I don't want to get eaten by an ordinary vampire," Katrina explained, "and you're taking me to Sunnydale Cemetery."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

Jeroneth recoiled from Cordelia, retching, and spat blood from her mouth. "What foul taint is this?" she exclaimed. "The ichor of a tanar'ri!"

The Groosalugg had released Tanova on seeing Cordelia's plight. He hurtled toward Jeroneth, pulling out an axe from under his jacket as he went, and struck at her neck with all his might.

Jeroneth blocked the blow with her forearm. She underestimated Groo's strength and her arm was knocked aside. The axe blade glanced off her steel arm bracer, continued on, and bounced off her breastplate. Groo swung the axe around and took another swing at her neck. Unfortunately he didn't realize that his first strike had had no effect on Jeroneth whatsoever and he took his eyes of her sword for a fraction of a second. That was all the time she needed to thrust her blade deep into his abdomen. Groo dropped the axe and staggered back with his hands clutching at his stomach.

Tanova, free now, began a spell to restore her protections. Joan rushed at her and delivered a lightning-fast strike. Tanova tried to ride the blow, so that she could finish her spell, but Joan was hiding a stake flat against her forearm and Tanova saw it too late. Joan changed the direction of her strike, flipping out the stake, and drove it home into Tanova's chest. The vampire disintegrated into a cloud of white mist.

Tara rushed to Groo's side, pulling a cloth out of her purse as she went, but her course took her within a sword's length of Jeroneth. The blade licked out… and stopped short of Tara's skin. Jeroneth turned away, leaving Tara to tend to Groo unharmed and unhindered, and directed her attention toward Zarbalan's fight against Gunn.

Connor launched an assault on Bodhi. He hit her twice, without any apparent effect, and then lunged at her breast with a stake. She caught his arm, squeezed it hard enough to break bones, and ripped the stake from his hand. Angel attacked her, striking with his undamaged arm, and Bodhi stabbed him with the stake. He managed to interpose his arm between the stake and the intended target; the point pierced all the way through his arm, between the radius and ulna, and nailed it to his chest. The wood jammed against bone and stopped the stake just short of piercing Angel's heart. Angel staggered away with his face contorted in agony.

Connor broke free while Bodhi was distracted. He chopped her across the throat with the edge of his hand, putting all his considerable strength into the blow, but achieved nothing more than forcing her to take a step back. He tried to follow up his strike and she caught hold of him once more. Bodhi dragged Connor inexorably to her, holding him by his uninjured arm and the back of his head, and tilted his head to expose his throat. Her head darted forward like a striking snake and she bit deep into the side of his neck.

Fred came up behind Jeroneth and rammed a tazer into her back. Unfortunately the steel cuirass under Jeroneth's shirt acted like a partial Faraday cage and the paralyzing shock was diluted down to no more than an annoyance. Jeroneth spun around, her sword hissing through the air, and Fred only managed to avoid losing her head by throwing herself to the ground and scrambling away.

One of the policeman vampires hurled himself at Rupert and slammed him back into a parked car. The vampire shoved Rupert down onto the hood of the car and tried to get his teeth into Rupert's neck. Rupert fended the vampire off with his guitar case, using it as a shield, but couldn't free himself and the fangs drew closer and closer. Anya scurried to the rescue but Alex got there first. He slammed a stake into the vampire's back with every ounce of his strength. The tip of the stake burst through the front of the chest and thumped into Rupert's guitar case. An instant later the vampire disintegrated and both the men began coughing as a dust cloud enveloped them.

Bodhi withdrew her fangs from Connor's neck and pushed him away. "Another one immune to life draining," she complained, as Connor staggered and sank to his knees. "Aren't any of you normal humans?" She glanced around and realized, for the first time, that Tanova had been staked and was drifting away in mist form. "Bastards!" she swore. She kicked out at Connor's face. He caught her foot and tried to pull her off balance. Bodhi wrenched her leg free and grabbed for Connor's hair. He threw himself backward to avoid her clutching hand, rolled out of reach, and then regained his feet.

"Jeroneth!" Bodhi yelled. "Stop pissing around and throw me my sword. I'm through playing nice."

Jeroneth bent down, scooped up the sports bag, and tossed it in Bodhi's direction.

Joan took off in a flying leap and snatched the bag out of the air. Her hand was already entering the bag as she landed. She snatched out the long-sword and drew it forth from its scabbard. "Ooh, shiny!" she exclaimed. She threw away the bag but kept hold of the scabbard with her left hand. For a few seconds she twirled the sword to accustom herself to its length and balance, simultaneously looking around to assess the situation, and working out where she was most urgently needed.

Only a couple of Bodhi's minions still survived. One of them was fighting Warren, Andrew, and Jonathan. Joan saw the vampire seize Andrew by the stake hand and the collar, and then force him into a position where he'd be wide open to a bite, and she moved in that direction to rescue Andrew. Before she could arrive Jonathan knelt down behind the vampire's legs and curled himself into a ball. Warren shoulder-charged the vampire, driving him back onto Jonathan, and the vampire crashed to the ground underneath Andrew. Warren landed on top of the pile and, in the confused scrimmage, either Andrew or Warren rammed the stake through the vampire's chest.

That left Joan with a choice of aiding Angel and Connor against Bodhi or helping the rest of the Los Angeles crew in their battle with Jeroneth and Zarbalan. Angel was badly injured, and Connor was hurt, but Joan decided that they weren't in immediate mortal danger. Bodhi, using only bare hands and fangs, was making slow work of beating them to death. Meanwhile the situation was far more perilous for Gunn, Fred, Cordelia and Groo.

Even as Joan began to run in that direction Zarbalan rammed his short-sword into Gunn's stomach. At almost the same moment Jeroneth slashed the tip of her sword across Fred's throat. Groo, already badly wounded, roared out in rage and charged. Jeroneth met his rush with a sideways chop that sliced bone-deep into Groo's thigh. Great gouts of blood spurted forth as the sword came free and Groo toppled to the ground.

_I'm too late_, Joan thought as she ran, but she kept going and hurtled straight at Jeroneth. That deadly sword came up again, pointing straight at Joan's heart, and it seemed impossible for her to avoid it. Jeroneth's lips were already curling up in a smile of triumph when Joan swung the scabbard in her left hand and swatted the blade aside. Her own sword, the magical blade that had once belonged to the paladin Sir Krivalek before being appropriated by Bodhi, came around in a lethal answer. Steel flashed in the streetlights in a semicircle that passed through Jeroneth's neck. For a brief instant her head tumbled through the air, a smile still frozen on her face, and then head and body together dissipated into a cloud of white mist.

Zarbalan screamed. He pushed Gunn away and uttered one word. "Oloth!" Suddenly he was gone, hidden from sight at the center of a cloud of absolute darkness, and then everything vanished from Joan's vision as the Drow hurled himself at her and the darkness swallowed her up. She knew he'd be coming sword first and she leapt aside. His sword-point caught the side of her right arm, tearing skin and flesh, but she ignored the flare of pain and kept hold of her sword. She released the scabbard, grabbed for where she estimated he must be, and caught him by the arm. A pull, a twist, and the short-sword clattered on the ground. He struck out at her with his other hand, something sharp in his grip – a bolt from his pistol crossbow, she deduced – but it only scraped across her fore-arm and now she had his position clearly in her mind. She struck with her long-sword, hitting him solidly despite the blade's awkwardness for such close work, and then delivered another blow, and another, and then his arm seemed to collapse in her grip. The darkness dissipated and the street lights revealed that she was standing in a waist-high cloud of white vapor. It writhed, swirled, and then began to move as if blown by a wind that somehow affected nothing else.

"Now you've made me angry," Bodhi said. She dipped a hand down to her waistband and brought it up holding a gun. She extended her arm and pointed the sleek automatic pistol directly at Joan's head. "Everybody stand still."

"This girl's _dying_!" Tara protested. "I'm going to try to stop the bleeding and you'll have to shoot me to stop me." She strode toward Fred, her jaw set, resolutely ignoring the gun that swung to point at her.

Bodhi laughed. "Well, you did sing very nicely, and so I'll spare you. In fact I'll be nice all round. You may tend to your wounded." She went back to pointing the gun at Joan.

Joan didn't understand Bodhi's motives but wasn't going to argue. "Do it," she said to her friends. They rushed to the assistance of the fallen. This meant that everyone ended up in front of Bodhi; however jumping her from behind was probably completely pointless for anyone without superpowers and so it didn't make a whole lot of difference.

"Hey, a healing potion," Anya said, picking up the vial that Tanova had dropped when Joan decapitated her. "Who's in worst shape?"

"Christ, don't use that!" Warren cried.

"Why not?" Anya asked.

"Vampires in the Forgotten Realms are Negative Energy beings," Jonathan explained. "Cure spells harm them and harm spells heal them. That won't be Cure Wounds, it will be _Cause_ Wounds."

Bodhi laughed. "Now that would have been delightfully amusing," she said. "Of course you're only postponing the inevitable. We'll finish you off tomorrow. Although," she added, "I might spare Giles and Tara. They do sing very nicely and, unlike their counterparts in my world, they don't pose any kind of threat."

"What does she mean?" Angel asked. He had managed to extract the stake from his arm, with assistance from Connor, and blood from the wound was dripping onto the ground and pooling there. "We got all of them except her. How come she thinks she can do better tomorrow by herself?"

"I told you, Angel," Joan said. "Staking them doesn't kill them. They float back to their coffins and regenerate. Tanova and the other two will be recovered in a few hours, at full strength, and we… won't."

"Ah, you do know," Bodhi said. "I wasn't sure. Oh, well, it's too late now for you to do anything about it."

Joan looked around, scanning for the clouds of mist, but they were all out of sight. She realized why Bodhi had been stalling. Apart from a rough idea that the vaporous vampires had moved off in a roughly south-easterly direction she had lost track of where they had gone. Hopefully one of the others had thought to take a more accurate bearing.

"And now," Bodhi said, "I'll take my leave. Until tomorrow."

Joan fixed her eyes on the gun, poised for action, watching for any sign that Bodhi was about to pull the trigger. Maybe she could make it into sword-fighting range without any serious bullet-wounds. Instead of firing Bodhi returned the gun to her waistband and then, just as Joan was starting to move, Bodhi transformed.

The vampire girl vanished. In her place was a bat, five feet above the ground, fluttering its wings. Joan rushed forward with sword raised, and Alex dived for Zarbalan's discarded hand crossbow, but the bat zoomed rapidly upward. It easily evaded Joan's desperate leap and slash, climbed to fifty feet or more above the ground, and then turned and flew off to the west.

"Crap and double crap," Joan swore. She guessed that Bodhi would be protecting the others while they regenerated, and was taking a circuitous route as misdirection, but it was quite possible that she was going to lurk in the vicinity and pick off stragglers from Joan's group. The whole "I'll probably kill you in the morning" thing could have been the misdirection. "She turned into a bat! I didn't know she could do that."

"She turns into a bat in her final battle against the Bhaalspawn," Andrew said, "just when you think you've killed her."

"Sorry," Warren said, "I should have warned you. I forgot."

"It's not like I could have done anything to stop her," Joan said. "Don't worry about it." She took out her cell-phone to dial 911 but then realized that several of the others had beaten her to it. She was about to put the phone back in her pocket when she remembered that it had rung just before the fight started. It could well have been important – not many people had the number – and she retrieved her voice-mail and listened.

"That bite," Connor muttered, staring at Cordelia's neck.

"A perfect match for the one on your neck," Angel said. "Don't worry about Cordy. It's not life-threatening. Take it from the expert. Fred and Charles are the ones who need to get to the hospital right away."

"And Groo," Cordelia added. "Uh, that's assuming they can treat someone with his…. background."

"Fear not, my Princess, I shall not perish," Groo assured her. "These wounds will heal. Yet I shall be weak for some days, I fear, and if those creatures seek battle anew on the morrow I will be of but little use."

"The marks," Connor went on. "They're not like the ones on Dad's neck at all."

"Dad?" Angel's brows lowered. "You mean Holtz?"

"Yeah." Connor's Adam's Apple bobbed up and down as he swallowed hard. "He's dead. Justine said you killed him, and he had two puncture wounds on his throat, but they didn't look like that."

Joan had barely noticed the conversation going on between Angel and his associates. "Listen up, everybody!" she called. "Randy's located Bodhi's coffins. Sunnydale Cemetery." She scanned the scene and winced. The Sunnydale contingent was in reasonably good shape, bar a few bruises, but Angel's people were pretty much out of action as a fighting force. "I'd better get over there right away. I'll need a…" She bit back the word 'nerd' that had been the first to come to mind and thought of a tactful equivalent. "Uh, a technical advisor to do the zappy thing with the, uh, gizmo."

"Take me!" Andrew volunteered, beating Warren and Jonathan by a fraction of a second.

Joan set aside for the moment the matter of which nerd to pick. "I could do with some combat back-up," she went on, "but… well, I think I'll have to do without. Those of you who are still in one piece are going to have to look after those who… aren't. Bodhi might come back and, even if she doesn't, the local bad guys will probably be attracted by the smell of blood."

"I could use that healing potion thing," Angel offered. "I'm a vampire. Maybe it'll patch me up enough to go another couple of rounds against her." He clenched his jaws tightly for a moment. "Although it might not do a lot of good. She's unbelievably strong. It's like fighting a Terminator."

"Wow, a pop culture reference," Cordelia said. "That's not like you, Angel." She was busily engaged in binding up the deep wound in Groo's leg and spoke without looking up.

"She stole the strength of a god," Andrew explained, but no-one took any notice of him.

"Using that's a risk," Jonathan warned Angel, as Anya handed the potion bottle to the vampire and he took hold of it, awkwardly, with a blood-smeared hand. "You're not the same sort of vampire as they are. Ordinary healing spells and potions work on Spike. So, whatever this is might not work on you. It might backfire and make you worse." Jonathan focused his gaze on Angel's mangled arms. "Not that there's much worse you could get. Uh, without dusting, that is."

"I'll be careful," Angel said. "I'll just take a small sip first and see what it does." He popped the wax seal free with his thumb and raised the bottle to his lips. His eyebrows shot up. "Human blood," he said, lowering the bottle. "And it's… enriched somehow. Full of life. Almost like Slayer blood."

"Eww," Joan said, wrinkling her nose. "Well, if it will help, I guess you'd better drink up."

Angel grimaced. "I'm going to be suffering withdrawal pangs for weeks after this." He put the bottle to his mouth, tilted it high, and drank deep.

Joan heard sirens, not close but drawing nearer, and relaxed slightly. Ambulances were on their way. "Is it working?" she asked Angel.

"Too soon to tell," Angel replied. A cell-phone went off nearby; Warren snatched it out of his pocket and put it to his ear. Angel stared at the wound in his arm. "The bleeding does seem to be stopping," he decided, "but there doesn't seem to be any dramatic instant effect."

"I can't wait for long," Joan said. "Warren…" She saw that he was on the phone and turned, instead, to Jonathan. "Jonathan, how long will it take before the vampires, uh, regenerate?"

"Three hit points per one-minute round," Andrew said, before Jonathan could answer, "and Tanova, at this point, should have a hundred and thirty hit points. Forty-three minutes twenty seconds. I don't know about the other two, they're not canon characters."

"I wouldn't count on it being that precise," Jonathan warned. "Take it as just a rough estimate."

Joan glanced at her watch. "So, maybe thirty or forty minutes. That doesn't give us much time to track the misty things to their lair and do the zappy thing. We know the cemetery but that still means searching a whole lot of crypts."

Warren waved a hand at her and took the phone away from his mouth for a moment. "I know which one," he called, and then went back to his phone conversation.

"We're in business," Joan said. She slid the sword into its scabbard and waited for Warren to come up with more specific details.

"What?" Warren exclaimed, loudly. "Get out of there, Katrina! Right now! Bodhi's on her way. She's in bat form." He was silent for a moment, listening, and then groaned. "Oh, crap. You be careful. Please. And get the hell out of there if you get the chance. We're on our way." He disconnected the phone and turned his attention to Joan. "The Broderick crypt at Sunnydale Cemetery," he told her. "One of Randy's demon friends tracked it down. Only Katrina talked Randy into taking her there. And now they're in the crypt and there's a huge armored demon outside. They're trapped."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

Magistrate Bylanna folded her arms and stared at the two groups in front of her. "The evidence appears damning and yet it never rang true to me. It contradicts everything that I know about Sorkatani and Buffy the Vampire Slayer. They stopped the skinner murders, shattered the power of the Slavers, and destroyed the Cult of the Eyeless. It makes no sense that they should turn to murder and banditry."

"They shielded the wanted fugitive Valygar," one of the Cowled Wizards said.

"Who was later exonerated on all charges," Bylanna pointed out. "Their actions in that case are hardly indicative of a tendency toward lawlessness."

"And yet there are unimpeachable witnesses to their crimes," Sir Mardus said. "Squire Brendur saw Buffy the Vampire Slayer in the very act of murder."

"He stated she was accompanied only by three others, counting Sir Anomen," Bylanna reminded him, "and there are thirteen in the adventuring band. Where were the others? And he reported that one was a Drow who wielded a rapier. It is well known that Viconia De'Vir uses mace and flail."

Buffy's lips tightened and she exchanged a quick glance with Sorkatani before speaking out. "It was Bodhi," she said. "She took Anomen and turned him into a vampire. We've been chasing them all the way back from Spellhold. She probably thought it would be funny to pretend to be me."

"And what of you, Sorkatani?" Sir Mardus asked. "Several people saw you slay the prostitute Rose Bouqet, and you were seen coming out of the Delryn Estate shortly before Lord Cor Delryn was found murdered. What do you have to say for yourself?"

"We're too late, then," Buffy said. "You were right, Xan. Damn it."

"Sir Xander predicted that Sir Anomen would kill his father when he returned to Athkatla," Sorkatani said to Sir Mardus. "It seems he was correct. We had hoped to reach the city in time to prevent the deed but, alas, we failed. I know nothing of the other murder."

"Rose gave us some of the evidence that helped us nail Reijek Hidesman," Anya put in.

"Why would Sir Anomen kill his father?" Sir Mardus raised his eyebrows and stared into Sorkatani's eyes. "Even if that was the case, what were you doing there?"

"I was miles away," Sorkatani said. "We have not been in the city for a month and a half."

"So you say," said Sir Mardus.

"Summon the witnesses," Magistrate Bylanna ordered. "I have not heard the testimony of Squire Brendur."

"The slaying of Sir Darnell and his comrades, and the abduction of Lady Jeroneth, took place far from the city," Sir Mardus said. "That matter is outside your jurisdiction."

"It is material to the other cases," Bylanna said. "If Buffy and Viconia are not guilty then their testimony will be relevant to the charges against Sorkatani."

"Lady Jeroneth?" Xander said. "Lady Irlana's friend, right? The one with the huge… tracts of land?"

"Indeed so," Sir Mardus answered. "She does have extensive land-holdings, although I fail to see the relevance. A most brave and honorable lady, greatly skilled at arms, and fair of face withal."

"Well, when we fought the bunch who had a paladin with them, back in the Forest of Tethir, she wasn't there," Xander said. "There were no girls in that outfit at all."

"The lady mage Janthoreen also rode in Sir Darnell's company," Sir Mardus said. "She was brutally slain."

"The mages in the party we fought were two guys," Xander said. "Pointy hats, staffs, and, here's the clincher, beards. It wasn't the same outfit. I knew the Order of the Radiant Heart couldn't have been acting like such total assholes."

"If what you say is true then it exonerates your companions," Sir Mardus conceded, "but I will reserve judgment until after Squire Brendur has been questioned further."

"There is one missing from your party," Bylanna said to Buffy. "Yoshimo, the bounty hunter, who has assisted this office more than once in solving crimes. Where is he?"

Buffy's lips curled down. "He's dead."

"Oh." Bylanna bit her lip and bowed her head. "I am sorry to hear that."

"Thank you," Sorkatani said. "It is yet another loss for which the blame rests with Irenicus and Bodhi."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

"You've been a bad girl," the massive demon told Bodhi. "Messing with things that don't concern you. Your friend with the big jugs nearly killed the Vessel and you chewed on the Spark. You wouldn't believe the amount of work it's taken to set things up and you're gonna wreck it all. Some major players are really pissed at you."

"I believe the local expression is 'See me not caring'," Bodhi replied. "Hmm. You are quite an impressive specimen. I could use a… being like you. If your martial prowess matches your appearance you could be a formidable addition to my forces. And if your genitalia are to scale with your body I might even be willing to take you to my bed."

"Not interested, lady," the demon replied. "I already have an employer."

"Don't be so hasty," Bodhi purred. "I assure you the benefits would be considerable. What's your name?"

"The name's Skip," said the demon, "but you're not going to be around long enough for it to matter. You should have stayed on friggin' Vulcan or wherever." A long metal blade slid out of a recess in his armor and extended out beyond his right fist. With his left hand he pulled out a wooden stake. "Say goodbye to Earth, Miss Pointy Ears."

"That's not friendly," Bodhi said. "And here's me without a sword and dressed for a night out and not for fighting. If you damage my clothes I'll be very, very, cross with you."

"I'm gonna damage a whole lot more than your clothes, doll," Skip said. He charged toward Bodhi, moving with a speed that belied his bulk, and thrust out his bladed arm at her chest.

Bodhi caught the arm, turned, and threw Skip over her shoulder. He crashed to the ground and she kicked him in the head so hard that he skidded away across the cemetery lawn.

Skip clambered to his feet and shook his head. "You're pretty strong for a little girl," he conceded, "but you're playing out of your league. I'm gonna break you apart." He advanced again, more cautiously this time, and tried to seize Bodhi by the throat.

Bodhi met his hand with hers and squeezed. Skip cried out and used his other hand to try to stab her with the stake. Bodhi caught that hand too and wrenched the stake from his grasp. "If I'd known I was going to be fighting tonight," she remarked, "I'd have worn the boots with the dagger sheaths. I'm going to have to do this the hard way." She pulled Skip closer and brought up her knee between his legs with such power that he rose clear of the ground. "Damn armor," she complained, as he landed with barely a wince. "You're not fighting fair." She released Skip and took a step back.

"Bitch," Skip growled. He shook his crushed hand, grimaced, and put his other hand down to his groin. He straightened up and swung a mailed fist, hard and fast, at Bodhi's face. Bodhi stepped inside the blow, ignoring the impact of his forearm against her head, and caught Skip by the throat and the waist. She lifted him up, above her head, and then threw him high into the air. He landed with a crash and lay still, stunned, for a moment. A white cloud of vapor drifted past, passing within feet of the combatants, and disappeared into the Broderick crypt.

Before Skip could recover Bodhi was on him, straddling him, and using one of the spikes that protruded from his head to wrench his head around and back. "I haven't actually tried this out in combat," she remarked, drawing her automatic pistol, "and I don't know how good it is at penetrating armor. So I'll cheat." She thrust the barrel into Skip's mouth and pulled the trigger.

The sound of the gunshot was partially muffled but was still loud in the quiet of the cemetery. Skip jerked once and went limp. Bodhi returned the gun to her waistband, took hold of Skip's head with both hands, and turned it first one way and then the other. "Quite effective," she decided. "He looks dead. Of course he might be faking…" She stuck her thumb into one of his open, staring, eyes and ran the nail across his eyeball. There was no reaction whatsoever. "Well, that seems fairly conclusive," Bodhi said, "but there's no point in taking chances." She took firm hold of Skip's head with both hands, braced a foot against his shoulder, and heaved and twisted with all her might until she managed to tear the head clean off his neck. She tossed the head away and turned toward the crypt.

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

"It was dark," Squire Brendur said, "and she wore a hood that covered her hair. She was of a height with this woman, and her voice was not dissimilar, but I could not swear that they are one and the same. Nor could I swear that they are not. I saw Sir Anomen clearly, and spoke with him, and thus I assumed that she was, as she said, Buffy the Vampire Slayer."

"This evidence does not clear her," Sir Mardus said. "I cannot, in all conscience, release her from custody as of yet."

"There is something else, though," Brendur added. "I have never seen this lady drow before in my life. The drow who accompanied Sir Anomen, and the lady who styled herself Buffy the Vampire Slayer, was a young man."

"Are you sure?" Sir Mardus said. "Why did you not say this before?"

"I thought I had done," Brendur said. "Perhaps I overlooked that detail and, if so, I apologize. This is clearly not the same person."

"My nephew Zarbalan," Viconia said. "Bodhi turned him into a vampire to strike back at me. The day when I sacrifice her heart to Shar cannot come soon enough."

"I think that settles the matter of the charges against Buffy and Viconia," Bylanna declared. "Consequently their testimony, that Sorkatani has been with them all the time and only arrived in Athkatla this evening, is valid. There is no case to answer. Chief Inspector Brega!"

"Yes, Magistrate?" the officer responded.

"Inform the guards that Sorkatani, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and Viconia De'Vir are innocent on all the charges that have been leveled against them," the Magistrate ordered. "The real culprits are the vampire Bodhi and her associates. One of them, I deduce, is disguised as Sorkatani. Also order that all guardsmen are to be on the look-out for Sir Anomen but to beware; he is now a vampire and, therefore, highly dangerous."

"I shall inform Prelate Wessalen," Sir Mardus said, "and ensure that similar orders are issued to the Knights of the Radiant Heart."

"Good," said Bylanna. She turned to the Cowled Wizard who was the organization's representative in the government offices. "Corneil, see that the Cowled Wizards are likewise informed. I do not want there to be any mistakes leading to unnecessary, and perhaps tragic, confrontations."

"It shall be as you command, Magistrate," Corneil agreed. "We shall ensure that no-one suffers for the murder of our colleague Janthoreen except the true slayer."

"I thank you, Magistrate Bylanna," Sorkatani said.

"That goes for me too," Buffy said.

"I take it that you will be willing to assist the authorities in tracking down and destroying the vampires responsible for the crimes," Bylanna said.

"Of course," Sorkatani replied. "We have suffered greatly at their hands and are sworn to vengeance against them. Tonight, however, we can do nothing but return to the Five Flagons Inn to rest for the night. We have been traveling all day and we are tired, our spells are depleted, and my sister Imoen is… unwell. We are in no condition to face Bodhi. She is, as we have learned to our bitter cost, formidable almost beyond measure."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

"Bugger," Randy said. "She's coming this way. Told you we should have run for it while she was fighting that armored git."

"We'd never have made it without being seen," Katrina said, "and staying meant that I got the last of her minions. All three of them, and the Rhynn Lanthorn, are safely tucked away in here." She held up the memory device, looked at it for a second, and then slipped it into a pocket.

"Fat lot of good that'll do us if the big bad Momma Vampire rips off our sodding heads," Randy grumbled. "Look, I'm going to take her on. You make a run for it. And bloody do it this time."

"She'll kill you," Katrina warned, "and then Joan will kill me."

"Maybe not," Randy said. "This time I've got a sword and she hasn't. Not even a knife; she was whinging about that a minute ago. 'Course, she's strong enough not to need one, but at least this'll be an equalizer." He picked up the scabbarded sword that had lain, abandoned, in one of the coffins. He closed his hand on the grip and immediately snatched it away again with a slight yelp. "Bloody hell! The bastard's red hot!"

"Let me see that," Katrina said. She examined the sword for a moment. "It's Daystar," she announced, a hint of reverence in her voice. "It was created to destroy the Undead. It does double damage against them and it can unleash a deadly Sunray. Bodhi must have left it here because they can't use it."

"Great," said Randy, "or at least it would be if I wasn't Undead myself. I can't touch this and it's bloody Hammer time. Please tell me you're an Olympic-standard fencer, or the Californian SCA sword-fighting champion, or something."

"Sorry," Katrina said. "The only swords I've ever handled have been keyboard and mouse controlled on a computer screen."

"Shit." Randy gritted his teeth. "Oh, well, I'd rather have blistered palms than have that bitch rip my arms off and beat me to death with the soggy ends." He took hold of the sword hilt with his right hand, clenching his jaws even tighter, and pulled it from the scabbard. "Once more into the breach, dear friends, once more," he quoted, "Or fill the wall up with our English un-dead. You get even a whisker of a chance, luv, and you run like buggery. Tell Joan I love her." He raised the sword to the guard position and stepped out of the crypt.


	68. Chapter 68

**Chapter Sixty-Eight**

Bodhi spotted Randy the second he left the crypt. "Oh, wonderful, it's the Spike clone," she greeted him, irritation evident in her voice. "Just what I needed to put the final touch to this really shit evening. I just wanted to listen to some music, have a meal and a fuck – not necessarily in that order – and then watch one of those DVD things while I waited for a new minion or two to rise. Was that really too much to ask?" She leapt thirty feet up and sideways, landed in the branches of a tree, and ripped off a branch about eight feet long. "Instead I end up in a succession of battles to the death. Oh, well, at least killing you will mean that the evening isn't a total loss." She began stripping away the twigs from the branch to convert it into a quarter-staff.

Randy thrust the tip of the sword into the ground and took his hand away from the hilt. He spat on his palm and then blew on it. "Thought the only thing you liked listening to was the sound of your own voice," he said.

"Not entirely true," Bodhi said. "I quite like the music of your world. Mainly, though, I like the sound of screaming." She jumped down from the tree and began to twirl the improvised quarter-staff with ominous competence. "Ooh, excellent. I smell a live human in the crypt. At least I'll get my evening meal after I kill you."

"You don't fucking touch her, bitch," Randy warned. Bodhi merely laughed.

Katrina walked out of the crypt and Randy groaned. "You were supposed to lie low, you daft bint," he said.

"There wasn't a lot of point if she can smell me," Katrina pointed out, and then she held up her USB flash-drive. "Your friends are in this now," she told Bodhi. "I intended to send them back to Faerûn. But if you're going to kill us, well," she bent down, placed the drive under her heel, and straightened up, "then I'll smash the disc and you'll never see them again."

Bodhi lowered the staff. "Thank you for not staking them," she said, a note of sincerity replacing her usual mocking tones. "Tanova is a very dear friend and I have become fond of Jeroneth also despite, or perhaps even because of, her tendencies toward being too soft. Although Zarbalan is an annoying little weasel." The staff came up again. "Why do you want to send us back?"

"So that Imoen can get her soul back," Katrina answered. "I don't know if that would happen if we killed you here."

"Well, thanks anyway," Bodhi said. "I'll turn you, and your boyfriend, instead of just killing you. And you can be one of the family instead of just a disposable minion. Now give me that… thing and tell me how to get them out of it."

"It's not going to happen, Bodhi," Katrina said.

"Give it to me," Bodhi repeated. Her voice deepened and her eyes widened. "Pick it up and bring it to me."

"Don't look in her eyes!" Randy ordered. "She's trying to put you under her thrall, Kat."

"I won't," Katrina said. "Give yourself up, Bodhi. We'll just send you back to Faerûn, with your friends, and we won't harm you."

"Fuck that," Bodhi replied. She bent slightly, stretched a hand down along her leg, and then clicked her tongue against the roof of her mouth. She straightened up. "This is the last time I go out without a throwing knife. I'll just have to –" Suddenly her arm blurred and the staff shot through the air, hurled like a spear and with immense force, heading directly for Katrina's chest.

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

By the time they arrived at the Five Flagons Inn exhaustion was taking its toll. Imoen, who had been casting spells all day as well as suffering the effects of her illness, was only able to walk with the assistance of Minsc's strong arm. The duty of casting 'Restoration' on her, with Viconia still devoid of higher level spells, had fallen entirely on Tara and she was flagging too. Willow wasn't in much better shape. Everyone was looking forward to a meal and then collapsing into bed. They passed by the posters on the outside of the inn, announcing 'All this ten-day – Lady Sharwyn Laummyr!' and showing a picture of a pretty red-headed girl holding a guitar, without taking any notice.

Samuel Thunderburp, the halfling innkeeper, greeted them with pleasure and some surprise. "Well, you're back," he said. "This would be Imoen, then? I'm well pleased you found your friend, Lady Sorkatani."

"Thank you, Samuel," Sorkatani responded. "It was a long expedition, with many dangers and reverses, but we prevailed in the end. There are battles yet to fight but, for the moment, we can rest."

Willow yawned. "And that rest had better be pretty darn soon," she said. "I don't even feel awake enough to eat."

"Ah," said Samuel, "I'm afraid you might have to wait a little while. An hour or so, anyway, maybe two."

"Of course," Sorkatani said. "The bedding will be packed away. We expected as much, arriving unheralded, and we can wait. Or we can sleep atop the beds using our travelling blankets."

"Right now I could sleep on a bed of nails," Tara said.

"That wasn't what I meant," Samuel said. "There's a concert going on in the Playhouse and it's pretty noisy. Don't think you'd be able to sleep until it's over." He saw the faces of the tired girls sink, with even some lip-trembling from Imoen, and scratched his head. "Although," he added, "There are a couple of free rooms upstairs. If you don't mind not having your own rooms some of you could use them."

"Thank you, Samuel," Sorkatani said again, bestowing a beaming smile upon the halfling. "That would be ideal."

Buffy frowned. Recent events had made them loath to split up, or to sleep without guards even somewhere they would expect to be safe, and Buffy wasn't keen on the idea.

Willow read her expression and correctly guessed her thoughts. "It'll be okay, Buff," she said. "I have a couple of stones with alarm wards cast on them. I'm still awake enough to place them before I go to sleep. If Minsc stays with me and Tara, and Tani with Imoen, we'll be fine."

Sorkatani nodded. "I am nothing like as tired as are our spellcasters," she agreed, "and I will sleep with Celestial Fury at my fingertips. We shall, as you say, be fine. I, however, would like a meal before I sleep."

"I'll have one sent up to you on a tray, Milady," Samuel suggested. "For you too, Minsc."

"A large one, if you please," Minsc requested, "and be sure to include vegetables for my hamster."

The rest of the party were less desperate for sleep and decided to use their own rooms once the concert ended. They placed orders for meals before going down to stash their travelling gear in the living quarters behind the Playhouse.

"I take it that you have been successful in renting out the stage during our absence, then?" Giles remarked to Samuel, as the innkeeper and his assistants took their orders.

"I have indeed, Master Giles," Samuel replied. "Things were a bit slow at first, after you left, but then Lady Sharwyn asked if she could play here and it's been very successful. I have sixteen hundred danter for you, from the receipts, and that's not counting tonight's takings."

"Sixteen hundred?" Giles raised his eyebrows. "She must be good."

"Best I've ever heard, excepting your good self," Samuel said. "Comes from right up North, Neverwinter they say, and she was taught by the famous half-elf bard Finch. She got stranded here when her husband walked out on her." He shook his head. "Sometimes I don't understand humans. You'd never find a halfling doing something so bloody stupid. Walking out on a tasty piece like her? He must have been crazy."

"I remember a pillock who walked out on _Buffy_," Spike put in. "Humans can be absolute tossers sometimes." Viconia gave him a sharp look, and glanced sideways at Buffy, but then relaxed and smiled.

"Perhaps," Giles said, "we should go down and catch the end of her performance after our meal."

"Sure, why not?" Buffy agreed.

"One more thing," Samuel added. "I didn't know you were coming back today, of course, and I've been letting Lady Sharwyn stay in the rooms back of the theatre. She was staying at the Coronet but making a proper lady walk home at midnight, 'specially to a rough area like that, didn't seem right. Hope you don't mind."

"Of course we don't mind," Giles said. "Of course it would be useful for us to know which room she's using, to save any… embarrassing intrusions."

"Lady Buffy's room," Samuel replied.

"No problem," Buffy said. "I'll either share with Dawn or take Tani's room for the night. That's assuming Korgan hasn't used the rooms to store contraband or groupies."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

Randy leapt to intercept the thrown branch and, just barely, managed to catch it. He stopped it short mere inches from Katrina. She flinched and recoiled.

There was a distinct 'crack' from under her heels.

Bodhi froze. "Was that…?" she asked, in a voice that was hardly more than a gasp.

Katrina stepped aside, bent down, and picked up the shattered remnants of the flash drive. "Yes," she said. "I'm… sorry. I didn't do it deliberately."

"I was just trying to knock you away from it," Bodhi said. She sounded hesitant, uncertain, even shocked. "If I'd meant to kill you I'd have shot you. This is what happens when I try to be merciful." She bared her fangs and her voice hardened. "I won't make that mistake again. You killed Tanova. I'm going to rip out your intestines and hang them from a tree." She curled her fingers into claws and rushed at Katrina.

Randy met her rush, wielding the branch as a quarter-staff, striking out at her and trying to get an opening to drive one end into her heart. He fought with cold determination, and resolve, but he had little experience with the weapon. Bodhi attacked with sheer blind fury, her rage increasing her already phenomenal strength, but depriving her of the advantage she would otherwise have gained from her superior skill at staff fighting.

Randy battered her blocking arms, smashed a strike across the side of her head, and rammed the middle of the staff into her forehead. None of it had any effect. Bodhi shrugged off blows that would have at least stunned any other vampire and kept on fighting with undiminished fury. Then she caught hold of the branch with one hand, holding it still for an instant, and brought the other hand down in a chop that snapped the two-inch thick wood like a mere twig. Randy stumbled, thrown off balance, and Bodhi wrenched one half of the staff out of his right hand.

Now the advantage was all with Bodhi. Randy could fence, and used the half staff as if it was a sword, but Bodhi was an expert swordswoman and was strong enough to twitch the unwieldy branch around as if it was an epée. Also Randy's injured leg hampered his footwork, slowed his attacks, and prevented him from using kicks as offensive moves. She drove him back, away from where Daystar stood up from the turf, and gave him no chance to swap over to the deadlier weapon.

In desperation Randy changed to a two-handed grip and bludgeoned away at her. It didn't help. She could hit harder with one hand than he could with two and now she started punching him with her free hand. She landed a solid blow on his jaw, rocking him back, and then kicked him in the stomach. As he doubled up she caught the back of his head and shoved it down into an upward knee strike. She released her grip and brought up her other knee, catching him full in the face, and sent him flying back to land on his back in the grass.

Randy tasted blood in his mouth. His own blood, metallic and lacking the tang of life, seeming to carry the bitter taste of defeat. His head was spinning and he felt dizzy and weak. He could hear the roar of a car engine, getting closer, and he could only hope that it was Joan racing to the rescue. Unfortunately it looked as if she was going to be too late. Bodhi advanced to stand over him, reversed her grip on the broken branch so that it pointed downward, and raised it over his chest.

"I'd like to make this slow," she said, her voice a snarl, "but I have a lot of people to kill." Randy summoned up every scrap of willpower he possessed and forced himself into action. He swung his section of branch in a defensive block and managed to deflect her stab so that it sank into the ground beside him. He rolled aside and kicked out at her legs. She stumbled and dropped to her knees. Randy began to scramble to his feet but his stiff knee slowed him down. He was only half up when Bodhi lashed out with her left hand, caught him in the face, and sent him flying to land ten feet away.

Bodhi stayed on her knees and began to pull clods of earth from the jagged tip of the branch. "Tanova," she said, obviously speaking to herself. "What shall I do without you?" She turned her head to look at Randy. "I suppose vengeance is a start…"

Randy raised his head. He was having difficulty focusing his eyes but he could make out something behind Bodhi. Something gleamed in the moonlight, blurred with speed, and then a moving line of bright light intersected with Bodhi's neck.

Her head came off. Head and body disintegrated into a cloud of white vapor and began to drift toward the crypt.

"Joan?" Randy croaked out.

"I did it," Katrina's voice answered. "I killed Bodhi! Katrina the Vampire Slayer. Yay me!" She lowered Daystar and swayed on her feet. "I, uh, I think I'm going to be sick."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

The floor of the inn was soundproofed quite effectively, probably intended to prevent plays being disturbed by the noise from the tavern rather than to stop the sound of music from permeating upward, but they could hear the throb of powerful drumming as soon as they began to descend the stairs to the theatre. "Either Korgan is sober," Spike commented, "or the bird has her own drummer."

"That rhythm sounds familiar," Giles remarked. "Korgan, I believe." He descended the stairs, reached the bottom, and opened the door to the Playhouse. The ticket girl turned to face him, raising a hand, but stepped back as she recognized the party.

Giles didn't even notice. His attention, from the second he entered, was focused entirely on the stage. The rest of the party, with the exception of Spike, carried on toward the rooms but Giles stood still.

Korgan was indeed playing the drums, furiously beating out a fast and heavy rhythm taught to him by Giles, and he was clean and tidy enough – at least by Korgan's standards – to imply that he was probably reasonably sober. But Giles wasn't looking at Korgan.

At the front of the stage was an attractive red-haired young woman, probably in her early twenties, and she was playing guitar and singing. She didn't stand, static, in one position, as was the norm for Faerûnian minstrels, but prowled and pranced across the stage as energetically as any lead guitarist in a Stadium Rock band.

"_He had to fight back tears of rage_," she sang, as she blasted out power chords from the guitar.

"_His heart beat like a drum_

_For with the wife of his best friend_

_He'd spent his final night of freedom_

_Over the hills and far away  
he swears he will return one day.  
Far from the mountains and the seas,  
back in her arms again he'll be.  
Over the hills and far away…_

Over the hills and  
over the hills and  
over the hills and far away…"

Her fingers blurred on the strings as she went into the lead solo. The guitar snarled, howled, and wailed. Giles put his finger to the bridge of his nose, to where his glasses would have been if the spells they had cast in the Underdark hadn't restored his eyesight to the point where he needed them only for reading small print, and stared. He could hardly believe that there was no power lead, no amplifiers, and no speakers. The way she was sustaining the notes seemed impossible for an acoustic guitar, even with magical enhancement, and the tone was… amazing.

"Not half bad," Spike remarked. "Hate to say it, Rupes, but she might even be better than you."

"Indeed so," Giles agreed. "In fact she might even be better than _Gary Moore_."

"Don't worry about it, mate," Spike advised Giles, after Lady Sharwyn had performed the final verse and chorus and brought the song to an end. "After all, she's only a tribute band."

"Thank you," Sharwyn addressed the audience when their applause died down. Her voice, when not singing, was a cut-glass aristocratic tone that reminded Spike and Giles of Joanna Lumley playing Purdey. "This is one I wrote when I was eighteen and it has been rather successful. Feel free to join in on the choruses. 'Dark Lass Gone Away'." There was a cheer from a significant contingent of the audience, obviously familiar with the song, and then Sharwyn began to play. The song followed the familiar Faerûnian pattern, similar to traditional English folk music, but Sharwyn was rocking it up more than somewhat. The effect was very reminiscent of Fairport Convention or Steeleye Span.

"So, not just a tribute band," Spike remarked. "Looks like you might actually have some competition in this place."

"Quite so," said Giles. "Hmm. Rather Martin Carthy or Richard Thompson. She is indeed an exceptionally accomplished musician, and an excellent singer, and has incorporated rock techniques into the native music quite successfully. This, I think, is my 'Juke Box Hero' moment; as if I'd seen my own shadow at the back-stage door."

"Gonna have to keep on rockin' if you're going to stay on top," Spike agreed. "Tell you what, though, we'd better go on through and dump our gear. If we hang around here much longer, gawping at another woman, our lasses are going to have our guts for garters."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

Joan released Randy from her embrace and stepped back. "I'm a little mad at you," she told him. "You took way too big a chance. Don't do anything like that again, okay?"

"I know, luv," Randy agreed. "Would probably be dead if it hadn't been for Kat. Still think it had to be done, though."

Warren kissed Katrina tenderly on the forehead. "You were a total superhero," he told her, "but, please, don't you ever do anything that crazy again. You scared the crap out of me."

"It worked out okay, didn't it?" Katrina smiled triumphantly but then the smile faltered. "I know, we were lucky, and I was stupid."

"Never stupid," said Warren. "You're the cleverest of us all, no question. Crazy, yes, stupid, no."

"Uh, guys," Joan said, "Bodhi will be regenerating. We should get her zapped away into the memory thing before she gets back up. I really, really, don't want to have to fight her again."

"Me neither," Randy agreed.

"No problemo," Warren said. All four trooped into the crypt. Bodhi lay in her coffin, motionless and pale, arms folded over her breast. Warren aimed the augmented flash drive device at her and pressed the activation stud. Bodhi vanished.

"Mission accomplished," Warren announced, and then frowned. "Uh, Katrina, where's the Rhynn Lanthorn?"

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

"Ah thocht we'd aye seen the last o' thae scunner Bodhi," Korgan said, in between mouthfuls of ale.

"She faked us out," Buffy explained. Her eyes were wide; she was still somewhat startled at having been greeted by Korgan with an enthusiastic, and slightly smelly, hug. "The corpses we staked, down in the crypts, were look-alikes. She planned it all out in advance so we'd think she was dead. And now she's back and twice as dangerous."

"Dinnae fash yersel', lassie, we'll gie her a guid skelping this time," Korgan said. "She'll feel the edge o' mah axe an' nae mistake."

"I have sworn to cut out her heart and sacrifice it to Shar, violent one," Viconia said.

"Aye, thae'll dae fine, forbye," Korgan said, "but ah'll gie her a guid leatherin' wi' mah axe first."

"Uh, sure thing," Buffy said. She had understood less than half of what Korgan had said, as usual, but she was pretty sure he was expressing the intention of doing serious harm to Bodhi and she was all in favor. "I'm good with that."

"Ye're havering, lassie, but ah ken whit ye mean," Korgan replied.

"Pot, kettle, black," Buffy said. "I think. Where's a dragon with a translation spell when you need one?"

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

Sharwyn greeted Giles with a formal curtsey. "Master Giles," she said, "it is a great honor to meet you."

"Ah, thank you," Giles replied, sounding slightly flustered. "I'm, ah, pleased to meet you too, Lady Sharwyn. You are a remarkably talented musician."

"Thank you," the young woman said. "I was taught by a master and I have a certain… gift. I need only hear a tune once to be able to play it note for note."

"I noticed," Giles said. "Perhaps we might play together at some future time?"

She gave him a beaming smile. "That has been my desire since I first saw you playing at the Copper Coronet," she said. "Your music was a revelation to me. It is perhaps no exaggeration to say that it saved my life."

"Oh?"

"It was my darkest hour," Sharwyn explained, "and I was thinking of killing myself. Then I heard you sing.

_Hey little girl with the sad face_

_Come up to my place_

_And live it up_

And suddenly things didn't seem quite so bad."

"That's, ah, gratifying to hear," Giles said.

"I decided," Sharwyn went on, "that, instead of killing myself, I'd find a way of killing the bastard who walked out on me."

"Ah." Giles raised his eyebrows, opened his mouth, and then closed it again.

"I approve," Viconia said. "No male is worth killing oneself over. Much better to slay the treacherous vermin and move on."

"Absolutely," Anya agreed. She beamed at Sharwyn. "If every woman betrayed by a man stood up for herself, and took appropriate vengeance upon him, the world would be a much better place."

"Well, I haven't actually done it yet," Sharwyn admitted. "I want to kill him in fair fight. That way I won't get hanged afterward. It would spoil the whole thing."

"Very true," Anya said.

"He has much more experience at fighting than me," Sharwyn went on, "and, as far as magic goes I know only the basic spells and inspirations. Nothing more powerful than Web and Magic Missile." She bowed her head towards Giles. "Master Giles, I implore you, teach me the art of Spellsinging."

"Ah. I, well, to be honest, I don't quite know how I do it," Giles confessed. "I'll certainly teach you more songs, especially if you would accompany me in some performances in return, but the Spellsinging you'll have to work out for yourself."

"I would be most grateful, Master Giles," Sharwyn said, "and to perform alongside you would be both a pleasure and a great honor." She turned to face Buffy. "Lady Buffy the Vampire Slayer, it is said that you are the most dangerous fighter in all of Amn, either with weapons or bare hands. Instruct me, please, and I will pay you in gold."

Buffy shrugged her shoulders. "I don't know that I'm the best," she said. "Sorkatani might be a touch better than me with a sword. But, yeah, I'm not bad. I'll teach you, sure. We're going to be fighting some vampires soon. If you come along with us you could get some on-the-job training."

"I fear I would merely get killed," Sharwyn said, shaking her head. "I am not capable of facing such powerful foes. I have slain an orc or two, and fought in skirmishes against bandits on the high road, but that is all. I am sorry."

"Don't worry about it," Buffy said. "I'll give you some training later. After we've dealt with Bodhi's vampires."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

Cordelia stared at the demon's corpse. "That's Skip," she said. "Well, unless he had a twin brother. What was he doing here?"

"Trying to kill Bodhi," Randy told her. "Apparently she was buggering up some cosmic pillock's plans. What was it he said? 'You chewed on the Spark and your friend with the big knockers nearly killed the Vessel'. Something like that."

"That would make Connor the Spark," Cordelia mused, "and either me or Fred the Vessel."

"How is Fred?" Joan asked.

"Alive," Cordelia replied, "but it was a close thing. Her," she pointed to her own neck, "trachea – I think I got that right – was damaged and she nearly choked to death. Your friend Tara kept her breathing and saved her life."

"Thank God," Joan said.

"Yeah. And thank Tara," said Cordelia. "Anyway, I think the Vessel, which so doesn't sound good, is probably me. What's a tannery?"

"A place where they make leather," Randy said.

"You mean tanar'ri," Warren corrected. "It's what demons are called in the Forgotten Realms."

"And I… taste like one," Cordelia said. "I knew Skip had made me part demon. I figured it was better than dying of 'widespread neuro-electrical deterioration'. Only this thing about the Vessel and the Spark is kinda making me reconsider. I've got this… creepy feeling. Like this is yet another time when I'm being used to breed demon spawn."

"_Another_ time?" Joan raised her eyebrows.

"It's happened a couple of times before," Cordelia confirmed, "only it was a lot more obvious. One time I woke up eight months pregnant – I was out to _here_," she said, illustrating her meaning with a gesture a foot in front of her stomach, "and another time a demon spawn started growing out of the back of my freaking _head_. I am so totally tired of it."

"I can imagine," Joan said. "Well, actually I can't imagine, but it sounds pretty freaky."

Cordelia tilted her head on one side and stared at Joan. "You're not her," she said. "You look like her, which you totally should seeing as how it's her body, you have her voice and you do some of the same mangling words things, but you don't have the same… inflexions. And you don't know me. We spent three years together, sometimes as friends, sometimes as enemies, but always mattering to each other. And none of it means anything to you. You're talking to me like I was a… casual acquaintance." She shook her head. "I came out here, instead of staying at the hospital with the others, so I could talk to you about some things – but there isn't any point. You don't know Wesley, you've only just met Angel, you wouldn't understand."

"You're right, I don't know you," Joan said, "but I'd like to."

Cordelia's face lit up with a smile. "Thanks," she said. "We'll keep in touch." The smile faded. "As long as I can figure out a way of not giving birth to demon spawn, which tends to be fatal, and then, if I can get the demon-y part out of me, a way of not dying."

"Not dying, definitely of the good," Joan agreed. "If there's anything we can do to help…"

Warren, Katrina, Jonathan and Andrew were clustered together, at the door of the crypt, deep in discussion. Andrew emerged from the huddle and addressed the girls.

"Maybe, if we sent Cordelia into the game," he began.

The other three promptly fell on him, delivering a succession of slaps to the head, until he sank to the ground.

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

"You really needn't call me 'Master Giles'," Giles told Sharwyn. "I'm not a schoolteacher, Lady Sharwyn."

"Very well… Giles," she replied. Her full lips curled in a half smile. "For that matter, you need not call me 'Lady Sharwyn'. In fact I'm not sure that I still have a right to the title. When my mother disinherited me she told me she would petition Lord Nasher to have my patent of nobility revoked. I never received any official word to that effect but that's probably because I haven't been within a hundred miles of Neverwinter in the last year. I'm fairly sure that, technically, I'm a commoner."

"Your mother disinherited you?"

"She disapproved of my marriage," Sharwyn explained, "but I was over twenty-one and she couldn't stop me. Of course with hindsight I can see that she was right – although, I think, for the wrong reasons."

There was a moment's awkward silence, broken when Spike spoke. "Tell you what, pet," he said, "if I was you I'd drop the title altogether, 'least for professional purposes. Just call yourself 'Sharwyn'."

Buffy nodded. "Yeah, the whole full name and title thing's kinda clumsy," she agreed. "Better to go the 'Madonna' route. Which won't mean a thing to you. Just use the one name."

"You might be right," Sharwyn said. "I'll consider it."

"Take my word for it," Spike counseled, "you'll never get anywhere in the music business with a name like Lady something."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

Warren rubbed his hands together. "Okay," he said, "it looks like we're going to be able to cheat the Rhynn Lanthorn back in. The question is, where?"

"What do you mean, where?" asked Jonathan.

"I mean," Warren said, "we don't have to put it in the same place as Bodhi. We could deliver it direct to Buffy and Sorkatani. They could go straight to Suldanessellar without having to track her down and fight her first."

"With Imoen getting weaker all the time," Katrina pointed out. "What would be the advantage of doing it your way?"

"Suldanessellar has to be in pretty bad shape by now," Warren replied. "The city's been locked down, no access to the outside world, with an occupying army of drow and rakshasa and golems. In the original game it doesn't matter how long you take to go there, things don't get any worse, but now it's playing by the same rules as the real world. The food will be running out. Remember when the party found the Knights of Solamnia in the Planar Sphere and they were, like, half starved? There are thousands of elves in Suldanessellar. It's going to be like the frigging Siege of Leningrad by the time Buffy's group get there. Only without the snow."

"We could save a lot of lives," Jonathan said.

"Good point," said Katrina, "but what about Imoen?"

Warren chewed on his lip. "It's a hard call. Maybe they could split up. Half of them go to rescue the elves, the rest stay in Athkatla and hunt for Bodhi."

"In that case, maybe we should have just staked Bodhi while she was in the coffin," Katrina said. "Or we should smash the flash drive now with her in it."

"Would Imoen's soul make it back to her from here?" Jonathan asked. "I think we have to put Bodhi back into Athkatla."

"Yeah," Warren said, a smile coming to his lips, "but maybe we don't have to put her back alive. If we drop her out in the open, in broad daylight, she'll disintegrate. Problem solved."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

Buffy and Dawn entered the dining room and found that most of the others were already tucking into breakfast. They joined Sorkatani and Imoen at a table.

"What's that?" Dawn asked. A peculiar object of metal and glass, roughly spherical and somewhat smaller than a soccer ball, was standing on the table in front of Sorkatani.

"The Rhynn Lanthorn," Sorkatani said. "Imoen has confirmed its identity with a spell. It is the genuine article."

"If you went out by yourself last night, hunting for Bodhi," Buffy said, "I'm going to be pretty mad at you."

"Had I done so it would have been foolish indeed, and you would have been right to be angry," Sorkatani said, "but I did no such thing. No, this was delivered to Samuel, very late last night, with instructions to hand it to us when we rose."

"Huh? By who?"

"He gave no name," Sorkatani said. "Samuel described him as a human male, rather short – 'As short as Lady Buffy', to use his exact words – but otherwise unremarkable."

"That is so not fair," Buffy moaned. "Even halflings mock my height. Stop sniggering, Dawn."

"The man told Samuel to say it was left by 'a well-wisher'," Sorkatani went on. "That is all I know."

"Something smells," Buffy said. "Bodhi had the lantern thing. I can't see her just leaving it lying around. The Shadow Thieves could have gotten hold of it, maybe, but how would they even know about it? We haven't said anything to them yet."

"My very thoughts," Sorkatani agreed. "The only one who could know that we sought it would be Bodhi herself."

"You think that Shorty was one of her minions? Could be, but why would she send it to us?"

"She may believe her brother has had time enough to achieve his purposes," Sorkatani said, "and that we could no longer hinder him if we went to Suldanessellar. Giving us the means to pursue him there, and thus sending us away from Athkatla again, would give her time to build up her own forces here."

Buffy nodded. "That makes sense," she agreed. "Doing what your enemy wants you to do is usually a dumb idea. So I say we don't go. We hit the shops first thing, restock our supplies and so on, and then we go hunting Bodhi."

"That is my thought also," said Sorkatani. "We shall do as you suggest."

During their conversation Spike and Viconia had entered. They waited until Sorkatani and Buffy had concluded their discussion before Viconia spoke.

"I have good news, Jabbressen," she said. "I have my spells once again."

"Good news indeed," Sorkatani said.

"Definitely," said Buffy. "Did you find out what the problem was?"

"I did, Jabbress Buffy, for Shar visited me in my dreams," Viconia said, "but the tale is long and I will relate it at another time.* Suffice it to say that all is now well with my goddess. She has granted me additional spells, in fact; including one which I believe may cure, or at least significantly alleviate, Imoen's illness."

"I hope so," Imoen said.

"Right, I think that settles it," Buffy said. "This afternoon is vampire hunting season."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

"Bodhi!" Anomen rose to his feet. "You return! Did, then, things not go well in the other world?"

"They started out well," Bodhi replied, "but took a tragic course." She strode across the crypt and threw her arms around Anomen. "Tanova is dead."

"I am sorry to hear that," Anomen said. He returned her embrace but wrinkled his nose. "You smell of smoke," he said. "Were you struck by a Fireball?"

"I was banished from the other world," Bodhi explained, "and I found myself in the middle of a walkway, in the Temple District, under the full glare of the sun. I barely made it to a sewer in time." She released Anomen and took a step back. "I must bathe in the pools of blood to revive myself. There is no time to lose. I fear we shall soon be under attack. How many are our forces?"

"Myself and Kachiko, of course," Anomen said, "and we have sired eleven new vampires."

"Are any of them powerful warriors or wizards?" Bodhi asked.

"Two were city guards, and one a Cowled Wizard of moderate ability," Anomen said. "The rest were mere peasants. However we met three vampires from Calimshan who say they are friends of Tanova. They are ferocious fighters."

"Salia, Ulvaryl, and Del?"

"Indeed so," Anomen confirmed.

"Excellent," Bodhi said. "They are a most welcome addition. Where are they?"

"In the lower crypt," Anomen answered. "Why do you say we are going to be attacked?"

"I met Roger the Fence in the sewers," Bodhi explained, "and he told me the latest news. My scheme to blacken the names of Sorkatani and Buffy nearly worked. They returned to the city last night and the Knights of the Order tried to arrest them. Alas, the confrontation ended without blows being struck, and it seems they have proved their innocence to the authorities. I doubt if they will delay for long before they come after us."

"Perhaps we should leave here and find another stronghold unknown to them," Anomen suggested, "and strike at a time of our choosing when we have grown in number."

"Wise counsel, Anomen," Bodhi said, "and if there was more time I would do so. If I am wrong, and they do not attack today, then we move tonight. We must, however, prepare for the worst. Gather the minions, set Kachiko to activating all the traps, and ready yourself for combat."

"I shall obey, my Lady," Anomen said.

"Luckily," Bodhi said, "I have brought back something from the other world that may give us an edge in the battle. An ingenious little weapon that is deadly out of all proportion to its size." She put her hand to her waistband. "It's called a gun."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

* See 'The Whole of the Moon', also on this site.

Disclaimer: the characters in this story (except Sorkatani) do not belong to me, but are being used for amusement only and all rights remain with Joss Whedon, Mutant Enemy, the writers of the original episodes, the TV and production companies responsible for the original television shows, and the game designers and copyright holders. BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER (c) 2002 Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation. The Buffy the Vampire Slayer trademark is used without express permission from Fox. ANGEL ©2001 Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation. All Rights Reserved. The ANGEL trademark is used without express permission from Fox. All Rights Reserved. 'Baldur's Gate 2: Shadows of Amn' belongs to Bioware and Wizards of the Coast, Inc. Sharwyn belongs to Bioware, Atari, Hasbro Properties Group, and Wizards of the Coast, Inc.

Lyrics from 'Over the Hills and Far Away, by Gary Moore, and 'Live It Up', by Mental As Anything, are used without permission and for non-commercial purposes only.


	69. Chapter 69

**Chapter Sixty-Nine**

The ground was grey, flat, and featureless. It stretched away to infinity, without even a visible horizon, in all directions except one. In that direction lay the City of Judgment. Of the buildings in the city only one, a high tower seemingly made of smoked glass, was visible. The rest of the city was hidden behind an encircling wall, higher than the city walls of Neverwinter, made up of irregularly shaped slabs. The Wall of the Faithless. The grim place where those who worshipped no god were interred, conscious but immobile, as bricks in the Wall until their souls were eaten away to nothing by the vile moss that formed the Wall's mortar.

Tanova shuddered. "We are dead," she said. "Now I will surely face punishment."

"Punishment?" Jeroneth queried. "But why? We were vampires. Surely the gods would not punish our souls for deeds over which we had no control."

"True in your case, and Zarbalan's, for vampirism was forced upon you," Tanova said, "but that was not so for me. I loved Joneleth, and was friend to Bodhi, and when Bodhi turned to vampirism to regain her elven immortality I joined her of my own free will. I must bear the responsibility. And my goddess isn't exactly known for her forgiving ways."

"Who is your goddess?" Jeroneth asked. "You never mentioned her when we were vampires."

Tanova's lips curled into a tight, mirthless, smile. "Shar."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

"I made a promise to Shar that I would sacrifice Bodhi's black heart to her," Viconia said, glowering at Buffy, "and I will not be forsworn." The party was gathered in the great library of the Temple of Oghma, the largest repository of knowledge in Athkatla, for an intensive research session. They sat around tables littered with open books and unfurled scrolls.

Buffy sucked in her lower lip and nibbled on it. "If there's even a chance of bringing Anomen back to life," she said, "we have to take it." She pointed to a line in the tome in front of her. "And this says there's a chance. If we can get him, and Bodhi's heart, to the Temple of Amaunator…"

"Bollocks," said Spike. "Waste of bloody time. Even if we can get him all the way to the Temple of Whatsisname, which will be a total bugger of a job seeing as how he's a flammable vampire and he'll be trying to get free the whole time, and even if the ritual actually works, he'll just be a total basket case. He killed his dad, remember?"

"I don't know," Xander said. "His dad was a total jerk. I always felt there was something screwy about his sister's death and it wouldn't surprise me if Lord Delryn was the one who killed her. Maybe Anomen might be able to get through this."

"It would be legitimate vengeance," Anya agreed. "There'd be no need for him to feel bad about it."

Spike snorted. "And what about the other blokes he's killed as a vampire? He's a bloody paladin who's been eating people. He'll be so depressed he'll make Angel look like the bloody Laughing Policeman. We'll probably have to watch him twenty-four seven – uh, ten – to stop him slashing his wrists. It's not like he can lurk in an alley eating rats if we turn him back human."

"Actually humans can eat rats," Jaheira pointed out, "although they often carry diseases and must be very thoroughly cooked."

"I hope he does not eat rats in front of Boo," Minsc said. "They are also rodents, although greatly inferior to hamsters."

Buffy put her hands to her head. "Stop it!" she snapped. "We can turn Anomen back into a human. I say we do it."

"It is not that simple," Sorkatani said. "If we stake Anomen he goes to his god absolved of the sins he committed as a vampire. If Raise him as a human he will, as Spike has pointed out, feel the full weight of those sins. And Viconia will be unable to fulfill her vow to her goddess. That is not something that can be lightly ignored. You will be putting her life, and indeed her afterlife, in peril for the sake of a doubtful benefit for Anomen. I oppose it."

"As do I," said Jaheira. "Viconia's need is greater."

"Viconia is a true comrade," said Minsc. "Boo says we should choose her."

"Viconia's my friend," Willow said. "Anomen… not so much. I can't be impartial so maybe I'd better stay out of this."

"I'm sorry, Buffy, I'm on Viconia's side on this," Tara said. "I have a feeling it's what my goddess would want."

"Me too," said Dawn. "Let Viconia sacrifice Bodhi's heart to Shar, like she promised, and put Anomen out of his misery with a stake. Face it, Buffy, none of us ever liked Anomen. If you ask us to choose between him and Vicky there's only going to be one answer."

"I have to go with Anomen," Xander said. "Sorry, Vicky, but he's a Knight of the Radiant Heart like me."

"Count me out," said Anya. "I'm not going to vote against Xander but otherwise I'd definitely be on Viconia's side."

"I wasn't suggesting we vote on it," Buffy said.

"Wait one moment," Giles said. He reached across the table and took the book from Buffy. "I suspect we are arguing about nothing."

Buffy frowned at him. "Huh?"

"Ah, yes," Giles said. "I thought so. If you hadn't snatched this away quite so abruptly I could have spared us this… discord. You can't bring Anomen back, Buffy. The ceremony can raise only the most recent victim of the vampire. We know that Bodhi has turned others…"

"Zarbalan!" Viconia exclaimed. Her face contorted. "What shall I… no. My vow must take precedence even over my family."

Spike put his arm around her shoulders. "No, love, you don't need to beat yourself up," he assured her. "He wasn't the last. Those farmers, remember? Plus I bet she's been making minions like crazy since she got here. We'll be facing an army of new vamps and there's no way we'll be able to tell which one's the most recent."

"Indeed so," Giles said. "The matter, then, is settled. It's a straightforward fight to the death against Bodhi's vampires. We kill all of them, stake the corpses of all save Bodhi, and leave her corpse to Viconia."

"I'm good with that," said Xander. "Kill them all and let the gods sort them out. But, hey, let's get back on topic. This whole research session was supposed to be about finding a way to fix Carsomyr. Anyone found out anything about how to put it back to being a Holy Sword?"

"Re-consecration," Giles said. "Not yet, I'm afraid."

"I have," said Sorkatani, "and it would seem to be easier than we feared." She slid an open book across the table toward Giles. "There is a ritual that must be performed by a High Priest of the relevant deity, or by a Prelate of an order of paladins…"

"Prelate Wessalen should be willing to do that," said Xander. "Go on."

"The ritual requires the heart of a fiend slain with the sword," Sorkatani said.

"Not a problem," Willow said. "I have them all properly labeled and color-coded. I can pull out the right one any time."

"Neat," said Spike. "Thought for sure we'd have to go on another sodding 'Forest of Trees' quest but it looks like we've already done it by accident."

"The snag is that, before the ritual, the sword's owner must stand vigil for an entire night," Sorkatani went on, "engaged in wakeful prayer, and fasting, from dusk 'til dawn."

"That would mean putting the fight off until tomorrow at the earliest," Xander said. "What do you think, Buffy? Guys?"

"Well, it would be neat to have Carsomyr working at full power," Buffy said, "but I don't want to wait. I bet Bodhi's already heard that her little plan to frame us didn't work. She'll spend tonight making new minions like crazy, like Spike said. Or, even worse, she might make a run for it. If she leaves town we might not find her for months."

"And Imoen may die as a result," Sorkatani said. "I think that we must attack today rather than waiting until we have upgraded our weapons."

"I agree," Giles said. "Unless anyone can come up with a valid reason for further delay I vote that we eat, prepare our spells and potions, and then descend upon Bodhi with fire… and, of course, the sword."

Spike chuckled. "According to some obstinate historians," he said, and Giles chuckled in his turn.

The Americans and the Faerûn natives exchanged glances, their eyebrows raised, united in being excluded from the English in-joke.

"Is this a British thing or just some pop-culture thing from, like, prehistoric times?" Buffy asked.

"Both, actually," Giles admitted. "_1066 And All That_." The non-Brits were none the wiser.

"Uh, maybe fire's not the way to go," Willow said. "It's what they'll be expecting and they're gonna be shielded every which way. They took all our Fire Resistance rings at Spellhold, remember, and I bet they have plenty of potions. Plus, there's another factor. The air circulation in the catacombs is limited. There's furniture in the chamber, lots of it, and if that catches fire it'll use up a whole lot of the oxygen. We need it, they don't. And the smoke will choke us and not them."

"And that leaves me fighting the vamps on my own," Spike said, "and Bodhi will rip my arms off and beat me to death with the soggy ends. So, what, you think we stick to the sword and skip the fire part?"

"We can beat them in a straight fight, I am sure of it," Sorkatani said, "but it will be a hard and bloody struggle. No doubt they will use the furniture as barricades and it will be almost like storming a castle."

"They didn't the last time," Xander said.

"Last time they wanted to _lose_," Sorkatani reminded him. "This time they'll make use of everything they can to give themselves an advantage. That great big table will be upended and used to bar our entry. That's what I'd do, in their position, and I'm sure that Bodhi will do the same."

"I could Disintegrate the barricade," Willow mused.

"And then the air will be full of sawdust," Xander pointed out. "Not as bad as toxic smoke but still nothing you'd really want to breathe in."

"I could topple or break up the barricade with Warp…" Jaheira began.

"Sawdust!" Xander broke in loudly. "Uh, sorry for interrupting, Jaheira, I just remembered something that could be useful. A real vamp-killer."

Jaheira quirked an eyebrow upward. "Explain further, Xander," she said, "for I fail to see how wood might be a weapon against vampires once turned into harmless dust."

"Not so harmless," Xander said. "When I worked construction we had a safety lecture and we were told about why, when you're in a confined space and the air is full of sawdust, the last thing you would want to do is to strike a spark. And why it really might be the last thing you do."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

"It is a shame that I did not meet you until after you had already become a vampire," Jeroneth said to Zarbalan. "I feel that there could have been… something between us."

Zarbalan nodded. The expression on his face was oddly grave. "I feel the same," he said. "Even as a vampire, consumed by an evil that now deeply shames me, I was drawn to you." He took hold of one of her hands, she took hold of his other hand, and they stood gazing into her eyes.

"I don't believe it," Tanova said. "You're still in love. Well, that proves it. Some things, no matter how unlikely, are just meant to be. I'm a little jealous. If only Joneleth had felt like that about me, instead of me only being the third most important woman in his life, things would have gone very differently. You'd probably never have been vamped, for a start."

"Do not be jealous," Zarbalan said, "but, rather, pity us. For, having just found each other, we now must part forever."

Jeroneth grimaced. "You will go to Lolth's bleak realm and I to the House of the Triad. Its joys will be dimmed indeed without you."

"Alas, my love, my fate will be even worse than that," Zarbalan said. "I rejected the worship of Lolth, who had brought my family nothing but misery and despair, but I had not chosen a new god from those of the surfacers. I am Faithless. There will be no afterlife for me; only the Wall."

"Not if I can help it," a new voice said; one only Tanova could hear.

Tanova wailed and cast herself down on the ground. "Forgive me, Mistress," she implored. "I would never have acted against one of your High Priestesses if I had not been a vampire."

"Oh, get up," Shar snapped. "Your groveling impresses me not. If you want forgiveness, rather than to be sentenced to spend the next thousand years as Yoshimo's slave, do something constructive. Pass on my words to Zarbalan."

"I obey, Mistress," Tanova said. She rose to her feet and stood, listening, with her head bowed and her eyes downcast.

Jeroneth and Zarbalan stared at her. Their foreheads were deeply creased. "Who are you talking to?" Jeroneth asked.

Zarbalan released Jeroneth's hands and snapped his fingers. "Of course!" he said. "Her goddess. We were not worshippers of hers and so, by the rules of the Dead Realm, we cannot perceive her."

"That makes sense," Jeroneth said, "but I thought all that deities, or their servants, did with the shades of the dead was to carry them off to the relevant afterlife."

"Apparently not," said Zarbalan. "So, a deity is right here beside us? Tanova must be more important than I thought, if the goddess has turned up for her in person."

Tanova bowed deeply and then turned around to face the other two once more. "She is not here because of me," she said, "but because of you, Zarbalan. You are important to Viconia and thus to Shar. She instructs me to tell you that she will try to get Kelemvor to spare you from the Wall of the Faithless. If she cannot get him to agree then she will work to free you in the future. Do not accept any deals from devils. And if you are condemned to the Wall… do your best to endure. Don't let yourself fade away."

Zarbalan nodded. "I will do as she suggests." His face was impassive – showing any emotion that might be considered weakness was anathema to the Drow – but his hands were clenched so tightly that his nails were digging into his palms.

"Why is Shar doing this?" Jeroneth asked. Her eyes narrowed and her brow lowered in a frown of deep suspicion. "She is a goddess of Evil. Is it her intent to increase Zarbalan's suffering?"

Tanova stood still, obviously listening, and her eyes widened. "She says Zarbalan's entire surviving family have converted to her worship," she relayed to Jeroneth, "and Nathrae is now the High Priestess of Shar in Ust Natha." She switched her gaze to Zarbalan. "You are close kin to two of her most important clerics and your welfare is, therefore, important to her," she told him. "When she saves you from the Wall – and she says 'when', not 'if' – she will give you an honored place in her household. And if she can arrange it with Torm she will find a way for the two of you to be together."

"She will?" Jeroneth's eyes became wide circles. "I… that does not sound like the action of an Evil goddess. I am not sure that I understand… but thank her for me."

"And for me," Zarbalan added.

"She can hear you," Tanova said. "It is only you who – what the fuck?" She clamped her hands over her ears and cowered down. She turned, still crouched, and stared at something invisible to the others. After a few seconds she took her hands away from her ears, stood up straight, and turned to face the others once more.

"What just happened?" Jeroneth asked, followed half a second later by Zarbalan echoing her question.

"Something, or someone, has angered Shar," Tanova answered. "She shouted out 'What? He dares?' loudly enough to hurt my ears, then she called out 'Hold on, Eilistraee, I'm coming,' and then she departed in a clap of thunder."

"That sounds as if she intends to… rescue Eilistraee from peril," Jeroneth deduced. "Yet is Eilistraee not a goddess of Good?"

"That is so," Zarbalan confirmed. "The goddess of those female drow opposed to Lolth. I do not understand how she could be allied to Shar."

"Not merely an ally," said Tanova, "but a friend, I would say, for Shar's rage was so great that it sent a chill through me. Whoever threatens Eilistraee will regret it."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

_Author's Note: the events of 'Dangerous Moonlight' take place at this point._

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

"Oh, crap," Xander moaned. "I got it wrong. We're screwed."

"Bugger," Spike said. "So much for your Cunning Plan. Worked out about as well as mine usually do. Still, it was a good thought. Don't blame yourself, mate."

"It is my fault as much as any," Sorkatani said, "for when I talked of the barricade I had forgotten that the table was made of stone."

Her prediction, that Bodhi's vampires would use the furniture in the entrance hall of their lair to form a defensive barricade, had been accurate. Unfortunately her recollection of the great table had not been equally accurate, hardly surprisingly as it had been well over a month since they had last seen the room, and neither she nor any of the others had remembered that it was not made of wood but of non-flammable stone.

"I can still Disintegrate it," Willow said.

"And then we'll take the vampires on in a straight-out, head-on, slugging match," Buffy said. She heaved a sigh. "I'm pretty sure we'll win but it's not gonna be pretty. I'd rather have had an edge. I'm guessing the flour bombs won't be enough?"

"Well, the air-fuel ratio…" Willow began.

Buffy chopped her off short. "If there's one thing I don't need, when we're about one minute from starting a battle, it's to have my eyes glazing over," she said. "Sorry, Will, but science just isn't my thing."

Willow rolled her eyes. "Okay, I'll keep it simple," she said. "No. Not a chance."

"Yes," Giles contradicted her.

"But the air-fuel ratio would be way below the lower explosive limit," Willow protested.

"I have a little trick up my sleeve," Giles told her, "courtesy of The Beatles. Get ready to Disintegrate the table on my signal." He poised his guitar, played a few twanging notes, and then began to sing.

"_Isn't it good, Norwegian wood…_"

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

"They must intend to set the table ablaze," Anomen deduced, frowning at the wooden table that had been stone until moments ago. "Our protections against fire will not hold out for long in proximity to such a conflagration. I think we had best retreat from the barricade."

"They play into our hands," said the Calimshite vampire Ulvaryl, "for the smoke will choke them."

"They're not stupid," Bodhi said. "Far from it. They have something planned. No way would they have overlooked the smoke factor." She frowned. "I'm beginning to think it was a mistake to fort up here and wait for them to attack. There are only two ways out, they know about both of them, and one is usable only at night. If we get the upper hand they can retreat whereas we have nowhere to go. It's too late to change the plan now, and we'll just have to make the best of it, but I made a bad decision."

"They are only humans," Ulvaryl said. "They cannot stand against us."

"Keep thinking that way and you will be dead before you know it," Bodhi said. "They're fucking dangerous." She flipped off the seal from a Potion of Fire Resistance and raised the bottle to her lips. "Cast your wards now. They'll hit us any moment."

As Bodhi drank her potion the barricade disintegrated into dust as it was hit by spells. Simultaneously several objects were hurled into the room, either launched from slings or thrown by people of exceptional strength, but they weren't aimed at any of the vampires. Instead they struck the walls and the ceiling, burst on impact, and sent billowing clouds of white dust into the air. A gust of wind, which this deep in the catacombs could only be of magical origin, sent the wood dust from the disintegrated barricade up into the air to mingle with the clouds from the hurled missiles.

"Bags of flour?" Ulvaryl exclaimed. "What is that meant to achieve?"

Bodhi tossed the empty potion flask into a corner. "Well, it's ruined Kachiko's invisibility," she pointed out, and pointed at where the former Shadow Thief showed up as a ghostly outline in the dust cloud. "It seems a strange way to go about it, though; if they come in here invisible we'll spot them just as easily. An Invisibility Purge, or True Seeing, would have been a much more logical choice and I can't believe they don't have those spells. No, they're up to..."

She broke off mid-sentence as she saw a streak of flame shooting toward the chamber at great speed. Bodhi dived for the rear of the room but even her super-fast reactions weren't enough to get her out of the way before the glowing object reached the middle of the room and exploded.

The blast wave caught Bodhi in mid-air and hurled her into the wall. She slid down the stone and landed on her head. She lay, groaning, for a moment and then picked herself up and looked around. It was immediately apparent that she'd escaped lightly compared to everyone else.

For a few seconds the room was an inferno. The very air seemed to be ablaze. The lesser minion vampires, who had little or no protection against fire, were incinerated instantly. The host of skeletal undead, Grimwarders and Skeleton Warriors, which had been assembled to defend the catacombs, were blasted into fragments. Kachiko, Ulvaryl, and a vampire who was formerly a Cowled Wizard were picked up by the blast wave and tossed out of the room to fall in the midst of Buffy and Sorkatani's party. Kachiko's invisibility was no protection; her position was given away by the burning dust that coated her body, and she was hacked to pieces in an instant. The same fate befell the other two vampires and three white mists floated off in search of their coffins.

Anomen, and the Calimshite vampire Del, were smashed against the sides of the chamber and they rebounded, battered and stunned, to sprawl on the floor. The fire died out quickly, only a few floating sparks and the charred remnants of the flour bags still burning, and another gust of wind blew fresh air into the room. Buffy and Sorkatani charged in, with the rest of their band at their heels, and pounced on the vampires as they were getting to their feet. Sorkatani struck with Celestial Fury and Del's head came off. Anomen managed to get his shield up in time to block Buffy's first strike with the Blade of Roses but then she used the Hammer of Thunderbolts to batter the shield aside. The Blade of Roses swung again and decapitated him. Two more clouds of white mist drifted away.

Bodhi picked herself up just in time to see their fate. She was shocked by the ferocity of the blast, many times more powerful than a normal Fireball, and could hardly believe that her main force had been almost annihilated in mere seconds. Still, she had reserves in the side rooms, and a trick up her sleeve…

The automatic pistol had fallen from her waistband as she hit the wall but it lay on the floor right in front of her. She snatched it up and aimed. "Say hello to my little friend!" she yelled, and opened fire.

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

Buffy clenched her teeth tight shut as she swung her sword. Having to kill Anomen was traumatic in its own right but it also brought back horrible memories of sending Angel to Hell. As he disintegrated into a white mist, rather than into the dust to which she had been accustomed in Sunnydale, she opened her mouth and drew in a long breath. She stood, unmoving, for a moment as she struggled to regain control of her thoughts and emotions. And then she heard Bhodi's voice shouting out something impossible.

"Say hello to my little friend!"

Buffy looked around and saw a gun pointed straight at her. For an instant she stood frozen, so astonished at what she saw that she couldn't react, and then she began to move. Too late. The first bullet hit her just above her right breast and she fell to the ground.

Bodhi continued to fire as fast as she could pull the trigger. With her superhuman strength she was able to ignore the recoil and the muzzle rose only slightly as she swept it in an arc. Bullets struck the force screen of Willow's Protection From Normal Missiles and stopped dead. Sorkatani took a hit on the left arm and dropped her parrying sword Malakar. Jaheira was struck right in the middle of her forehead, below her helm, but she had Ironskins in place and the bullet didn't penetrate. The impact knocked her unconscious but that was all. Spike jumped in front of Dawn and took a bullet that would have hit her. It pierced his Armor of Deep Night, went through his chest, and exited through his back. The bullet, almost spent, struck Dawn's dragon-scale reinforced armor and bounced off harmlessly.

Bodhi's second-last shot hit Minsc's plate armor and glanced off the breastplate. The ricocheting bullet struck Tara in the side of the neck and ripped through her carotid artery. She went down with blood gushing from the wound and was unconscious before she could even begin a healing spell.

Minsc bellowed "My witch!" and hurtled forward swinging his sword. He reached Bodhi just as she had ejected the spent magazine from the gun and before she could insert a fresh one. She tried to fend him off but his sword connected with her left hand, taking off her little finger, and the gun and the full magazine went flying. Bodhi snarled, seized Minsc by the arms, and hurled him out of the main room into a side chamber. There a pack of fledgling vampires, who had been waiting in reserve and who had escaped the powder explosion's effects, fell upon Minsc with fist and fang.

Willow dropped to her knees at Tara's side and made a futile attempt to staunch the bleeding from the dreadful wound. She called for Viconia and Xander, the most powerful healers still conscious, but the noise from the gunshots in the stone-walled chamber had partially deafened everyone and neither heard. Viconia was busy checking on Jaheira and Xander was heading for Buffy. A few seconds were wasted before Willow called out to them with her mind.

Bhodi drew sword, called out to her reinforcements, and charged. Only one of her reserves, Salia from Calimshan, emerged at her call and joined her. Sorkatani intercepted Salia and began hacking at her with Celestial Fury. The Calimshite vampire managed to fend Sorkatani off for a few moments but then Imoen hit her with a Melf's Acid Arrow, Salia faltered, and Sorkatani kicked her legs out from under her and decapitated Salia as she went down.

Bodhi headed for Buffy. Xander was just starting to turn toward Tara, responding to Willow's mental call, when he realized Bodhi's intention. He was just in time to reach out with Carsomyr and block Bodhi's strike at the wounded Slayer. Bodhi responded by aiming a back-hand cut at Xander's neck. The sheer power of her blow brushed aside his parry but her sword was deflected just enough to catch Xander's helm instead of his neck. He was knocked ten feet across the room, and ended up dazed and on his knees, but he wasn't seriously hurt.

With Xander out of the way Bodhi turned back toward Buffy but found Spike and Dawn standing over the Slayer with drawn swords. She feinted in that direction but suddenly spun around and went for Willow instead. Viconia stuck out her mace Mauler's Arm and blocked Bodhi's strike. Bodhi's sword sheared through the shaft of the mace; the weapon's enchantment was destroyed and suddenly Viconia had only normal strength. Her other arm, holding the heavy Flail of Ages, sagged and Viconia was wide open when Bodhi thrust viciously and drove her sword right through Viconia's dragon-scale armor and into her belly.

Viconia cried out in pain and dropped the Flail of Ages. Bodhi's triumphant grin was wiped from her face when Viconia brought up her empty hand, laid it on Bodhi, and cast the Heal spell which had been intended for Tara. To a Faerûnian vampire healing energy was deadly and the spell dealt Bodhi a dreadful wound. She screamed and leapt back, ripping the sword out of Viconia's stomach in the process, and grabbed for a vampire-style healing potion.

"Where the fuck are my minions?" Bodhi yelled. She guzzled down the potion hastily. "It can't take all of you to deal with one stupid barbarian!"

Buffy began to get to her feet. She was wearing the Ring of Gaxx and had regenerated enough to get over the worst effects of her wound. "Time to die, bitch," she said to Bodhi.

"I'm not beaten yet," Bodhi growled, looking around for the gun. "And I'll take some of you…"

A wail of anguish from Willow drowned Bodhi out. Tara had stopped breathing and the spurts of blood from her neck had ceased. When Willow rose to her feet her eyes had turned black.

"You killed Tara," she shrieked at Bodhi. "You're going to suffer for that. I give you… pain!" She raised her hands and bolts of energy streaked out and slammed into the vampire.

Bodhi howled in agony, dropped her sword, and fell to her knees. A crossbow bolt, fired by Anya, passed through Bodhi's hair as she went down. A volley of Magic Missiles from Imoen struck Bodhi and brought another cry of pain from her lips. She scanned the room, located the dropped magazine and the gun, and snatched up the pistol's magazine. She then scrambled across the floor, still on hands and knees, heading for the gun.

"_Hey Giles_," Giles sang, "_Where you goin' with that gun in your hand?_" The automatic pistol rose from the floor and streaked across the room, too quickly for Bodhi to catch it, and landed in Giles' hand.

Spike had been rushing for the gun too, trying to beat Bodhi to it, and he arrived at the spot where it had lain in time to meet Bodhi and kick her in the face. She flew through the air and crashed into the rear wall of the chamber. She slid down the wall, blood trickling from her nose, and landed in a sitting position. The pistol magazine fell from her hand. Another blast of magical energy from Willow hit Bodhi, causing her to jerk spasmodically, and Buffy and Sorkatani both raised their swords and charged at the disorientated vampire.

At that moment a group of new arrivals rushed into the chamber from the side corridor. Not Bodhi's vampire reinforcements, as she was expecting, but Minsc, Korgan, five Shadow Thieves, and the Red Wizard Edwin Odesseiron.

"Villainess!" Minsc roared. "It is time for you to meet my sword!"

"We wiped oot yer beasties, lassie," Korgan informed Bodhi gleefully, waving his bloody axe. "Ye're next."

Buffy, wielding the Blade of Roses in her left hand, aimed a blow at Bodhi's neck – which wasn't there. Buffy blinked, surprised at missing, and then realized that the vampire had transformed into a bat.

"I hate it when they do that," Buffy grumbled, swishing her sword through the air in a futile attempt to hit the fast-moving and agile creature. Sorkatani followed suit but also failed to connect. Xander threw Azuredge but missed as the bat jinked and twisted in the air. Anya and Dawn fired crossbow bolts, Korgan hurled a throwing axe, and two of the Shadow Thieves threw daggers, but no-one scored a hit.

The bat fluttered away quickly, taking an erratic course to evade the sword strokes and missiles, but couldn't avoid target-seeking Magic Missiles from Imoen and Edwin. Bhodi went rigid in mid-air, and briefly plummeted toward the ground, but recovered just in time to twist away from one of Sorkatani's slashes. She rose quickly to ceiling height, spun on a wing-tip to dodge as Buffy leapt high and slashed at her again, and then flew through a small hole in one of the walls and was gone.

"No!" Willow wailed. She had thickened the air into a barrier to block the bat's escape but had, naturally, assumed that it would head for the exit doorway and had formed her barrier in the wrong place. "She's not going to get away again."

"Damn right she's not," Buffy said. "What's behind this wall?"

Korgan trotted quickly across the room, his Boots of Speed more than compensating for his short legs, and picked up his throwing axe. He tapped the wall, poked at the mortar between the bricks, and frowned. "This is aye newer than the rest o' the stane, lassie," he told Buffy. "There's something back o' it. A door, ah'd guessit. Gie us a lend o' yer muckle hammer an' ah'll suin hae it doon."

"I think I can demolish it rather more quickly and easily than battering it down with hammers," Giles said.

"First we have to see to Tara," Willow said.

"And Viconia," Spike said, "and Jaheira, and for that matter you're not looking too chipper yourself, Slayer."

"Says the guy with a hole through his chest," Buffy said. "I'm healing. Another ten minutes, maybe, and I'll be good as new. What about everyone else?"

"I have healed myself, Jabbress," Viconia said, "and I believe that Jaheira is but stunned. She should recover consciousness soon. I shall Raise Tara in a moment. First, though, we must stake all the vampire corpses, lest they rise and attack us once more, and pour our Holy Water into the pools of blood. I suspect that Bodhi draws power from them."

"And while we're doing that," Xander put in, "we can try to work out how in hell Bodhi got her hands on a gun."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

Tara opened her eyes and found herself standing on a grey, flat, and featureless plain. It stretched away to infinity, without even a visible horizon, in all directions except one. That way lay a high wall, apparently built with irregular slabs of stone, behind which was visible the top of a skyscraper-height building that looked as if it was made of smoked glass.

Suddenly, out of nowhere, a woman appeared in front of her. A very tall woman, well over six feet six, with the broad shoulders and smoothly muscled arms of an athlete from one of the strength events of Track and Field; a javelin thrower, perhaps. Her hair was a chestnut shade, her eyes were brown, and she wore green hose and leather armor dyed in a green and brown camouflage pattern. "Greetings, Tara MacLay," she said, in a warm and rich voice that held a hint of a purr, "and well met."

Tara had seen her before, in her dreams, but this was much more vivid and real. She went down on one knee and bowed her head. "Lady Mielikki," she asked, "am I dead?"

"Indeed you are, Tara," Mielikki replied, "but you have no cause for worry. Your friends are prevailing and soon they will return you to life. There would be no point in me taking you away to my realm. Really I just wanted to greet you and to thank you for choosing me as your deity."

"I, uh, th-thank you," Tara said. "It j-just seemed n-natural."

Mielikki smiled broadly. "A very appropriate word. I felt your worship right away, like a bright flame, more vital than from any other of my followers save only for my Chosen Star Lady Jeryth."

"Th-thank you," Tara said again.

"We do not have much time," Mielikki went on, "and I have two questions for you and a message for you to pass on. First, the most important question. How much do you trust Viconia?"

"Absolutely," Tara replied without hesitation. "She's n-n-not Evil. Abrasive and s-sarcastic, that's all."

"Then I shall extend equal trust to Shar," Mielikki said. "I know that Viconia is high in her favor and, if she is as you describe, then the same must apply to Shar or she would not think so highly of Viconia. Now my message. Jaheira, at present, is a worshipper both of myself and of Sylvanus. This has never been a problem before but I am considering leaving the service of Sylvanus. We disagree on certain matters and a gulf is growing between us. For instance he has forbidden me to attend Shar's party and I am going to disobey his command. I intend, soon, to leave his realm and establish my own. It will then no longer be possible to serve both of us and Jaheira will have to make a choice. Tell her that I hope, very much, that she will choose me."

"I'll tell her, my Lady," Tara agreed.

"And now my second question," Mielikki said. "Tell me, how fares Finland these days?"

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

Tara opened her eyes and found that she was being cradled in Minsc's arms. Willow, an anxious expression on her face, was staring at her from a range of only inches.

"Tara! Are you all right?" Willow asked. "The spell didn't take effect right away and I was scared it hadn't worked."

"Uh, yes, I'm okay," Tara assured her. "I was just… uh, like Viconia said that time, one does not simply depart from the presence of one's goddess without being dismissed. I was talking to Mielikki."

"You were? Wow."

"Yeah, wow." Tara tried to get up. "Uh, you can let go of me now, Minsc."

Minsc lifted her and set her upon her feet. "There you are, my witch. You spoke to our goddess?"

"I did," Tara confirmed. "She was asking me about Finland. Not that I know much, apart from the javelin throwing, and the skiing, and the rally driving – which didn't translate well – and, yeah, Nightwish. And the Winter War."

"More than most Americans would have known," Spike commented. "Bet most of your lot would maybe have come up with Santa Claus and that's all."

"I paid attention in class," Tara said, "and I used to watch the documentary channels a lot." She raised a hand and touched her neck, now unmarked, and frowned.

"So Mielikki's been to Earth?" Willow asked.

"Yes, definitely," Tara confirmed.

"And she's not the only one," Buffy put in. "Bodhi's been there too."

Tara touched her fingers to her neck again. "That's right. She shot me," she said. "Where did she get a gun?"

"The same place she got the jeans she was wearing, and the pumps, and the wristwatch," Buffy said. "Sunnydale."

"Sunnydale?"

Xander held up the pistol. "SIG P-229, .40 caliber," he said. "Sunnydale Police Department issue. And she quoted from 'Scarface'. She's been to Sunnydale for sure."

"Maybe there's a doorway to Earth behind that wall," Dawn suggested. "Like a wardrobe to Narnia."

"Gods, I hope not," Buffy said. "I'm kinda hoping it's a sealed chamber with only the one way in and out. I'm sick of chasing that bitch around. I just want to kill her and have done with it. Are you ready to fight, Tara?"

"I think so," Tara said. "Yes. I feel fine and I'd hardly cast any spells. I'm ready."

"Everyone happy with the way we've swapped the strength belts around?" Buffy asked.

"I am well content," Viconia said. "I shall fight with my flail and with the Mace of Disruption. Perhaps later I shall change to fighting with flail and shield but, for now, I shall not change the style to which I have become used."

"And I can make do with potions," Xander said. "Let's take down that wall and get after Bodhi."

"Do it, then, zra'ha," Sorkatani said to Giles.

"Certainly, Jabbress," Giles said. He struck a chord and sang one line.

"_Tear down these walls they keep raising for you…_"

As he continued to play, strumming out a succession of jangling chords, bricks began to fall from the side wall of the chamber opposite the room that held the pool of blood; first one, then half a dozen, and then the whole face of the wall collapsed and toppled into the room. Behind the façade was revealed a much older wall, of smooth and weathered stone, decorated with a frieze of ancient pictures and hieroglyphics.

Giles stopped playing and stepped back to avoid a billowing cloud of dust. "There you are," he said. "I believe you will find there is a concealed door set into the wall."

Korgan strode forward, ignoring the dust, and examined the wall. "Aye, it runs alang this line," he said. "It'll nae tak me lang tae hae it open. Ah, thot's where it gangs…" He shoved on one of the pictures and the door swung open to reveal a flight of stairs leading down.

"And that will be where they hid out last time, when they faked us out into thinking we'd killed them all," Buffy said. "There were five less corpses in the coffins next door than there were vampires, not counting Bodhi, so the others will be in there with her. I'd guess they're still regenerating but don't count on it. Anomen will be one of them. Also there was no sign of Tanova, or Viconia's nephew, so they're probably in there too. Buff up, everyone."

"And watch out for traps," Anya added. "I bet there are lots."

"That's your job, and Dawn's," Buffy said, "plus our… esteemed colleagues from the Shadow Thieves."

The thieves in question nodded assent.

"Once more into the breach, dear friends," said Spike, surveying the dark opening, "once more."

"After you," said Giles. "You, after all, are the English dead."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

The stairs were, indeed, heavily trapped. The party made a slow and cautious descent. A corridor at the bottom, also hazardous with traps, led into a large chamber containing five pools of steaming blood.

And Bodhi.

They expected her to be standing at bay, surrounded by undead minions, and probably accompanied by Tanova and Zarbalan. Instead she was sitting cross-legged beside the central pool of blood, her hands in her lap, and she had taken off her shoes. She looked up when the party entered but made no move to come to a combat-ready position.

"I surrender," Bodhi said. "There isn't any point in me fighting you any further. I can't even take any of you with me as you have priestesses capable of raising the dead. If I'd managed to kill Viconia and Jaheira, and if Tara had stayed dead, then maybe – but I didn't. I lost, you won. Congratulations."

"Before we kill you," Buffy said, "tell me how you got to Earth."

"I suppose I might as well," Bodhi said. She took one hand out of her lap; everyone tensed, poised to fill her full of arrows and quarrels at the slightest threatening move, but she merely dabbled her fingers in the pool of blood, raised her hand to her mouth, and licked the blood from her fingers. "It occurred to me that, as Spike can walk in the sunlight here, we might be able to do the same on your planet. Tanova used a Limited Wish scroll to discover how we might travel there. We had fun for a while, and walking in the sunshine was rather pleasant after fifteen years, but it didn't end well."

"How did you get there?" Buffy pressed. "And, hey, where is Tanova anyway? We didn't kill her upstairs."

"She died in Sunnydale," Bodhi answered. "So did Viconia's nasty little nephew, and Jeroneth – who I rather liked, even though she retained some of those annoying paladin traits like honor and mercy. Oh, and the Rhynn Lantern was destroyed while we were there, so you're not going to penetrate my brother's illusions and get to Suldanessellar."

"Now I know you're lying," Buffy said, "seeing as how we have it."

"What?" Bodhi's eyebrows shot upward. "That's impossible. Unless… Katrina must have been lying when she said everything in the device was destroyed. The bitch. That means Tanova could have been saved!"

"Katrina?" Buffy's eyebrows emulated Bodhi's. "Who the hell is Katrina?"

"She's Warren's girlfriend, I think," Bodhi replied. "It's odd that you don't know her. She seemed to be rather a good friend of your clones in Sunnydale."

"Our… clones?" Buffy's eyebrows beat all previous altitude records. "Warren? Robot girlfriend Warren?"

"Humph!" Edwin snorted, from the rear of the party. "Why can't these simians see that the vampire is simply stalling? They should kill her immediately, before her minions regenerate, and then I can look for the scrolls."

"Do you talk to yourself, or do you have a little companion like Boo?" Minsc asked him. "I did not know that wizards had… oh, yes, Boo has reminded me about familiars. Is your familiar a hamster too?"

"I am talking to myself, you enormous oaf, as I am the only person here capable of understanding even the simplest stratagems," Edwin replied. "I had expected Sorkatani and Buffy to be less gullible but, alas, it seems I was mistaken."

"I know she's stalling," Buffy said, "but I want to hear this. Although I guess you have a point. Guys, find the coffins, stake the vampires, and if Bodhi makes one sudden move – fry the bitch, Willow."

"On it," Xander said, moving off to the side without coming between Bodhi and the people with leveled weapons. Spike, Korgan, and three of the Shadow Thieves followed his example.

"So make with the explain-y, Bodhi," Buffy urged. "How did you get to Sunnydale, why did you come back, and what did you mean by clones? Did Warren make robot doubles of us?"

Bodhi shook her head. "I think I have told you enough, Vampire Slayer," she said. "I will derive some minor satisfaction from leaving you with an unsolved mystery. It's not much consolation, but the Red Wizard was right. I was indeed only stalling to give Anomen and the others time to regenerate. If it's not going to work, then…"

She uncrossed her legs with astounding speed and leapt at Sorkatani. The hand that had been in her lap came up holding a long dagger. Buffy and Sorkatani moved as one, matching Bodhi for speed, and Bodhi leapt straight into the blades of Celestial Fury and the Blade of Roses. She writhed, impaled on the blades, and tried to reach Sorkatani with the dagger. Sorkatani blocked the blow, Buffy pulled her sword free, and then Buffy brought the Blade of Roses down across the back of Bodhi's neck. Bodhi disintegrated into mist and drifted off across the room.

Buffy and Sorkatani exchanged a high five. "Yay, go us!" Buffy exclaimed.

"Go us, indeed," said Sorkatani, "but our task is not yet over."

"Yeah, there's the sacrifice of her heart to Shar thing to do," Buffy agreed. "Viconia, come with us – and somebody who can check for traps, too, just in case. Follow that cloud!"

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

Buffy stripped the watch from the wrist of Bodhi's corpse. "Cartier!" she exclaimed. "Wow, she sure was living the high life in California. Of course it would have been by killing people, and taking their stuff, but I don't see any way of sending this back to the rightful owner. I'm keeping this."

"That's not fair, Buffy," Dawn objected. "I've only got a dumb 'Hello Kitty' watch and I'm way too old for it now."

"Tanova Disintegrated my watch back at Spellhold, remember?" Buffy pointed out. "We'll divide up the rest of the stuff, sure, but I'm claiming this as my share."

Dawn pouted but acquiesced.

"Aha!" Edwin exclaimed, from a side chamber. "I have found the scrolls which I sought. I can return to Thay in triumph! I desire nothing more and I will depart from here immediately." He headed off through the door and up the stairs without even saying farewell. The Shadow Thieves, who were under orders from Aran Linvail to stay only as long as Sorkatani wished them to stay, had departed as soon as all the traps in Bodhi's chamber had been disarmed.

"That jaluk is arrogant and obnoxious," Viconia remarked. "I do not know why you recruited him to assist us."

Sorkatani shrugged. "I trust not the Cowled Wizards," she said, "and Edwin will, at least, work with the Shadow Thieves without complaint. Mekrath, with whom we had pleasant dealings and who is a friend to one whom I trust absolutely, is no longer an adventuring wizard and would not have joined us to battle vampires. I knew of no-one else. Edwin served his purpose and has earned his pay. Let us hope we do not see him again."

"Indeed, Jabbress," Viconia said. "Have you taken all that you desire from the darthiir's corpse, Jabbress Buffy?"

"Yeah, I'm done," Buffy said. "She's wearing Victoria's Secret underwear, and she's my size, but no way would I wear anything that's been next to her… skin. She's all yours." She stepped aside and made room for Viconia at the coffin's side.

Viconia raised a sacrificial dagger. "Great Shar, Mistress of the Night, Lady of Loss, I dedicate to you this blasphemer who claimed that stolen power had made her the equal of the gods," she said. "Do with her as you will." She sliced through Bodhi's chest, the strength from the Girdle of Frost Giant Strength she now wore enabling her to cut through the ribs, and exposed Bodhi's black and unbeating heart. Buffy winced and averted her eyes.

Viconia swapped over to a stake. "For Shar!" she cried, and brought the stake down into the elf vampire's heart. The body exploded into dust, just like any normal vampire, and Buffy couldn't help feeling it was slightly anti-climatic.

Until Viconia vanished.

For an instant the space where she had stood was empty and then, suddenly, someone else was standing there in her place. A woman with skin as white as milk, hair of absolute jet black, and purple eyes. And she was seven feet tall.

Buffy's hand went to her sword, by reflex, but faltered and stopped with the sword undrawn. She felt an unfamiliar sensation flooding through her; awe. This was no ordinary woman. Glory might have styled herself a god but this was the real thing.

"Fear not, mortals," the woman said, her teeth showing pearly white behind ruby lips. "Viconia is safe. I merely wished to speak with her in private and, at the same time, have speech with her comrades."

"Shar!" Sorkatani exclaimed. She dipped her knees, as if beginning a curtsey, and then bowed low. Buffy followed suit.

"Well met, Sorkatani Gorion's Ward," Shar said, "and Buffy Anne Summers. I greet you. And Dawn Summers also." Her eyebrows lifted fractionally as she looked at Dawn but her gaze did not linger on the younger Summers sister for more than a second. "My business is mainly with Imoen, and with Giles," she went on, "but I greet you all. You've all done very well."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

Bodhi felt an instant of unbelievable pain, and a sensation as if something was being ripped out of her, and then opened her eyes to find herself standing on a grey, featureless, plain. It stretched seemingly to infinity in all directions save one. In that direction stood a high wall, with a tower of smoked crystal showing beyond its rim; the City of Judgment.

"Oh, crap," Bodhi muttered. "The Wall of the Faithless. My home for the next few million years. Or until I disintegrate altogether. Time for Plan B." Bodhi had rejected the Seldarine long before the mages of Suldanessellar had stripped away her soul and she was well aware of the dread fate which awaited her. No-one would come to collect her soul and in ten days she would face a judgment which could have only one outcome. But there was one way to avoid it…

She set off for the gates of the City at a brisk walk. There was nothing to show the passage of time, and her body in the Afterlife was no longer wearing a wristwatch, and Bodhi couldn't tell how long it had been before she reached the gate and was admitted to the Basilica where judgment would take place. The servitor who opened the gate for her raised an eyebrow, as if puzzled by her apparent eagerness to meet her fate, but did not speak. Bodhi ignored the servitor and scanned the grim hall for the beings she sought.

Baatezu. Devils. The fiends who, by agreement with Kelemvor, were allowed to barter with doomed souls and offer them an alternative to the punishment they had earned through their lack of faith. Yes, there they were. Bodhi ran her gaze over the various devils, passing over Fluxugons and Cornugons and Abishai, until she saw an Erinyes. She headed for the devil in female form and spoke.

"Greetings," she said. "I'd like to make a deal."

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Disclaimer: lyrics from 'Norwegian Wood', by The Beatles, 'Hey Joe', by Jimi Hendrix, and 'Tear Down These Walls', by Runrig, are used without permission and for non-commercial purposes only.


	70. Chapter 70

**Chapter Seventy**

Shar's gaze passed over Dawn and, instantly, the Goddess of Memory and Unrevealed Secrets realized that there was more to the girl than met the eye. She probed further. The spell crafted by the monks of the Order of Dagon was ingenious, and cunningly crafted, but it couldn't withstand the concentrated attention of the goddess. Within a fraction of a second Shar had worked out the nature of the screen; an instant later she discovered what it concealed.

The Key was within her grasp.

Only the merest hint of a raised eyebrow betrayed her interest. She made sure that her eyebrows rose in exactly the same fashion when her gaze moved on to the next member of the group. She addressed Viconia's comrades, as she had planned, making no reference to the Key. Her mind, however, was working furiously to address this new information and to decide what she should do. Control of the Key would give her a formidable weapon against her enemy Shaundakul… perhaps even enable her to steal away Shaundakul's portfolio of Portals… and she would need only to stretch out her hand…

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Viconia cried out "For Shar!" and plunged down the stake into Bodhi's heart. She saw the vampire's corpse disintegrate into dust and then her surroundings blurred and shifted. When they cleared Viconia found that she was no longer standing in Bodhi's crypt. Instead a room with marble walls, hung with blue drapes, lay before her. There were four people, or rather beings, sitting on comfortable-looking chairs within the room.

One of them was Shar. Viconia dropped to her knees and bowed her head.

Shar smiled and stood up. "Arise, Viconia De'Vir, you need not kneel before me," she said. "I have brought you before me to praise you, and to give you thanks, not to call you to account. You are dear to me, and those who are dear to you are dear to me also; Jaheira, and Giles, and Sorkatani, and Willow, and Dawn, and the others. And you converted Yoshimo and sent him to me. He too has become dear to me and I have benefited greatly from his counsel."

"As have I," said one of the other beings. A seven-foot tall female Drow, incredibly beautiful, with waist-length hair that seemed to be made of spun silver. It took Viconia a second or two to recognize the figure but then she felt like kicking herself for her stupidity; it was, of course, Eilistraee. The goddess was clad in a blue gown, rather than naked as she was traditionally depicted, which gave Viconia some slight excuse for her mistake.

"It was Yoshimo's words that persuaded me to seek reconciliation with my brother," Eilistraee continued, "and thus you are, indirectly, partially responsible for our reunion. I too therefore owe you a debt."

"And so do I," the unmistakable figure of Vhaeraun added. "You have my sincere thanks."

Viconia had been brought up to regard Eilistraee and Vhaeraun as the enemies of the Drow race, treacherously seducing the Drow from the true worship of Lolth, but her experiences in Ust Natha, especially coming to know the undercover Eilistraeean priestess Evelintra, had changed her opinions. And it was obvious that the two gods were friends to Shar… as, too, was the other goddess Viconia had not been able to identify. Pale skin and dark hair, a skirt and bodice of a deep rich blue, and a belt clasp in the shape of a web; Viconia would have thought her to be Mystra, for the being certainly fit the traditional description of the Goddess of Magic, but that could not be the case because, as was well known, Shar and Mystra were deadly enemies.

"You do me too much credit, Lord and Lady," Viconia addressed the members of the Dark Seldarine, putting aside the question of the other deity's identify for the moment, "but I am glad if I have, in a small way, contributed to your reconciliation."

"And thus also to the ending of the long strife between Shar and myself," said the other goddess, "and the turning of an enemy into a friend." Viconia's eyes widened. This must, indeed, be Mystra.

"Indeed so," said Shar, "and she deserves to be well rewarded."

In any other company Viconia would have seized on any opportunity of reward. Here, though, she was too awestruck to be self-serving. "Any virtuous deeds of mine have been because of the inspiration of my comrades, ussta Quar'valsharess," she said. "The credit should go to Sorkatani, and to Giles, and to Jaheira… indeed, to all of my company." Shar's smile of approval enabled Viconia to recover a little of her usual attitude and she added a qualifier. "Except for Korgan. I already knew how to drink."

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"The fragment of Bhaal's essence is yours, Imoen," Shar said, "and so it is your right to decide what shall be done with it. If you desire that it is returned to you, then that is what I will do."

Imoen opened her eyes very wide. She turned her head away from Shar for a moment, looked at Sorkatani, and then turned back to the goddess. "Uh, I thought it was yours," Imoen said. "Viconia sacrificed Bodhi to you. If that doesn't get you the piece of Bhaal that Bodhi stole, then what does?"

"Oh, I have possession of it currently," Shar said, "but it was not rightfully Bodhi's and so I do not claim that it is now mine by right. I will keep it only if you relinquish your ownership willingly."

"Lady Shar," Sorkatani put in, "may I ask what you intend to do with it?"

"Bestow it upon my newest servant, Egeria," Shar replied. "She was one of the Shards of Selûne, but turned against her mistress when Selûne treacherously broke a truce and imprisoned me. Egeria has pledged her allegiance to me and I intend to use her as my herald, my emissary to other deities – especially ones aligned to the cause of Good – and as an ally that the most favored of my mortal worshippers can call upon in time of peril. She would be better equipped for that role if her strength and skill were greater, especially as the other Shards of Selûne will set upon her at the slightest opportunity, and the essence of Bhaal will empower her to the same extent as it did the late, and unlamented, Bodhi. I shall ask Eilistraee to tutor her in swordplay, for none in all the Realms can match Lady Silverhair with a sword, and as regards unarmed combat – Buffy, may I ask you to instruct her, when time allows?"

Buffy gulped. Her eyes widened into a 'deer in headlights' expression. "Uh, thanks for the compliment, my Lady," she said, "but, uh, I'm not that much of a teacher. Okay, I said I'd teach Sharwyn a few things, but this would be a whole different ball game. Giles is the instructor, not me, I fight mainly by instinct. Or, hey, Spike's got a lot of knowledge, Brazilian jiu-jitsu and that sort of thing, so maybe he could do it."

"You underestimate yourself, Buffy," Shar said. "I have observed the improvement in Sorkatani's technique since she has trained with you. Let me put it another way. Would you act as her practice partner, then, and would Giles and Spike provide the technical input?"

"Sure, I'll practice with her," Buffy said. Spike and Giles both added their assent.

"Egeria," Giles muttered to himself under his breath, so quietly that even Spike could barely hear him. "The water nymph, or minor goddess, who was the counselor, or possibly lover, of King Numa Pompilius of pre-Republican Rome."

"It's a coincidence of names, nothing more, Giles – or may I call you Rupert?" Shar said. "There are celestial beings in this world who originated on Earth – the goddesses Mielikki and Loviatar, for instance – but my Egeria was born in Faerûn as a mortal woman." She gave Giles a beaming smile. "I think I shall leave Imoen to think over the matter, for the moment, and talk with you. I have much for which to thank you."

"Ah, you have?" Giles raised a finger to the bridge of his nose where his glasses used to rest. "I fail to see how." He was struck by the contrast between Shar in person and the descriptions of her in the texts he had read. Shar was described as cold, gloomy, and bitter. This woman was vivacious, charming, and quite remarkably beautiful. "I'm, ah, flattered, but I don't quite see how."

"Your songs," Shar said. "I had been feeling rather depressed lately – for several thousand years, in fact – and your music lifted me out of my depression. '_Hey yeah you with the sad face, Come up to my place and live it up_.' That, and the arrival of Yoshimo and some advice that he gave me, inspired me to take some positive action to improve things. It didn't quite go as I'd planned," she admitted, a hint of laughter coming into her voice, "but it worked out better than I could have hoped. I have made a true and precious friend in Eilistraee, and I have made my peace with Mystra and we are becoming friends too, and my relationship with Vhaeraun… has moved to a new level. None of these things would have happened if you had not come to Faerûn."

"Good gracious," Giles said. "I had no idea."

Shar's expression turned serious. "Also," she went on, "when I came out of my depression, I realized that I had not been doing my job properly."

"Your… job?" Giles' eyebrows climbed high and so did those of most of the others in the group. Only Tara and Jaheira showed no signs of surprise or incomprehension.

"My duty is to serve my worshippers," Shar explained. "To help them find the strength to get what they want and what they need. In my specific case, as the Lady of Despair and Loss, I should be helping them to overcome despair and come to terms with loss. I forgot that and, instead, aided them only in spreading despair and loss among their enemies." She shook her head. "I was wrong. Vengeance can bring some measure of closure, certainly, but the loss remains. And what if the loss is due to natural causes? I was failing those of my worshippers who had lost a loved one to accident or simple old age. No more. I shall seek, from now on, to mend broken hearts rather than to break them."

'_If you need to fall apart_,' Giles sub-vocalized, making no audible sound whatsoever and barely moving his lips, '_I can mend a broken heart…_'

Shar heard him anyway. "Those words seem appropriate, Rupert," she said, rather puzzling the others. "Song lyrics, I presume? They are not from any of the songs I have heard you perform."

"Ah, yes, I don't recall having played it since I came to this world," Giles confirmed.

"Perhaps you might do so now?" Shar suggested. "My business with Viconia is not yet concluded and so there is plenty of time."

"Ah, of course, Ma'am," Giles replied, hoping that was the correct form of address when speaking to a goddess in informal circumstances, "I would be happy to oblige. The song is called _Crash and Burn_, but that refers to emotional states not to physical collision and conflagration." He raised his guitar, strummed out the introduction, and then began to sing.

"_When you feel all alone_

_And the walls are closing in on you_

_Give me a moment please_

_To tame your wild wild heart_

_I know you feel_

_Like the walls are closing in on you_

_It's hard to find relief_

_And people can be so cold…_"

Shar listened, apparently entranced, a smile on her face and her feet moving to the music. Her mind, however, was racing. During the second verse Shar came to a decision about the Key. As Giles sang the second chorus she approached Dawn.

"_Let me be the one you call_

_If you jump I'll break your fall…_" Giles sang.

Shar took hold of Dawn's hand and waist. In time to the line "_Lift you up and fly away with you into the night…_" Shar swept Dawn into the air and took flight.

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"I gave you permission to leave my service, Viconia, once you had found a replacement and fulfilled your vow," Shar said, "and told you that I would not object if you became, instead, a priestess of Eilistraee. Your tasks are now accomplished and I am sure that Eilistraee would be happy to take you into her service."

"Indeed so," Eilistraee confirmed, "and with great pleasure."

"I hope, however, that you no longer wish to avail yourself of that offer," Shar said, "for you have pleased me greatly and I regard you most highly."

"I thank you, Quar'valsharess," Viconia said. "I am well content to remain in your service. I feared that my thoughts and actions would incur your displeasure and it was for that reason alone that I considered leaving. If I have pleased you then I will be yours forever."

"Yes, you have pleased me," Shar said. She drew herself up to her full height and allowed her countenance to reveal her full majesty. "Viconia De'Vir," she declared, "I appoint you as my Chosen. Your title shall be Shadow of the Night. Go forth and continue to act as you have been acting, and in so doing you will be carrying out my will."

Viconia's jaw dropped and her eyes widened. "Nindol z'klaen tlu natha wussrun'wa!" she exclaimed. (_I must be dreaming_!)

Shar's smile returned. "Surrender all your dreams to me tonight," she quoted, "They'll come true in the end."

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The spell shielding the Key was a superb piece of work but it had been cast by mere mortals. It had vulnerabilities. The insane could see through it, as could necromanced animals, and Shar's own domains had enabled her to pierce it with ease. There were other deities who would be able to penetrate the spell with equal ease; for instance Cyric, whose sanity was tenuous and who had stolen the domains of Deception and Illusion from Leira when he slew her; the Illusion god Baravar Cloakshadow of the Gnome pantheon; and Shaundakul, whose domain of Portals would give him a special insight into the Key.

Shaundakul would not willingly harm an innocent, Shar knew, but he regarded it as his duty to disclose secrets rather than to keep them; the root cause of the dispute between Shaundakul and Shar. If he discovered Dawn's true nature then it would soon become common knowledge and she would be at risk. Baravar Cloakshadow, although Good by nature, was also a gnome with that race's unfortunate inability to resist meddling with interesting things even if they were far better left alone. And Cyric would try to make use of the Key himself. The possibility of destroying the entire universe in the process wouldn't deter him; he was crazy enough to ignore any risks in his pursuit of conquest – perhaps even to relish the possibility of universal destruction. Shar couldn't allow that. Indeed she would have been unhappy about Cyric taking an interest in Dawn, who after all was a close friend of Viconia, even had there not been the risk of apocalyptic consequences.

And so, as Shar flew around the room holding a delighted and giggling Dawn, the goddess took action to strengthen the Key's defenses.

Shar poured energy into the spell, reinforcing it, plugging the loopholes. She shielded Dawn from the gaze of the insane, from necromanced animals, and from penetrative spells. She rebuilt the screen into one that was perfect; designed to be impenetrable even from an entity with powers and domains that matched her own. It might be possible for physical evidence to lead someone to the Key, if they already knew of its existence, and part of the spell was designed to guard against that possibility by ensuring that the Key blended into the background and didn't stand out in any way. Shar reinforced that element too, although she was surprised by how much energy it soaked up; the power of the Shadow Weave was effectively limitless, however, and she drew upon it until everything was absolutely flawless.

The only remaining way anyone could learn of the Key would be from the minds aware of her identity. Shar considered editing their memories to remove all knowledge of the Key but decided against it; such tampering would be unethical, a consideration that she now regarded as important, and it would make it impossible for Shar to ask for their cooperation if, at some future time, she had a legitimate need to make use of the Key's powers. Instead she decided to rely upon an aspect of the shielding spell that already existed, which caused those aware of the Key not to think about it unless some occurrence brought it to mind, and she merely gave it a boost. And, while she was adjusting their memories, she enhanced their memories in other respects; Giles and Willow, she thought, would find this benefit particularly useful.

Finally Shar bestowed some additional protections upon Dawn. Accelerated healing, matching that of her sister exactly, so that anyone who discovered it would assume that it came from the same source as Buffy's. This would minimize the chance of Dawn bleeding heavily in a location with mystical significance and, possibly, triggering an apocalypse. Magic resistance, again matching Buffy's, for the same reason and to make it more difficult for a foe to capture Dawn. And, as a finishing touch, Shar gave Dawn a unique property; any magical protections, rings or amulets or bracers, worn by Dawn would be enhanced by one grade.

As Giles reached the end of the chorus Shar alighted and set Dawn back on the chamber floor. A job well done, Shar thought, both helping one of Viconia's closest friends and also making the universe a safer place. She had no way of knowing that her action had had drastic unintended consequences. It would be another four hours thirty-two minutes before the first of those consequences would become visible in the skies and panic would begin to spread throughout Faerûn.

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"It would be fitting for my Chosen to receive some special benefits," Shar told Viconia, "and I would like to bestow upon you bardic skills to match those of Lolth's _bae'qeshel_. That would, however," Shar qualified, glancing over at Mystra, "require the agreement of the Goddess of Magic."

"You have it," Mystra said at once.

"Thank you, my friend," Shar said, and then she turned back to Viconia. "You will not become instantly as proficient as Giles, of course," she warned. "You will need his tuition for a while yet."

Viconia nodded. "My zra'ha will guide me," she said. "I would not expect to reach his level of mastery without much hard work. I thank you, Quar'valsharess, of all gifts this is the one I would have chosen."

"And you deserve a gift from us," Eilistraee said, exchanging a glance with her brother. "A magic item, perhaps?"

"My enchanted mace, the Mauler's Arm, was broken as we fought Bodhi," Viconia said, "and it gave me the strength I need to wield my heavy flail. I had to borrow a belt of strength from my comrades. A replacement would be my choice, if it pleased you, Lady Silverhair."

"Mace and flail is an odd combination," Eilistraee remarked. "I would have thought it awkward to use them together in combat."

"Indeed so," Viconia agreed, "and I used the mace primarily as a parrying weapon. Its main function was to increase my strength."

"Then any item that sufficiently enhanced your strength would make a valid replacement," said Eilistraee.

"Or," Vhaeraun suggested, "such an enchantment could be applied to the flail itself, thereby killing two bats with one stone."

"A clever thought, my new friend," said Mystra, "and easy for me to arrange. Lo, it is done." She smiled at Viconia and then her brow furrowed. "Strange," she remarked, "I felt a… disturbance in the Weave."

"As if millions of voices cried out in terror and then were suddenly silenced?" Viconia suggested.

Mystra's frown became more pronounced. "No, more as if a score of Ninth-level spells had all been cast at once," she said. "What did you mean by that?"

"I am not sure, Lady Mystra," Viconia said. "It is something I have heard my abbil Sir Xander say, more than once, and it came into my mind. I believe that it is a quote from a story that they tell on Earth, about the destruction of an entire world, but it is only a tale for children and not the recounting of a real event."

"And I have just felt a disturbance in the Shadow Weave," Shar said. "My avatar on Faerûn was casting a minor spell and, just as it was cast, I detected something drawing massive amounts of power from the Shadow Weave. Power enough, I deem, to shatter a world in truth." She closed her eyes for a moment. "No, there has been no catastrophe upon Toril, nor has anything happened to any of the other worlds in the system, and all the Planes seem to be intact too. There has been no great flood of petitioners arriving at the Fugue Plane following their untimely deaths. Perhaps it was some natural event."

"Perhaps," Mystra said, although she did not sound totally convinced. "Well, it has passed now, and seems to have had no significant effects. I shall investigate further, later, but I think we can put it aside for now. This is a moment that calls for a celebration. Viconia, would you care for some wine?"

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"I shall be hosting a party for some of the gods in the near future," Shar told Giles, "and I will synchronize it with one of your performances so that we can listen in and enjoy your music."

"I'm… flattered, Ma'am," Giles replied. "I'm afraid we'll be leaving in pursuit of Irenicus shortly and I doubt if there will be any opportunity for me to play before our return."

"There is no urgency," Shar said. "Give me, through Viconia, a few days' notice and I will arrange the timing of the party accordingly. I would like, however, to make some requests."

"_Shadows of the Night_, no doubt," Giles said, nodding. "And, I would guess, _Crash and Burn_?"

"Indeed so," said Shar, "but I have some special requests for you. I would like you, if you could, to come up with songs for my guests that are as apt for them as _Shadows of the Night_ is for me."

Giles reached up a hand to his face and groped for the glasses he no longer wore. "Ah, yes, I can certainly try," he said. "Which, ah, deities will be attending?"

"Vhaeraun and Eilistraee, of course," Shar answered. "Mystra. Talona, my longest-standing friend. Umberlee. Hoar. Velsharoon. Mask. Lliira. Milil. Baravar Cloakshadow. Tempus and the Red Knight. Azuth has not yet replied to my invitation but, as Mystra is coming, no doubt Azuth will as well. Mielikki has not confirmed her acceptance, as yet, but she did mention to Eilistraee that she intends to attend."

"Uh, excuse m-me, my Lady," Tara put in. "Mielikki told me she will be going to your p-party even though Sylvanus doesn't want her to."

"Good," said Shar, "although that no doubt means that Sylvanus will not be attending. Hopefully Mielikki will bring Gwaeron Windstrom and Eldath with her; although Eldath rarely attends social gatherings and, if she does, tends to hide in the corner and speak to no-one. I'd still like you to find a song for her, though, Rupert."

Giles pursed his lips. "Hmm. _You'll Always Find Me in the Kitchen at Parties_ would be… cruel. Ah. Eldath is the Goddess of Peace, is she not? Then _Peace In Our Time_ would be rather appropriate."

"I knew you would be able to think of something suitable," Shar said, favoring him with a smile. "I have invited several other gods," she went on, "but so far they have neither accepted nor rejected their invitations. I will let you know the full guest list later. I am confident that you will not disappoint me."

"I will endeavor to give satisfaction," Giles said, and then his eyes lost focus and he began to mutter to himself. "Hmm. Mystra is obvious – _It's A Kind of Magic_, of course – but as for the two Drow deities…"

Shar smiled at him, her expression definitely one of fond affection, and rolled her eyes. "Bards," she said. "I fear he will be fully occupied on this matter for quite some time." She turned to Imoen. "Well, Imoen, have you made your decision?" she asked. "Do you wish the essence of Bhaal returned to you, or may I bestow it upon Egeria?"

"It won't turn… Egeria… Evil, will it?" Imoen asked.

"It did not turn you Evil," Shar responded. "You are a pure soul, Imoen, and I believe that you have purified even that which came from the God of Murder. At worst it will pass on to Egeria some of your… mischievousness, and I would not regard that as a bad thing."

"And it wouldn't turn me Evil if I took it back?"

"Only if you allowed it to," said Shar, "and I cannot see you doing that. You would gain great physical strength, now that potential has been unlocked, and it may be that this is what you desire. As for what you would lose… while you carry the spark of Bhaal no resurrection is possible for you. A fatal blow will turn you to dust."

"And a thousand people will want to kill me, as they do Sorkatani, just for being a Bhaalspawn," Imoen said. "Being strong isn't worth it. I'm a mage, and a thief, not a warrior. Keep the Bhaal essence, Lady Shar, and do with it as you will."

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Shar bade the group a final 'Farewell' and then vanished, departing as suddenly as she arrived, but Viconia did not immediately arrive to replace her.

"Wow," Xander exclaimed, "if that was an Evil goddess I can't wait to meet a Good one."

"No way is she Evil," Willow and Buffy said in chorus.

"Shar isn't Evil," Tara agreed. "She's… nice."

"Did you really detect Evil from her, Xander?" Giles asked. "If so then it would set a new record for appearances being deceptive."

"I forgot to check," Xander admitted. "Yeah, I guess you're right. She's not Evil. Things aren't the way they say they are in the Paladin handbook."

"What, there's a Paladin handbook?" Buffy asked. "Is that like the Slayer handbook that everyone got except me?"

"More like a scroll up on the wall of the Hall of the Radiant Heart," Xander said, "with a sort of Cliff's Notes guide to being a paladin. And it seems like there are a few things missing from…" He broke off, leaving the sentence unfinished, as a rush of displaced air heralded the return of Viconia.

Shar's newly-appointed Chosen One materialized in the center of the chamber, in the place vacated by her goddess, and promptly fell to her knees. Spike rushed to Viconia's side and helped her to stand.

"You alright, love?" he asked.

Viconia giggled, much to everyone's surprise, and swayed on her feet. "Usstan satiir alur taga tenu," she said, her voice slightly slurred. She wrapped her arms around Spike's neck and giggled again. "Usstan tlun Detholusin. Lu'usstan talinth usstan tlun shee'lot."

"Too bloody right you are, love," Spike said, raising his eyebrows. He turned to the others. "She's as pissed as a bloody newt," he informed them. "Oi, love, speak Common. Buffy, Minsc, and Imoen don't speak your lingo, remember?"

"I was speaking Ilythiiri? I did not realize," Viconia said. "The wine in Dweomerheart must be strong indeed. I had only one glass. Or was it two? But this is a time for celebration. Shar has appointed me as her Chosen! I am blessed and honored above all."

"Congratulations, love," Spike said. "S'ppose a few drinks was fair enough in the circumstances. Wouldn't mind a couple myself, come to think of it; we beat the bad guy – girl – and it seems like a good excuse for a party. Tradition, innit?"

"There's still Irenicus," Buffy said, "but I guess we can't get after him right now."

"Indeed so," said Sorkatani. "I notice that several of us have suffered damage to our armor, which needs repair, and Willow has plans to upgrade our weapons. I believe attending to those matters would be worth the delay."

"And I have to stand vigil for a whole night, if I'm to get Carsomyr back in full working order," said Xander. "Seeing as how we're going up against a, whatchacallit, Archmage then the Dispel Magic feature could be pretty damn useful."

"I think I know how to get us all to the Elven camp in one jump," Willow said, "but I'll need to do some shopping for scrolls first. That would save us one whole lot of time."

"Cool, that would be a major help," Buffy said, "so I guess we can spare one night for a party. It's not like Viconia's gonna be any use for anything else."

"Ah thocht the wee Drow lassie cood hauld her bevvy aye better than thot," Korgan remarked. "Ah've seed her doon a bottle an' a hauf wi' nae bortha."

"I guess the gods make pretty strong wine," Buffy said, for once managing to get the gist of what Korgan was saying. "We'll have to stick to what they serve at the Playhouse bar."

"And I'll have to give it a miss," said Xander. "If I have to stay awake all night then beer isn't the best preparation." He looked at Anya. "And certain other things are right out."

"Oh, alright," Anya said, pouting. "It's not going to be much of a party for us, then."

"Cheer up, Anya," Dawn said, "at least we've made a profit on this. We got back almost everything Bodhi stole from us, there's a whole heap of gold and jewels, and a few cool things from Earth. Only one watch, unfortunately, and Buffy glommed onto that," she said, glaring at her sister, "but there's something that will make a really neat present for Viconia."

"A present for me, lotha dalninil?" Viconia said, breaking off from her current activity of nibbling on Spike's earlobe. "What is it?"

Dawn produced the item she had found and held it up. "A pair of sunglasses."

"A device to shield my eyes from the painful glare of the sun? I thank you, dalninil," Viconia said. She reached out a hand in Dawn's direction. "Give it to me that I may put it on."

"Uh-huh, not until you sober up," Dawn said, hiding the glasses behind her back. "The state you're in now you'd probably break them, and it's not like you need them down here."

Viconia squinted up at the roof of the chamber. "You are correct, we are indoors," she said. "Very well, Dawn, you may keep the glasses of the sun for now." She returned her attentions to Spike and ran her tongue up the side of his neck.

"Neat," Buffy said. "Dawn, have you and Imoen taken everything that's not nailed down?"

"Probably not," Dawn replied. "Shar turning up was a bit of a distraction. There might be a few more goodies around."

"Then check out the places you haven't searched and then we'll go home."

"On it," Dawn answered.

"You know," Xander remarked, "I still don't get how come Shar was talking to us here and to Viconia somewhere else all at the same time."

"My goddess can be in ten different places at once, if she so desires," Viconia said, drawing herself up to her full height. "All hail Shar, the beautiful, the benevolent, and the wise."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

"I'm still amazed by how much you have changed," Mystra said. Eilistraee and Vhaeraun had already departed from Dweomerheart and Shar was on the point of leaving. "You're… nice. I can hardly believe you're the real Shar."

"Oh, I'm really me," Shar said. "Although… if I reveal something to you that I have told no-one else, will you keep it to yourself?"

"Of course," Mystra said.

"I killed lbrandul during the Time of Troubles and took his powers and portfolios," Shar revealed. "Perhaps that changed me."

Mystra shook his head. "He was a sixty-foot giant lizard of reclusive and taciturn disposition," she said. "I can't see how that would have changed you for the better."

"That depends on your opinion of lizards," Shar said, "but you're probably right. Certainly it didn't leave me with any particular desire to, for instance, catch flies with my tongue."

Mystra laughed. "They'd have had to be pretty big flies to have interested a lizard that size," she said. "Seriously, though, I cannot attribute any changes in you to your absorption of Ibrandul. The changes in you are far more recent than the Time of Troubles."

"Then it must be that, as I said to Giles, it is his music that has changed me," Shar said.

"How could one bard have the power to change a goddess?" Mystra asked.

"Not through magic," said Shar, "but through words. He knows thousands of songs, selected from the best works of countless bards from a world far more populous than ours, and some of them tug the heart in ways that none of our bards can match. You really must listen to him. Some of his songs are truly… sublime."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

"Tell you what," Spike remarked, four hours later as the group sat in the back rooms of the Playhouse, "I could murder a curry." He set down an empty mug of beer and wiped his lips.

"Alas, that seems to be something that is absent from Faerûn, at least in these parts," Giles said, and then his brow furrowed. "Although, perhaps I could conjure some up."

"Go for it, then, Rupes," Spike urged. "Got me a bit puzzled, though. Didn't know there were any rock songs about… curry… oh, bloody hell, you don't mean…?"

"I think you have, indeed, guessed my intent," Giles said. "Now, I will need to adjust the words slightly. The football references are irrelevant, of course, but they might as well stay in. Hmm. Curry on its own, without side dishes, would not be altogether palatable. However… let me see… ah, yes. Poppadoms pilau rice and keema naan… that scans, if I say it with the right rhythm. Substitute 'Waterdeep' for 'Waterloo'? No, I think not, we might find ourselves transported there. A simple repetition of the 'vindaloo' line at that point… yes. I think I have it."

"_Where on Earth are you from?_" Giles chanted.

"_We're from England_

_Where you come from_

_Do you put the kettle on?_

_Kick it!_

_Nah Nah Nah_

_Nah Nah Nah_

_Nah Nah Nah…_"

Sharwyn, who was due to go on stage shortly, watched and listened intently as Giles sang and played. The other Faerûnians, and the Americans, looked on with expressions indicating utter incomprehension.

"_Poppadoms pilau rice and keema naan_

_And a bucket of Vindaloo_

_Poppadoms pilau rice and keema naan_

_And a bucket of Vindaloo…_" Giles sang.

"_Bucket!_

_Vindaloo_

_Vindaloo_

_Vindaloo_

_Vindaloo_

_Vindaloo Nah Nah_

_And we all like Vindaloo…_"

At the conclusion of the song a large tray materialized in front of Giles. It was laden with dishes holding heaps of steaming, fragrant, rice; plates piled with crispy poppadoms; a steel platter covered in broad, flat, naan breads stuffed with spiced mince; and a bright copper bucket filled to the brim with curry. And, sitting by itself, a large piece of cheese.

"Bloody marvelous, Rupes," Spike praised, rubbing his hands together and flashing a beaming smile. "Was expecting it to be in leaky tinfoil containers, in a greasy paper bag, like in the video."

"Well, the song was… pretty crappy," Buffy said, "but the food smells good."

"It sure does," Xander agreed. He glanced at his watch. "Damn it, I have to head off for the Radiant Heart building pretty soon," he said. "Still, I guess I have time to grab a little food first."

"I'd advise caution," Giles recommended. "It may be a little… fierce for you. And your night of standing vigil might not count if you have to keep breaking off for trips to the privy."

Xander laughed. "Hey, I'm used to chili," he said. "I don't think your British curry is going to give me any problems. Other than finding something to eat it with…"

There was a general rush to the rooms to collect plates, knives, and spoons. Dawn was the first to return, suitably equipped, and to dig in. "Aagh! Hot! Hot! Hot!" she squealed, and grabbed for a drink.

"I did warn you," Giles said. "I'd advise you to dilute the curry with plenty of rice and accompany it with pieces of poppadom or naan bread."

The others, and Dawn when she recovered, took Giles' advice. "I see what you mean," Xander conceded. "It's pretty fierce. But tasty."

"American wimps," Spike said, scooping up a portion of fiery curry on a poppadom and consuming it undiluted.

"Hey! Just because we're human and actually have working taste-buds," Xander protested. He munched on a section of keema naan, flat bread stuffed with spiced mince, and licked his lips. "I have to admit this is pretty damn good. But I really have to get going. A whole night of staying awake in front of the altar of Torm – and I don't even have any comic books to read."

"That's not exactly in accordance with the spirit of a vigil," Giles chided. "You should think worthy and uplifting thoughts."

"Hey, don't knock comic books," Xander said. "They have plenty of worthy and uplifting stuff. You can't do much better than Spiderman's motto; 'With great power comes great responsibility'."

"Indeed so," Sorkatani agreed. "It would serve well as my own watchword."

"I think mine would be," Sharwyn mused, "With marriage must come total fidelity. And if it doesn't then the offending party should be thrown into a pit of hungry wolves."

Anya set down her plate, went over to Sharwyn, and shook her by the hand. "Well said, sister," she said. "This could be the start of a beautiful friendship."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

The sun was setting as Xander walked through the streets to the Radiant Heart building, and the stars were beginning to appear in the sky, but most major thoroughfares in Athkatla had at least partial street lighting and it was almost impossible to make out more than a few of the brightest celestial bodies. Xander, even if he had been able to see the stars, was only vaguely aware that the constellations of this world weren't the same as those of Earth and wouldn't have noticed that something was different.

Hundreds of miles to the north and east, where it was already fully dark, the wandering Bedauwi tribes of the Anauroch Desert looked up at the sky and felt the chill of fear striking into their hearts. Further south and yet further east, on the Sea of Fallen Stars, the sailing master of a ship on its way from Aglarond to Westgate gazed at the patterns of the stars with baffled incomprehension, gave up on his attempt to take a star sight, and laid down his sextant with trembling hands. Ieriyn, brightest star in the heavens and the star which marked True North, shone no longer. An astronomer in Cormyr, who had been watching the stars since nightfall, saw them shift and change before his eyes. He swung his telescope, seeking out formations he had memorized over years of study, and found nothing that he recognized. Mystra's Star Circle, The Jester, The Swordsman, Tassabryl, Jansreene's Throne – all were gone.

The moon still orbited, where it had always been, with the Tears of Selûne trailing behind. The familiar planets, or at least those above the horizon at this time and location, were still there; but now they swam in alien skies.

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

Mystra swept into the Palace of Loss as soon as her arrival had been announced and hastened into Shar's audience chamber.

"Welcome, Mystra," Shar greeted her. "This is a pleasant surprise. I had not expected you to visit me so soon."

"This is not a social call, alas," Mystra said. "I bring news. I have discovered what resulted from the disturbance that we felt in our respective Weaves."

"Oh? What was it?"

"The Crystal Sphere," Mystra announced, "has… gone. Disappeared without trace."

"What?" Shar's eyebrows shot upward. She conjured up a crystal ball, expanded it to beach-ball size, and stared into it. "When did this happen?"

"My priests began to report that the stars had all changed some twenty minutes ago," Mystra replied. "That was about four and a half hours after we felt the disturbance."

"And light would take four and a half hours to travel from the Crystal Sphere to Toril," Shar calculated. "Indeed it would seem that the two events are linked. It would be an incredible coincidence, otherwise, and certainly the destruction or removal of the Crystal Sphere could account for the tremendous drain on both Weaves."

"I agree," said Mystra. "But what has caused this?"

"It can only have been Lord Ao's doing," said Shar. "He created it and surely only he can have removed it."

"But why?" Mystra wondered. "He put the barrier in place for a reason. Why take it away now?"

"It makes interstellar travel by spelljammer possible," Shar suggested, "although impractical. It would take centuries to reach another star at spelljammer speeds."

"And thus such a journey would be pointless," said Mystra. "I cannot imagine that it could be the reason for Lord Ao's action."

"He moves in mysterious ways," said Shar, "and rarely, if ever, explains his motives to us."

"He rarely communicates with us at all," Mystra agreed. "This time, though, we should have received notification in advance. The humans use the stars for navigation. The Crystal Sphere portrayed the stars as they were tens of thousands of years ago. Their positions have changed beyond all recognition and all existing star charts are now useless. The northern star that guides sailors is no longer there. No doubt another has taken its place – but to recognize it, and to chart anew the constellations that will point to its location, will be a task that will take astronomers many nights."

"And in the meantime sailors on the Trackless Sea will have no accurate way of measuring their position," said Shar. "I feel it is our duty to help them."

"The duty of the gods, certainly, but not specifically of ourselves," Mystra said. "It does not fall within either of our portfolios."

"Perhaps not," Shar said, "yet I shall aid nonetheless. Umberlee is capricious and oft uncaring of her worshippers. I shall go and stir her into action."

"In that case," Mystra said, "I shall do the same with Valkur the Mighty. Simply drawing the problem to his attention will suffice; he will not need further urging to do his duty."

"Shaundakul would be of great help, too," said Shar. "It must be you that calls upon him; he would spurn any request I made."

"You do him an injustice, I think," Mystra said, "but it is true that he would respond more quickly to an approach from me. I shall go to him immediately after I have spoken to Valkur."

Shar frowned and bit her lip. "I hate to say it but Selûne, who is the patron of those who navigate by the moon, could also do valuable service."

"That is true," Mystra agreed, "and, indeed, stars come under her portfolio. I will speak to her, too, although I feel more like shouting at her and possibly slapping her across the face."

"Send Azuth in your place," Shar suggested.

"Good idea," Mystra said. "I shall do that, and also send him to Deneir."

"God of Cartography," Shar said. "Yes, he would certainly be of help. I'll get Eilistraee."

"I wonder," Mystra mused, "if this could be some sort of test Lord Ao is giving us, to see if we really aid our worshippers in a crisis?"

"It seems a rather drastic way of going about it," Shar said, "but, if it is a test, we shall not fail."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

"I'm a failure," Sharwyn moaned, staring at the table, which remained obstinately empty of vindaloo, rice, and naan bread. The original meal conjured by Giles had been eaten over three hours ago, some of the group were in the mood for second helpings, and Sharwyn had attempted to duplicate Giles' feat but with a total lack of success. "I can do magic, I can play music as well as anyone in the Realms, and I should be able to work bardic magic. Yet I played the song exactly as you did earlier and absolutely nothing happened."

"You're not English," Spike pointed out.

Sharwyn glared at him. "Neither is Storm Silverhand. What's that got to do with it?"

"I believe Spike may have pinpointed the problem," Giles said. "The song begins '_Where on Earth are you from? We're from England_' and that is what you sang. Yet you are neither from Earth nor from England. You need to make the song your own."

Sharwyn cocked her head to one side. "I see what you mean. But 'Neverwinter' wouldn't scan."

"Then you must find something that will," Giles advised, "and that is appropriate for you."

"Hmm." Sharwyn grimaced and ran her fingers over her guitar strings. "You mean, something like 'Where's this Earth that you're from?' Something like that? And, for me, let's see… Neverwinter, the Sword Coast, the… Faerûn! I'm from Faerûn!"

"I believe you may be getting somewhere," Giles said. "Now try it in the song."

Sharwyn nodded. "I shall. Shar, guide my hand." She drummed on the fingerboard of her guitar and then began to chant.

"_Where's this Earth that you're from?_

_I'm from Faerûn_

_Where you come from_

_Do you put the kettle on?_

_Kick it!_"

She carried on through the song, hesitantly at first but with growing confidence as she went on, and was rewarded by the appearance of a tray of vindaloo and accompaniments.

"A Heroes' Feast!" she exclaimed. "I did it! A spell that I cannot cast in the normal way. I am truly a bard at last."

"Congratulations," Giles said, followed by most of the others. Korgan merely grunted and began to stuff himself with curry washed down with copious quantities of beer.

"Tomorrow I shall try my hand at the same spell," Viconia declared. "I fear that tonight I am in no condition to work magic." She had been drinking steadily since their return from Bodhi's lair and had neither become significantly drunker nor sobered up. "Spike, ussta'chev, I want you to take me to bed now."

"Hang on a tick, love," Spike said. "I've only just started on this curry."

"But I want to make love _now_," Viconia said. "Do you value food more than my willing body?"

"'Course not, love," said Spike. "Just give me a minute."

Viconia batted her eyelashes at him. "Dos shlu'ta vith uns'aa wun ussta bunjiro ka dos daewl," she invited, her voice a husky purr.

Dawn, Tara, and Sorkatani all went bright red. Buffy looked at her sister, frowned, and glared at Viconia.

"I'll have to learn to speak Drow," Buffy said, as Viconia led Spike off toward the bedrooms. "It would be pretty useful if we went back to Ust Natha, and it could be pretty handy in a fight if we could call out to each other without the other side knowing what we were saying, but mainly I'd like to learn it for another reason. I want to know if I need to smack the Chosen of Shar upside the head for saying – whatever that was – in front of Dawn."

"Well," said Tara, "I'd have to say that the answer to that question is a definite 'Yes'."

**Glossary of Drow Phrases**

• 'Nindol z'klaen tlu natha wussrun'wa!' = 'I must be dreaming!'

• 'ussta Quar'valsharess' = 'My Goddess'

• 'Usstan satiir alur taga tenu' = 'I feel better than alright'

• 'Usstan tlun Detholusin' = 'I am Chosen'

• 'Lu'usstan talinth usstan tlun shee'lot' = 'And I think I'm drunk'

• 'zra'ha' = 'mentor'.

• 'Dos shlu'ta vith uns'aa wun ussta bunjiro ka dos daewl' = Viconia is inviting Spike to do something that was illegal in several US states until 2003.

Disclaimer: Song lyrics used come from 'Crash and Burn' by Savage Garden and from 'Vindaloo' by Fat Les, with some alterations to fit the circumstances. They are used without permission and for non-commercial purposes only.


	71. Chapter 71

**Chapter Seventy-one**

Giles' forehead was furrowed with deep creases of concentration as he pondered his task. "_Dancing in the Moonlight_ would seem, on the face of it, to be appropriate," he mused, aloud but only for his own benefit, "but somehow it just doesn't have the right vibe. The same with _Let's Dance_. _Dancing in the Dark_, perhaps? _A Dance Called_… wait a minute! Am-er-i-ca… Eil-is-tra-ee… Am-er-i-ca… Eil-is-tra-ee... dum da-dum dum dum dum dum da-dum... '_They did a dance called Eilistraee…_' Yes, that works – or would '_for Eilistraee_' be better? Hmm. And, now I think about it, there are significant parallels between the Clearances and the Descent… That could be it! Now, what shall I have to change? '_The landlords came_' isn't relevant to the Drow. '_The Sun Elves came_'? '_The Crown Wars came_'? I think I need to consult with Viconia on this."

"You have an idea, then, Master Giles?" Sharwyn asked.

"Indeed I have," Giles confirmed. "I believe I have found a suitable song to play for Eilistraee. I will have to do some rewriting of the lyrics, I fear, but it should not be too big a task. I can start teaching you the tune straight away." He idly strummed out some chords. "And Sharwyn, as I've said before, please don't call me 'Master'. If you must call me something other than 'Giles' then I suggest the Drow term 'Zra'ha', meaning 'Mentor', that Viconia uses for me."

"As you wish, Zra'ha," said Sharwyn. She gave a note-perfect rendition of the chords Giles had played. "Is that it?"

"Part of it," Giles said. "I'll run through the rest in a little while. Hmm. The version on 'Heartland' begins with a keyboard section. Perhaps we'd better go with the live version."

"Keyboard?" Sharwyn queried.

"An instrument played by pressing down keys to produce the notes," Giles explained. "Modern ones are electronic, ah, that's a way of producing sound that can't be reproduced here, but originally they worked by controlling air being blown through tuned pipes."

"Ah, a zulkoon," Sharwyn said. "I play the zulkoon."

"You do?"

"Indeed so. I also play two different types of bagpipe, the shalm, the shaum, the glaur, the dulcimer, the harp, the longhorn and the songhorn, the lyre, the lute, bandore, and mandolin, and the tocken. And the drums, too, with perhaps more precision but less verve than Korgan."

"My goodness," said Giles. "I had no idea you were so multi-talented. That opens up a whole range of possibilities. Hmm. _The Battle of Evermore_ would be well suited to the dulcimer…

His musings were interrupted by the return of the shopping expedition. Everyone wore beaming smiles; in normal circumstances smiles on the faces of the male members of the party would have indicated only relief that the shopping trip was over but this particular trip to the merchants had been the only kind of shopping that men would enjoy; shopping for weapons. Well, shopping for electronic gadgetry or for cars would fall into that same category, back on Earth, but weapons were the only equivalent boys' toys here in Faerûn.

"Good news, everyone!" Xander announced, doing his best imitation of Professor Farnsworth from 'Futurama'. It was wasted on most of the others but Willow and Tara cracked smiles and Dawn actually chuckled. "We'll be good to go the day after tomorrow, in the morning, with our weapons upgraded, our armor patched up, and Willow all chock-full of magic-y goodness. And the extra gear we've picked up covers the whole cost and more. We came out of it with a profit."

"Excellent news indeed," Giles agreed, "especially as I've just spent five thousand danter on new musical instruments and will be spending more shortly."

"Hmm," said Anya. "Would that come under weaponry, entertainment, or propitiating the gods?"

Giles raised a hand from his guitar and, out of habit, adjusted the position of imaginary glasses. "All three categories, I'd say," he said. "Yes, very definitely, all three."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

"…_Whatever it is that girl_

_Put a spell on me_."

Giles sang the last line of the verse and then watched as Sharwyn, Viconia, and Korgan continued with the instrumental passage. Korgan was a competent drummer with a good sense of timing – which, together with his strength, explained why he was a formidable axe-wielder – and it was easy to teach him the correct rhythm for each new song. Viconia had a good ear for a tune, dexterous fingers, and – perhaps due to her worship of the goddess who had Memory as one of her domains – learned very quickly. And Sharwyn… was a marvel. Not only did she have perfect pitch, and fingers that could move from chord to chord too fast for the eyes to follow, but she had a genuine feel for music and could improvise to go beyond what Giles showed her. The only female guitarist Giles knew of who might possibly match Sharwyn was Charlotte Hatherley of Ash – indeed he could think of only a handful of male guitarists in Sharwyn's league. She was doing full justice to the Hendrix lead part and Giles was content merely to listen for the moment.

And then a disturbance in the Playhouse dragged his attention away from the music. A shadow, in a corner of the auditorium, was growing and changing shape. The other members of the adventuring party reacted at once. Those who were sitting stood up and armed themselves. Buffy and Sorkatani, who were practicing unarmed combat, stepped apart and went for their weapons. Celestial Fury was in Cromwell's workshop, being upgraded, and so it was the lesser katana Malakar that seemed to leap into Sorkatani's hand. Buffy drew the Blade of Roses and raised it ready for instant action. Giles didn't move; his best weapon, the guitar, was already in his hands.

The shadow took the shape of a human figure, larger than life-size, and then fully materialized as a beautiful young woman. A seven-foot tall young woman with wings.

"Good Lord!" Giles exclaimed. The other band members looked up, saw the woman, and stopped playing. Korgan dropped his drumsticks and produced his axe; Viconia drew out the Flail of Ages.

"Uh, hello," said the winged woman. "I, uh, come in peace." She had extremely pale skin, almost as white as milk rather than pink, and her hair was blue. Her hesitant speech, and the shy smile that came to her lips, reminded Giles very much of Tara when she had first met the Scoobies.

Buffy lowered her sword. "And you would be?" she prompted.

"I am Egeria," the winged girl replied, "Herald of Shar. Or at least I will be her herald when I finish my training. I'm not quite ready to take on the role yet."

The Blade of Roses went back into its scabbard. "Oh, yeah, she said she'd be sending you for lessons," Buffy said. "I'm Buffy the Vampire Slayer – but I guess you already know that."

"Well met, Buffy," said Egeria. "Uh, if this isn't a convenient time I could come back later. It's convenient for me, because my mistress is rather busy dealing with the problems caused by the disappearance of the Crystal Sphere, but I wouldn't want to impose upon you."

"No, this is fine," Buffy said, "and I'd be free tomorrow too, but after that we're heading off to kick an evil wizard's ass and we'll be pretty much tied up with that for a while."

"Oh dear," said Egeria, her intensely blue eyes widening. "Isn't that rather cruel? Surely, if the wizard has injured you, you should wreak your vengeance upon him directly rather than inflict pain upon an innocent donkey."

Giles burst into laughter, as did Spike, and Buffy pouted.

"The wee lassie's nae talking aboot a donkey," Korgan explained. "She means kick the wizard's bum."

"The speech of our friends from California is full of idioms strange to our ears," Sorkatani said, "but colorful and vibrant nonetheless."

"I… see," Egeria said. "I take it that you are Sorkatani? Are you also willing to assist with my training?"

"Sure, no problem," Sorkatani replied. She gestured toward the open space in the auditorium that she and Buffy were using. "Come and join us."

Egeria stepped forward, out of the corner, and her head collided with a scenery arch. "Oops!" she exclaimed, as the arch wobbled and began to topple. She snatched at it but a piece broke off in her hand and the wooden structure crashed to the floor. "Oops!" she repeated. "I'm so sorry. I'm six inches taller than I was yesterday, and three times as strong, and I'm afraid I'm not used to it yet and I'm being dreadfully clumsy."

"Don't worry about it, I'll fix the damage," Xander offered.

"Ah," said Giles, "I think that practicing martial arts in your present condition might be rather hazardous for your practice partners. Perhaps we'd better postpone this for a while."

Egeria's face fell. "You're right, of course," she said. "I'm sorry to have wasted your time."

"No, wait," Buffy said. "You could do T'ai Chi. That would be safe and, hey, it would help you get the hang of your upgrades."

"T'ai… Chi? I do not know what that is."

"It's an exercise system based on martial arts," Buffy explained, "or you could say it's a martial art that incorporates an exercise system. It's, like, slow and graceful movements that help you learn precision and balance. Then, later, they form the basis for the combat moves."

"An excellent idea, Buffy," Giles said. "It would be an ideal starting point for, ah, Egeria. I will leave it in your hands as T'ai Chi is one area in which your technical knowledge surpasses mine."

"Yeah, I learned it mainly from Angel," Buffy said.

"Never did understand how he managed to pick it up during the Boxer Rebellion," Spike commented. "The locals were more interested in using their Kung Fu on the foreign devils than teaching it to them."

"Maybe he learned it in Chinatown," Xander suggested. No-one else paid any attention to Spike's remark.

"So, you up for it?" Buffy asked.

Egeria tilted her head to one side. "Your speech is, as your companion said, strange to my ears," she said, "but if you are asking if I would like to learn this 'T'ai Chi' then the answer is yes."

"Cool," Buffy said, confusing Egeria further. "Come over here, preferably without knocking over anything else, and we'll get started."

"I think I will join them," Sharwyn said, laying down her guitar and crossing the stage. "I too desire to learn combat skills from Buffy and, with another beginner there, this would seem to be the ideal time to make a start."

"Oh, sorry, I hadn't meant to interrupt your music practice," Egeria said. "What I heard, as I entered, was intriguing. I have not heard the like before save for when my mistress sang to me, as we were imprisoned together in Selûne's dungeon, and she told me that those songs were ones that you had brought to this world. I was rather hoping that you would continue to play." Sharwyn hesitated and looked back over her shoulder at Giles.

"That particular song would be rather distracting as the background to T'ai Chi exercises," Giles said. "I'll play something different, gentler and more appropriate, instead. Go ahead, Sharwyn, the T'ai Chi will make an excellent foundation for your combat lessons too."

"Very well, zra'ha, I will set aside the music for the time being," Sharwyn said, and she continued on her course and joined the other girls. Dawn, too, placed herself with the group.

Giles could hardly prevent himself from breaking into a chuckle as he observed the range of heights. Buffy was a fraction over five feet tall, Sorkatani an inch and a half taller, Dawn had grown to about five foot six, Sharwyn was around five foot eight, and then there was the enormous jump to Egeria's seven feet. It was almost as if they were model figurines manufactured in three different scales. He watched, successfully holding his amusement in check, as Buffy showed the others the starting position and then moved on to the T'ai Chi form called 'Parting the wild horse's mane'. Once they had begun the exercise, copying Buffy's movements, Giles began to play the song that Egeria's arrival had suggested to him. Another Hendrix number but very different from 'Purple Haze'.

"_Angel came down from Heaven yesterday_

_Stayed with me just long enough to rescue me_

_And she told me a story yesterday_

_About the sweet love between the moon and the deep blue sea_

_And then she spread her wings high over me_

_She said she's gonna come back tomorrow…_"

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

"I'll need some time to adjust to being this height," Bodhi said. "I always wanted to be taller but suddenly being five foot eleven, when I've been five foot nothing for centuries, is a little disconcerting. It will be a while before I can adapt my combat techniques accordingly. And that's not even allowing for me having wings now. I hope you're not going to send me straight off to battle before I've gotten used to my new abilities."

The Erinyes recruiter laughed. "Don't worry, you'll spend the first month learning the principles of Contract Law and how to subvert them, and you'll have plenty of time to get accustomed to your new body shape before you're required to enter combat. We're used to devils being in new bodies – although you're the first, as far as I know, to go straight from mortal form to being an Erinyes. Usually it's lower devils who get promoted who face the problem. You should do well in the Law course; I don't think anyone else has ever negotiated such favorable entry terms as you did."

Bodhi shrugged her shoulders. "I wasn't trying to engage in sharp practice. It just seemed logical to me. I have four hundred years experience with sex and violence, sometimes both at the same time, and it would be a shame to waste it; both from my point of view and that of your employers. Doing it this way benefits both me and the Legions of the Hells."

"I agree," said the recruiter, "otherwise I'd never have gone along with it. However let me warn you that you'd better hold up your end of the deal. If you let us down you'll make me look bad – and any punishment that I incur will be passed on to you a thousand times over. That's a promise."

"I understand," Bodhi said, "but you needn't worry. I'll stick to the deal as we agreed it. In fact I expect to enjoy it."

"I hope you're not planning on seeking revenge upon the people who killed you," the recruiter went on. That kind of misuse of your position wouldn't be looked upon well at all."

"Don't worry," Bodhi said, "I don't intend to do anything of the kind. Buffy and Sorkatani beat me, Buffy's clone beat me, and then Buffy and Sorkatani and their crew killed me. I've learned my lesson. The only way I'll go after them is if your organization orders it and I sincerely hope that they won't do that. I've no intention of seeking vengeance and I'd be more than happy if I never set eyes on them again."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

"I'll come back tomorrow, as the song says, if that will be convenient for you," Egeria said. The T'ai Chi session had finished and the group members were sitting drinking tea or coffee, depending upon preference and nationality, and eating gingerbread. Egeria was handling her teacup with as much care as if it was an eggshell filled with nitroglycerine and, so far, had not broken anything.

"Sure thing," Buffy said. "We won't be doing anything except waiting for Cromwell to finish working on our armor and weapons. The next day we head out to… kick wizard bodily parts that might share a name with donkeys but definitely aren't cute and innocent beasts of burden voiced by Eddie Murphy." Egeria's brow furrowed. "Sorry," Buffy added. "I really should stop making with the Earth pop culture references while you're around."

"I bought the DVD of _Shrek_ a week before we were transported here," Tara commented. "I suppose the other versions of us, back in Sunnydale, must have it now."

"Well, I hope they enjoyed it," Buffy said.

"Of course they will have done," Anya said. "A lively and entertaining fairy-tale with humor, action, romance, and a total absence of evil bunnies. What's not to like?"

"That whole thing with there being clones of us back in Sunnydale is kinda weird," Willow said. "Or, hey, maybe we're the clones. That might make more sense, I guess, when you think about it."

"Xander Harris, class clone," Xander said, raising a chuckle from the original Scoobies but from no-one else. "Or it could be like what that Toth guy and his staff thing did to me and we've been split into our good halves and our not-so-good halves."

"If Warren's involved it's more likely to be robots," Buffy said. "I thought the Buffybot was way too wrecked to be repaired but, hey, Warren was pretty much a genius like that."

"Bodhi said 'clones' plural," Willow said, "so he must have made robot doubles for the rest of us too. And they must have been good enough to fool Bodhi."

"The Buffybot fooled _you_," Buffy pointed out, "and didn't it fool the demons in Sunnydale while I was dead?"

Giles looked sharply at Buffy, studying her face, and was pleased to see that she didn't show any signs of distress at all when she mentioned having been dead. It would seem that she was, by now, completely over the post-traumatic stress disorder she had suffered following her resurrection.

"The Bot might have fooled some demons, and it was passable as a fighter," Spike said, "but it wasn't the Terminator. It wouldn't have stood a bloody chance against Bodhi and her crew. The versions of us in Sunny D dusted Tanova, Vicki's nephew, and that paladin girl you were accused of killing, and chased Bodhi back here. If King Nerd Warren is capable of making robots that can beat that bunch, well, he's the genius to end all geniuses. I'd go with the clone explanation."

"So are we the clones, or are we the originals?" Anya wondered.

"Does it matter?" said Buffy. "It's not like we're gonna get into a big argument with the other versions about who gets the bed, the TV remote, and the credit card. As far as I'm concerned we're the originals and that's that. And, you know, I feel a whole lot better now I know that there's someone – robots or clones or whatever – back in Sunnydale doing the Slayer's job well enough to have gotten rid of an enemy as dangerous as Bodhi. If they're managing okay then I don't have to feel guilty or worry about what might be happening in Sunnydale without me there. I can relax and enjoy being here. Although I wouldn't mind going back just for one day to go shopping."

"I'd buy myself a battery razor," Xander said. "I can't get used to the razors they have here. I cut myself half the time and it's too much of a waste to use up a Cure spell or a Lay On Hands on a little nick."

"Tampons," Anya said. "A Bag of Holding could probably hold a lifetime's supply."

"Hmm," said Giles, "it would be very useful to be able to go back and purchase a Yamaha or Casio portable keyboard. The possibilities…"

"I was thinking more of clothes and shoes," Buffy said. "Especially underwear, after Tanova disintegrated my only bra with actual elastic in the straps."

"I should get new clothes," Egeria remarked. "This…" she indicated the long black gown, trimmed with purple, that she wore, "is only a temporary measure, to replace the blue dress that was compulsory wear when I served Selûne, and I gave no thought to style but simply changed the hue to match the colors of Shar. Yet now it does not please me."

"Black leather," Spike suggested. "Can't go wrong with black leather."

"Hey, he's actually right," Buffy said, "although it has to be by accident. With your legs tight black leather pants would look totally amazing."

"And a black leather jacket," said Spike, "maybe with a purple shirt."

Buffy's brow furrowed briefly and then she smiled. "Yeah, that would work," she agreed. "As long as the purple shirt was on the bluish side of purple, 'cause otherwise it would clash with your hair and eyes, and, hey, not one of those shirts with frilly sleeves like some of the people here wear."

"I will think on what you suggest," Egeria said. "I have learned much today, and not just the T'ai Chi. Your mentions of your world, even the parts I did not understand, were fascinating. Tell me, what are 'robots'?"

"Golems," Buffy said, "only crafted well enough that some people mistake them for real humans."

"Uh, technically those would be androids," Willow said.

"Whatever," Buffy said. "Anyway, we don't know how to get back to Earth, I'm happy to stay here even if we did know how, so there isn't any point in talking about it any longer. So, Eggy, how about you come back tomorrow after lunch? That work for you?"

"That would be perfectly satisfactory," Egeria replied. "This has been… a most refreshing experience. For one thousand six hundred years I was a servant of Selûne, thinking myself greatly honored in that role, and never did I get the chance to grow and develop. I see now that I was a slave in all but name, existing only to serve Selûne's will, and she had no interest in me as a person at all. My defection to Shar has been… greatly liberating. I now realize what I have been missing for all of those centuries."

"Shar danced with me," Dawn commented. "She was real nice."

"Indeed so," Egeria agreed. She sighed. "When I was a human High Priestess of Selûne I preached the dogma I had learned, that Shar was cold and cruel, hateful, and evil beyond all measure, and I believed what I taught. Yet when I first met her she was calm and reasonable, seeking to make peace and asking nothing more than an acknowledgment that there had been faults on both sides, and it was the mistress I had served all my existence who was spiteful, vindictive, and treacherous. And now that I have taken service under Shar I have found her to be kind, friendly, and courteous. She treats me as if I were her equal, phrasing her commands as if they were requests, and acts in the same fashion toward all her other servants save for those that are mere automatons devoid of personality. And she regards being a goddess as a job, requiring her to fulfill her responsibilities toward those who worship her, whereas Selûne treated it as a right and a privilege with her worshippers as mere minions under her control."

"Yes, Shar spoke to us about her job as the Goddess of Loss," Giles said.

"At this very moment," Egeria went on, "Shar is working hard, coordinating the other gods, as they work to provide sailors with new star charts in the wake of the disappearance of the Crystal Sphere. She had to cajole some of the… less dedicated deities into joining in and I am afraid that my former mistress refused absolutely to co-operate. I feel ashamed, now, to think that I served her for so long without recognizing that she was unworthy. The signs were there always, had I but given thought to them; I had more smiles and kind words from Eilistraee and Eldath, on the occasions of their visits to the Gates of the Moon, than ever I did from my own goddess."

"Eilistraee is a worthy goddess indeed, charming and kind without being weak," Viconia agreed, "and I revere her second only to my divine mistress Shar."

"You mentioned the Crystal Sphere before," Giles put in. "I take it that it is, or was, a globe encompassing this solar system? With lights set into it to represent the stars?"

"That is correct," Egeria confirmed. "Lord Ao put it into place, thousands of years ago, to seal off the system to which Toril belongs from the worlds which circle other stars. There are certain portals that enable one to travel here from other planets, of course, but such a journey was impossible by spelljammer. But now the Sphere has vanished, gone without trace, and the skies are in confusion. In all the time that the Crystal Sphere has been there the stars have not changed, save when new stars were set into the Sphere to signal great events, but now it is gone and we see the real stars far beyond. And they have moved, in those thousands of years, so that they form no patterns that are recognizable. The charts by which the sailors reckon their courses are useless now. No-one even knows which star shows the true North."

"My word!" Giles exclaimed. "That must be extremely alarming for them."

"Indeed so," Egeria agreed, "but my mistress is working hard to ensure that no harm comes to the sailors."

"When did it happen?" Sorkatani asked.

"Yesterday," Egeria answered, "at the very moment that my mistress summoned her Chosen into her presence and sent her avatar to speak with you."

"She said that she felt a disturbance in the Force," Viconia said. "So, it was the destruction of the Crystal Sphere that she felt?"

"It was," Egeria confirmed.

"Hey, it couldn't have been anything we did, could it?" Xander said. "I mean, we staked Bodhi, and she had stolen the essence of a god, and she'd just traveled through a portal between worlds. It's crazy, I know, but the crazy keeps happening around us."

"Nah," Spike said. "Can't see it. This Sphere thing must have been bloody enormous if it held a whole solar system, right?"

"It was truly immense," Egeria said. "I understand that it took the light of the sun over four and a half hours to reach the Sphere. It takes only some eight minutes to reach Toril."

"No way could you stuff enough energy into one poxy vampire bitch to blow up something that sodding huge," Spike said. "Got to be coincidence."

"Two things I don't believe in are coincidences and leprechauns," Buffy said.

"Why do you not believe in leprechauns?" Egeria asked. "They are stealthy, and avoid the eyes of humans for the most part, yet I assure you that they are real."

"Oh. Right," Buffy said. "Uh, maybe this Crystal Ball thing was stolen by leprechauns."

"Such a feat is immeasurably beyond the small fey creatures," Egeria said, "although I concede that they are mischievous enough to have done it had they the means. No, the only being with the power to abolish the Crystal Sphere is He who created it in the first place – Lord Ao. Although even the gods cannot guess what might be His motive for such an act."

Giles opened his mouth as if to speak but then closed it again with his words remaining unspoken. He had just thought of something else that might have the power and which had been created for the purpose of tearing down barriers between worlds.

The Key.

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

"Terrible sorry, sirs and ladies," Samuel Thunderburp called from the Playhouse lobby, "but this lady insists on seeing you and she won't…"

"Out of my way, diminutive innkeeper," a female voice snapped. "I will not put up with this intolerable situation one second longer than is necessary." The woman pushed past the halfling innkeeper and advanced down the theater main aisle. "Where is Willow?" she asked, staring at the group and frowning. "I insist on seeing her immediately. It is absolutely imperative."

Giles studied the woman. She was clad in wizard's robes, red and embroidered with sigils in gold thread, and her head was shaven completely bald. Despite the baldness, and the piercings she wore through one eyebrow and one side of her nose, the woman was fairly attractive. He had never seen her before, he was certain, and yet she looked vaguely familiar.

Minsc rose to his feet and moved to block the woman's path. "What do you want with Willow, stranger lady?" he demanded. "You wear the robes of a Red Wizard of Thay, like Edwin, and they are often bad people."

"A Red Wizard _like_ Edwin? The obtuse barbarian outdoes himself in stupidity." The woman glared at Minsc. "Ignorant lummox, do you not recognize me?"

Minsc shook his head. "No," he said. "I do not know any lady Red Wizards. Or is a lady wizard a witch, even if she is a Red Wizard? I am confused." His eyebrows climbed. "Wait! Boo says you are…"

"Edwin?" Sorkatani sheathed the katana that she had drawn as the Red Wizard approached. "What happened to you? Did you don a Girdle of Femininity?"

"He's suddenly shapelier, that's for sure," Spike commented.

"My word!" Giles exclaimed. "Remarkable!"

"No, I did not put on a Girdle of Femininity," Edwin snapped. "Do you think the great Edwin Odesseiron would make such an elementary mistake? I read the Nether Scroll. I took precautions first, of course; I warded myself against Evil and cast Identify. All I learned from that was that the scroll would greatly increase my knowledge, which was exactly what I sought, and so I went ahead and read it. And this happened."

"Ha!" said Jaheira. "And indeed it has greatly increased your knowledge; for you are one of the few men who truly knows what it is like to be a woman."

Edwin glowered at her. "I am a _wizard_," he said, in aggrieved tones, "not a gigolo or a bard. I have no need to know what it is like to be a woman. This transformation is not only irritating and inconvenient but it is of no practical use whatsoever."

"What, are wizards here like the ones in the Pratchett books?" said Spike. "Thought they could shag as much as they liked. Wasn't that Tolgerias bloke shagging Bhodi? 'Course he was a vampire at the time, maybe that makes a difference."

"Khelben Blackstaff is married," Sorkatani said, "and, if rumor is correct, Elminster has… shagged… hundreds of women. Indeed it is said that he himself was transformed into a woman, for a while, before being changed back by a Netherese mage."

"Huh!" Edwin grunted. "I suspect it must have been the same mage who scribed the scroll that I read. And, alas, he was a mage more powerful than any of the miserable Cowled Wizards in this city. They charged me five thousand danter merely for a consultation and then said that none of them had the power to help. And they refused to give me a refund."

"They're a bunch of jerks," Buffy said.

"That is putting it kindly," Sorkatani said.

"Always said they were running their monopoly as a racket," Spike said. "What this world needs is a Monopolies Commission. Or, better still, two Monopolies Commissions."

"Quite so," Giles agreed. "So, Edwin, I take it that you want Willow to, ah, change you back?"

"The bard sees the obvious," Edwin said. "Yes, of course I do. Sorkatani claimed that Willow is my superior in the arcane arts. If that truly is the case then she should be able to change me back into my proper form."

"Not necessarily," Sorkatani said. "She is no specialist in transformations."

"She transformed a massive stone table into an explosive powder," Edwin said. "I could not have done that."

"Actually, it was I who transformed the table," Giles pointed out. Edwin, who had been with the Shadow Thief party coming in through the side entrance to attack Bodhi's lair, had missed that part of the battle. "Willow did only the reducing it to powder part."

"And she's not here anyway," Tara added. "Willow and Imoen went to the smithy to make a start on enchanting our weapons and stuff. They'll probably be pretty tired when they get back. Not up to doing any complicated magic, that's for sure."

"But she has to help me!" Edwin wailed. "I cannot stay like this any longer. Do you realize that several men have… made advances to me? It's absolutely unbearable."

Spike sniggered. Edwin glared at him. "The irritating vampire finds my situation amusing. Ha ha. I would like to see how he would react if he found that his… male appendage had been replaced by a…"

"Yes, quite, Edwin, we understand," Giles interrupted. "I believe that I may be able to do something about your situation."

"You may?" Edwin raised his eyebrows. "Hmm. Bardic magic is a poor substitute for true wizardry," he muttered, seemingly oblivious to the fact that when he talked to himself he was perfectly audible to everyone around him, "but this bard does seem to be competent at his inferior craft. Perhaps he may be able to cure me of this dreadful affliction." He reverted to his normal speaking voice. "Well, don't just stand there; get on with it."

"You are taking it for granted that Giles will help you," Sorkatani said.

"Well, yes," said Edwin. "It is what you and your friends do, isn't it? Help people?" He frowned. "Does the Perfect Warrior mean that I should pay Giles?" he continued, in his 'talking-to-himself' voice. "If so it will be conditional upon results."

"Payment will not be necessary," Giles said. "I can make it part of the training that I am giving to Viconia and Sharwyn. However it would have been only polite for you to have asked rather than demanded."

"Bah! The superfluous niceties that these Sword Coast people insist upon are irritating," Edwin muttered. He raised his eyes heavenward. "Why can they not recognize my superiority and be compliant without going through unnecessary formalities?" He returned his gaze to Giles. "Well?" he snapped. "Will you help me?"

"Hmm," said Giles, looking around at the others. "Should I?"

"You might as well," Spike said. "At least it would shut Edwin up. Or should we call him Edwina?"

"Minsc is unsure," Minsc said. "Edwin is not a nice man, and he was the enemy of Dynaheir, but he did not harm Dynaheir and he helped us against Bodhi. Boo tells me that he set fire to a vampire who was about to jump on my back. Yes, we should help Edwin."

"I suppose that I should thank the Rashemi lummox," Edwin muttered, "or perhaps the hamster, who seems to be the brains of the duo."

"Yes, Boo is one smart hamster," Minsc said, with a broad grin on his face.

"I've got no objections to helping Edwin," Buffy said. "The only time I met him was when he helped us against Bodhi. He's a little manners-deficient but, hey, so's Spike."

Sorkatani shrugged her shoulders. "Edwin was Dynaheir's enemy because he was ordered to be," she said, "but he never succeeded in doing anything about it. I won't hold it against him. Go ahead, zra'ha, change him back."

"I'll certainly try," said Giles. "It's not going to be simple. I take it that you have already tried Dispel Magic?"

Edwin sniffed. "Would I overlook something so obvious? Of course it was the first thing I tried."

"Then I will have to tailor my song to your specific situation," Giles said. "Luckily for you I know the very song. I'll have to amend the words slightly but the lyrics already contain a good foundation on which to work. Altering them to the purpose will not be difficult."

"Well, don't just stand there. Get on with it!"

"I'll need the whole band for this," Giles said, "which means I'll have to teach them the song first. Don't worry, it won't take long."

"I am at your disposal, zra'ha," Viconia said.

"This is rather exciting," Sharwyn said. "A significant step up from the creation of spicy foodstuffs."

"Ah'm nae bothered aboot the magic," Korgan said, "as lang as ah can beat yon drums."

"The song includes a reasonable amount of drumming," Giles said. "I think you'll be satisfied. Hmm. I must remember to teach you 'Pride of the Summer' sometime soon."

"Will you just get on with it?" Edwin began to drum his fingers on the back of one of the Playhouse's seats.

"Giles knows what he's doing, Edwin, keep your hair on," Spike said. "Oh, that's right, you can't. You haven't got any."

"I will treat the vampire's remarks with the contempt that they deserve," Edwin said.

Giles ignored the bickering. "If we were at the Copper Coronet," he said to the rest of the band, "I'd suggest doing it up on the roof. We're not, however, and the sloping roof of the Five Flagons is hardly suitable to function as a stage. So let's do the show right here."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

The guards at the gate stared at the two men who sought admittance. "You're a Drow," one said, incredulity evident in his voice. "And you want to come into the city?"

"Well, yes," Jarlaxle said. "Otherwise there would be little point in us presenting ourselves at the gate."

The other guard took off his helmet and scratched his head. "Well, I suppose there's no law against it," he said, "and Lady Viconia turned out to be an asset to the city. Here, wait a minute, you're not an enemy of hers, are you? Everybody knows the Drow fight among themselves a lot."

"Far from it, I assure you," Jarlaxle said. "I hadn't seen Viconia in nearly a century until we met her, and her companions, in the Forest of Tethir a few days ago. There they saved my comrade from death at the hands of vicious mercenaries. We intend to repay them by assisting them with a vampire problem."

"You're too late," said the helmetless guard. "Lady Buffy, and Sorkatani, and their bunch finished off the vampires yesterday."

"Did any of them fall in the battle?" Artemis Entreri asked, speaking for the first time.

"Nah, it'd take more than vampires to beat that crew," said the guard who still wore his helm. "If there's a better fighter in all of Amn than Buffy the Vampire Slayer I don't know who it might be – unless it's Sorkatani."

"I heard one of them did get killed," said the bare-headed guard. "The nice priestess lady who gave Sir Keldorn that right tongue-lashing in the market-place after he attacked Lady Viconia. They brought her back, though, no problem."

"I'm glad to hear it," Jarlaxle said, "but it deprives us of the chance to repay our debt by aiding them in their fight. And they paid us in advance, too."

"A wasted journey, then," Artemis said.

"Sometimes I despair of you, my friend," Jarlaxle said. "A trip to see several pretty girls, who seem to be well disposed toward us, can never be regarded as a waste of time. It shall, then, be merely a social call."

"I did hear tell that they're heading off to fight a wizard soon," said the guard who had doffed his helm. "My cousin told me they were at Cromwell's smithy getting their armor patched up and their weapons sharpened. And he heard that young lass Dawn singing a song about 'We're off to kill the wizard'. Not a bad song, he said, but not as good as the ones what Giles sings."

"Ah, so our services might still be of use," Jarlaxle said. "Let us, then, seek them out."

"You'll find them at the Five Flagons in the Bridge District," said the guard who still wore his helmet. "Go straight along here, turn right after you pass through the inner wall, and then turn left at the river and keep going until you find the bridge. You can't miss it."

"We shall follow your directions," Jarlaxle said. "Thank you, good sirs." A coin changed hands.

"Thank you, sir," said the recipient. "Welcome to Athkatla."

- 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 -

"I'll be singing the original words to the first verse and chorus," Giles explained, "so don't start panicking because nothing is happening. It's not meant to. The spell will begin with the second verse."

"Oh, just get a move on," said Edwin. "I'm tired of waiting."

"If I rush it too much things might go wrong," Giles said. "I'm sure you wouldn't want that."

"What could be worse than my present situation?"

"Well, I could transport you back to Thay while you remained in female form," Giles warned. "I suspect that you wouldn't find that an acceptable outcome."

Edwin paled. "And have my associates and family see me in this condition? Indeed I would not. Very well, then, proceed at your own pace. I will restrain myself from pressing you further."

"Good," said Giles. "Okay, one, two, three, four…" He struck the first chord, Korgan hit the drums, and they began to play. Sharwyn's lead guitar substituted for the electric piano, played by Billy Preston on the original recording, and, as Giles had specified, he kept to the standard lyrics at first. Then, with the second verse, he began the spell.

"_Edwin was a man who turned into a woman_," Giles sang

"_But he was a Thayan man._

_He read the Nether Scrolls and so he had it coming_

_But we'll help him if we can._

_Change back,_

_Change back,_

_Change back to what you were before._

_Change back,_

_Change back,_

_Change back to what you were before…_

_Change back, Edwin_!"

Nothing happened. Edwin rose from his seat. "You've failed!" he complained. He took a step toward the stage, where the band was continuing to play, his mouth opening to protest again.

Spike seized Edwin and shoved him back into his seat. "Shut it," Spike ordered. "Giles knows what he's doing."

Edwin obeyed and sat, fuming in silence, as Giles ran through the final chorus. The band paused, as if the song had ended, and then re-started with Giles singing his variation on the coda from the single version.

"_Change back, Edwina_

_Your body's waiting for you_

_May your chest get flat, and your hips get leaner_

_Change back to Edwin, Edwina!_

_Change back, change back,_

_Change back, oh yeah…_"

As he sang Edwin's body changed. His breasts, as Giles had commanded, shrank and his hourglass figure became the more angular body of a man. His face returned to its previous shape.

"You've done it!" Edwin cried, looking down at his chest. He stood up and patted his backside. "Yes, I think you've done it. My voice sounds right again. Wait a moment, I must see a mirror before I am certain that everything is as it was before."

"What, you think you've turned into a vampire?" Spike said. "Don't be stupid. You're still human and now you're a bloke again. And I would have thought looking under your robes would be more of a priority than checking out your face. Bloody would be if it had been me that had been turned into a girl."

"Oh. Yes, of course," Edwin said, looking down again but this time directing his gaze somewhat further down his body. "I hadn't thought of that."

"That's wizards for you," said Spike. He turned to Giles. "Bloody clever choice," he said. "I'd guessed you would use Cliff Richard in reverse. 'Hello Ed, Goodbye Edwina'. Shows what I know. The Beatles' song was much better. Can't beat the classics."

"Indeed so," said Giles, "although my preference tended to be for the Stones. And I didn't become really passionate about music until I discovered the Yardbirds, then John Mayall, and then Cream."

"I thought you said you liked the Bay City Rollers," Buffy put in.

"Good grief!" Giles exclaimed, raising a hand as if to take off glasses. "That was a joke. I suppose it's my own fault for making it to someone without the right cultural background to understand why it was a declaration of what was palpably impossible."

"I don't even understand what you just said," Buffy said, "but, whatever. Good job, Giles, like always."

"I feel humbled to have been a part of it," Sharwyn remarked. "Perhaps one day I will be able to perform such magic by myself."

"Oh, I'm sure you will," Giles said. "It just takes practice."

Edwin had been patting himself down, conducting a tactile self-examination, while the attention had been on Giles. He finished and straightened up. "You have achieved what neither I, nor any of the Cowled Wizards, could achieve," he said, "and restored me to my natural form. I thank you. And I must accept that you, unlikely as it may seem, have a mastery of your craft that may equal – nay, even exceed – my own."

"Big of you," Spike grunted.

"Of course the craft is itself inferior to true wizardry," Edwin continued, "but I am impressed nonetheless. And grateful. I feel it incumbent upon me to offer a service in return."

"It's not necessary, Edwin," Giles said. "I did it, as I said, as part of the training for Viconia and Sharwyn."

"I insist," Edwin said. "I hate feeling indebted to my inferiors."

"If you're determined to repay us," Sorkatani said, "then you can come with us to fight Irenicus."

"Hmm." Edwin stroked his chin. "Jon Irenicus has a fearful reputation. The Shadow Thieves were in awe of him. There would be a distinct risk to my person in such a conflict. On the other hand the potential gains, in the form of my reputation being enhanced to the level that I deserve, are considerable. Should I agree to her suggestion? I think the gain outweighs the risk. Very well, Sorkatani, I shall accompany you and participate in your fight."

"Thank you, Edwin," said Sorkatani. "You are, in the phraseology of my companions from Earth, a bit of a pillock. Yet you are also a competent wizard and could be of great help to us. I propose that we accept Edwin's offer. Does anyone object? Minsc?"

"Edwin is not nice," Minsc said. "Boo says that he is arrogant and… e-goat-testicle. But Irenicus is most evil, and slew Dynaheir, and we must smite the evil wizard with everything that we have. Yes, Minsc will let Edwin come with us to fight Irenicus."

"Okay, Edwin, glad to have you aboard again," said Buffy. "We have a few spare magic items we haven't sold yet, feel free to take a look through them and see if there's anything you can use. You deserve a share, seeing as how the scroll you took from Bodhi's lair turned out to be a… bust." She struggled to keep her face straight and more or less succeeded. Spike chuckled openly.

"Ha ha," said Edwin. "The so-called humor of these simians can be wearing. Still, I can put up with it for a while. Thank you, Buffy Vampire Slayer, I will take advantage of your offer."

"Hey," a familiar voice called from the doorway. "We're back. Has Egeria gone? I see Edwin's here. Is he going to join us to fight Irenicus? And, hey, look who we met on our way back here."

Willow and Imoen came down the aisle accompanied by Nalia and the halfling warrior maid Mazzy Fenton.

"Greetings, Sorkatani and Buffy," Nalia said. "Word reached us that you had been accused of heinous crimes, impossible for us to believe, and we set off for Athkatla to speak up in your defense. When we arrived we found that you had already cleared your name."

"Yeah, we found the real murderers," Buffy said, "and they're dust now. Hi, Nalia, Mazzy."

"Willow tells me that you are shortly to set off to battle your arch-enemy," Mazzy said. "I offer my sword to your cause."

"And I mine, and my wands," said Nalia.

"Irenicus is a foe most formidable," Sorkatani warned them. "Are you sure you want to do this?"

"I owe you my life," Mazzy said. "You rescued me from the dungeon of the Shade Lord. My sword is ever at your call."

"And you saved me from forced marriage to Isaea Roenal, a fate worse than death itself," Nalia said. "I am not yet even close to repaying you. Anyway, Irenicus will have minions, will he not? Even if he is beyond our powers we can keep them off your backs as you battle him."

"In that case we're glad to have you with us," Sorkatani said.

"Cool," Buffy said. "With you, and Edwin, and Valley Girl, we're getting quite an army."

"Count me in, too," Sharwyn offered. "I did not feel that I could contribute anything to your fight against the vampires but, like these ladies, I think I could hold my own against the minions of the evil wizard. And I would gain valuable experience in combat and, perhaps, in the use of Spellsinging in battle."

"Do we need so many? And can we transport them all?" Jaheira asked.

"Sure we can transport everyone," Willow said. "I don't know if Edwin and Nalia can do Teleport Without Error…"

"I can't," Nalia said.

"I must confess that I have not yet mastered that particular spell," Edwin admitted, "although of course it is well within my capabilities."

"It doesn't matter, anyway," Willow said. "They can use scrolls and we've enough and to spare. And I can put clear pictures of the destination into their minds. I've tested it out with Imoen and it works. With four mages we can transport everyone at once, no problem."

"Good," Buffy said. "I want us to arrive mob-handed. What's the expression they have here? Something about a pineapple full of arms?"

"I think you mean 'in full panoply of arms', Buffy," Giles said. "Why are you so eager to boost our numbers? I'm not saying I'm opposed to adding members to our expedition but I wouldn't have thought they were vital. We will, after all, be linking up with an entire army of Elves."

"That's exactly why, Giles," Buffy said. "I don't trust the Elves as far as I can throw them – make that as far as Dawn could throw them. They were hiding something. I can make a fair guess at what it is…"

"Irenicus and Bodhi are their creation," Sorkatani put in.

"Damn right," Buffy said. "That's just what I think. And they don't want word getting around. If we turn up at the Elven camp with that lantern thing I bet they try to take it from us and leave us behind. The more of us there are, the more likely they are to act reasonable – and the less likely they are to act mean to Viconia."

"Thank you, Jabbress Buffy," Viconia said. "That is my belief too."

"Ah, yes, I see," Giles said. He might have said more but there was an interruption.

"Lady Buffy, Lady Sorkatani," the Halfling innkeeper called from the theater entrance. "There are two gentlemen upstairs wanting to see you," he announced, coming closer to the stage. "And, unlike certain people, they're happy to wait until they've been – bloody hells! Weren't you a woman when you came in here?" Samuel Thunderburp's jaw dropped as he stared at Edwin.

"So it may have seemed, Halfling," Edwin said, "but it was a mere temporary inconvenience. You see now my true magnificent self."

"Huh. It's not an improvement," Samuel said. "Anyway, back to business. Shall I show them down, mistresses? They say they're friends. One of them is a Drow but he seems a decent enough sort, if a bit bloody flamboyant in his attire."

"Flamboyant? That must be Jarlaxle," said Sorkatani.

"And Artemis will be the other," Buffy added. "They said they would head this way to help us against Bodhi. Yeah, show them in, Samuel. They missed out on Bodhi; if they don't mind changing targets then we really do have an army."

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"We saw Willow and Imoen at a distance," Jarlaxle said, "but we were unable to catch them up. Still, we are here now. Too late to assist you against your vampire foes, alas, if the gossip from the guards at the city gates is accurate."

"It is," Sorkatani confirmed. "We slew them, and staked their corpses, yesterday."

"And I see that this has cured the malady that afflicted the fair Lady Imoen," Jarlaxle said. "You look far better than you did when we met you in the forest, my lady. A treat, indeed, for my jaded eyes."

"Knew he had two," Spike muttered. "He's wearing the patch over the opposite one now."

"I suspect that you say such things to all the girls," Imoen said, smiling back at Jarlaxle. "You speak with the skill of much practice."

"I admit to having worked on my eloquence," Jarlaxle said, "but that is to compensate for my taciturn companion."

"I can speak for myself," Artemis protested.

"Then do so," Jarlaxle urged. Artemis merely glowered at him. "You see what I mean," Jarlaxle said. "When it comes to swordplay there are few who can match him. Wordplay, however, is a different matter. I outclass him by far – and this is not even my native language."

"I prefer to let my sword speak for me," said Artemis.

"I have a sword that speaks," Minsc said, "but he talks mostly of smiting the foe and his language is often coarse. I would not let Lilarcor speak for me, no indeed. For that I have Boo."

"Well, as far as I'm concerned you going up against two dozen mercenaries to save the prisoners says all that needs to be said," Buffy told Artemis.

"Thank you," Artemis said. "Jarlaxle advised me that it was a foolish act but I could not do otherwise."

"And, like I said then, that makes you a stand-up guy as far as I'm concerned."

"An idiom strange to my ears," Artemis said, "but I believe that I understand it from context. I thank you." He fell silent.

"It grows late," Edwin said, "and I, for one, grow tired of sitting around here in this throng. I shall depart. I will return tomorrow to inspect the magic items of which you spoke and to discuss our tactics against the wizard Irenicus."

Giles looked at his watch. "Yes, it is getting late," he said. "We'd better break for a meal now. I have to be ready for our show tonight."

Sharwyn's eyes seemed to become as wide as saucers. "That talisman on your wrist is a clock?"

"Ah, yes," Giles responded. "It's called a wristwatch. We brought them with us from Earth. Most people there have them."

"Is it… accurate?"

"Fairly accurate," Giles said. "They're very accurate back on Earth but here they gain very slightly. About a minute and a half a month, assuming that the noon bell from the Temple of Lathander is precise – and it certainly seems to be."

"This planet turns a touch slower than Earth," Willow said. "I make it that the days here are three seconds longer than ours. That's why our watches gain."

Sharwyn shook her head. "Neverwinter, from whence I hail, is renowned for the quality of its clocks," she said. "The finest are accurate to within five minutes a year – but they weigh perhaps thirty pounds. I can scarcely believe that timepieces so small can be almost as accurate."

"The watchmakers of our world are quite ingenious," Giles said, "but we can't claim any credit. All we did was buy them. I wouldn't even begin to know how to make a quartz digital watch."

Jarlaxle kicked Artemis hard on the ankle. "Ow!" Artemis exclaimed. "What did you do that for?" The flamboyant Drow kicked him again and jerked his chin to point at Buffy. "Ow!" Artemis said again, and then "Oh."

"The little guy's braver than I am," Xander remarked to Anya. "I wouldn't kick Artemis Entreri for all the chocolate in Maztica."

Artemis swallowed hard and then fixed his gaze on Buffy. "Your world must be full of marvels, Lady Buffy," he said. "Perhaps you could tell me about them over dinner."

"Are you asking me out on a date?" Buffy asked.

"I am not familiar with the term 'a date'," Artemis said, "but I am inviting you to dine with me."

Buffy gave him a beaming smile. "I'd love to."

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Disclaimer: Song lyrics used come from 'Dance Called America' by Runrig, 'Purple Haze' and 'Angel' by Jimi Hendrix, and 'Get Back' by The Beatles, with some alterations to fit the circumstances. They are used without permission and for non-commercial purposes only.


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